note 83325 added to language.references

Another example of something to watch out for when using references with arrays. It seems that even an usused reference to an array cell modifies the *source* of the reference. Strange behavior for an assignment statement (is this why I've seen it written as an =& operator? - although this doesn't happen with regular variables). <?php $array1 = array(1,2); $x = &$array1[1]; // Unused reference $array2 = $array1; // reference now also applies to $array2 ! $array2[1]=22; // (changing [0] will not affect $array1) print_r($array1); ?> Produces: Array ( [0] => 1 [1] => 22 // var_dump() will show the & here ) I fixed my bug by rewriting the code without references, but it can also be fixed with the unset() function: <?php $array1 = array(1,2); $x = &$array1[1]; $array2 = $array1; unset($x); // Array copy is now unaffected by above reference $array2[1]=22; print_r($array1); ?> Produces: Array ( [0] => 1 [1] => 2 ) ---- Server IP: 69.147.83.197 Probable Submitter: 71.58.54.145 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/83325 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83325 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/83325 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php