note 113315 added to session.examples.basic

Despite the warning about not being able to use references inside the session space, I've done it in the past and apparently completely successfully. That is, I can do something like this: <?php session_start(); if (!$_SESSION['favorite']) { $_SESSION['cow'] = "Elsie"; $_SESSION['favorite'] =& $_SESSION['cow']; echo "We set cow = '$_SESSION[cow]' and favorite =& cow ($_SESSION[favorite]).<br/>Reload the page to see if both change when one changes later.<br/>"; } else { echo "Having re-entered the session after initial settings were made: cow = $_SESSION[cow] and favorite = $_SESSION[favorite].<br/>"; $_SESSION['cow'] = "Bessie"; echo "We reassigned cow = $_SESSION[cow] and our restored reference variable favorite = $_SESSION[favorite]<br/>Note the presence of the &s in the var_dump below.<pre>"; var_dump($_SESSION); echo "</pre><br/>If you reload, the test will begin again."; unset($_SESSION['cow'], $_SESSION['favorite']); session_destroy(); } ?> yields the following after the second request: Having re-entered the session after initial settings were made: cow = Elsie and favorite = Elsie. We reassigned cow = Bessie and our restored reference variable favorite = Bessie Note the presence of the &s in the var_dump below. array(2) { ["cow"]=> &string(6) "Bessie" ["favorite"]=> &string(6) "Bessie" } If you reload, the test will begin again. I've found this ability very useful and storage efficient in the session data. ---- Server IP: 69.147.83.199 Probable Submitter: 70.123.131.58 ---- Manual Page -- http://php.net/manual/en/session.examples.basic.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/113315 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/113315 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/113315 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php