#40204 [NEW]: "Example 21-3. References with complex arrays" is wrong, and does in fact work

From: frode at coretrek dot com Operating system: Irrelevant PHP version: Irrelevant PHP Bug Type: Documentation problem Bug description: "Example 21-3. References with complex arrays" is wrong, and does in fact work Description: ------------ Exmaple 21-3 "References with complex arrays" as available on http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.whatdo.php is not correct, at least not for PHP version 5.2.0. The example claims to "not work as expected". But it does work as expected (and contrary to the documented results). Also, even if the example did "not work as expected", there is no explanation for why it is not supposed to work, other than stating that complex arrays "sometimes" (?!?) are copied. Reproduce code: --------------- <?php // taken directly from Example 21-3 $top = array( 'A' => array(), 'B' => array( 'B_b' => array(), ), ); $top['A']['parent'] = &$top; $top['B']['parent'] = &$top; $top['B']['B_b']['data'] = 'test'; print_r($top['A']['parent']['B']['B_b']); // array() ?> Expected result: ---------------- According to the documentation: array() Actual result: -------------- Array ( [data] => test ) -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=40204&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 4.4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=trysnapshot44 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=trysnapshot52 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=40204&r=mysqlcfg