note 39091 modified in language.variables.scope by danbrown

Whats good for the goose is not always good for the iterative gander. If you declare and initialize the static variable more than once inside a function ie. <?php function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; echo $count; } ?> the variable will take the value of the last declaration. In this case $count=2. But! however when you make that function recursive ie. <?php function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; $count++; echo $count; if ($count<10){ Test(); } } ?> Every call to the function Test() is a differenct SCOPE and therefore the static declarations and initializations are NOT executed again. So what Im trying to say is that its OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you are in one function... but its NOT OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you call that same function multiple times. In other words the static variable is set once you LEAVE a function (even if you go back into that very same function). --was-- Whats good for the goose is not always good for the iterative gander. If you declare and initialize the static variable more than once inside a function ie. function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; echo $count; } the variable will take the value of the last declaration. In this case $count=2. But! however when you make that function recursive ie. function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; $count++; echo $count; if ($count<10){ Test(); } } Every call to the function Test() is a differenct SCOPE and therefore the static declarations and initializations are NOT executed again. So what Im trying to say is that its OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you are in one function... but its NOT OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you call that same function multiple times. In other words the static variable is set once you LEAVE a function (even if you go back into that very same function). http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php