note 113496 deleted from language.references.pass by googleguy

Note Submitter: Aycan Yat ---- Sometimes you might wish to modify value of an existing variable by its name. This is easily accomplishable with a combination of using "passing by reference" and "variable variables". $first_var = 1; $second_var = 2; $third_var = 3; $which_one = array_rand('first', 'second', 'third'); //Let's consider the result is "second". $modifier = $$which_one; //Now $modifier has value 2. $modifier++; //Now $modifier's value is 3. echo $second_var; //Prints out 2 //Consider we wish to modify the value of $second_var $modifier = &$$which_one; //Simply passing by reference $modifier++; //Now value of $second_var is 3 too. echo $second_var; //Prints out 3 It's that simple!