#41474 [NEW]: Clarification of array assignment behaviour

From: tayloj1 at uk dot ibm dot com Operating system: PHP version: Irrelevant PHP Bug Type: Documentation problem Bug description: Clarification of array assignment behaviour Description: ------------ Ref: http://uk.php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php Current PHP manual says: "You should be aware that array assignment always involves value copying. It also means that the internal array pointer used by current() and similar functions is reset. You need to use the reference operator to copy an array by reference. " This statement can be misunderstood and should be clarified as follows: " You should be aware that array assignment <delete word 'always'> involves value copying. It also means that the internal array pointer used by current() and similar functions is reset. You need to use the reference operator to copy an array by reference. When the array is copied by value, elements in the array are copied by reference if they are already references. An element in an array will be a reference if it was created by a reference assignment or if a reference has been created to the element." Example: <?php $a = array (1,2) ; $b = &$a[0] ; // make $a[0] part of ref set $c = $a ; $a[0] = 3 ; $a[1] = 4 ; echo $c[0] ; // outputs 3 because $c[0] was copied by reference echo "\n" ; echo $c[1] ; // outputs 2 (not 4) because $c[1] was copied by value ?> -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=41474&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 4.4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=trysnapshot44 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=trysnapshot52 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=41474&r=mysqlcfg