note 83733 added to language.references.arent

The example given in the text: <?php function foo(&$var) { $var =& $GLOBALS["baz"]; } foo($bar); ?> illustrates (to my mind anyway) why the = and & should be written together as a new kind of replacement operator and not apart as in C, like $var = &$GLOBALS["baz"]; Using totally new terminology: To me the result of this function is not surprising because the =& means 'change the "destination" of $var from wherever it was to the same as the destination of $GLOBALS["baz"]. Well it 'was' the actual parameter $bar, but now it will be the global at "baz". If you simply remove the & in the the replacement, it will place the value of $GLOBALS["baz'] into the destination of $var, which is $bar (unless $bar was already a reference, then the value goes into that destination.) To summarize, =, replaces the 'destination's value; =&, changes the destination. ---- Server IP: 69.147.83.197 Probable Submitter: 76.105.247.92 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.arent.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/83733 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/83733 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/83733 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php