note 124750 added to language.variables.scope

As per PHP standards The new operator returns a reference automatically, so assigning the result of new by reference is not allowed as of PHP 7.0.0, results in an E_DEPRECATED message as of PHP 5.3.0, and an E_STRICT message in earlier versions. https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.assignment.php so you can use following code to check <?php function &get_instance_ref() { static $obj; echo 'Static object: '; var_dump($obj); if (!isset($obj)) { // Assign a reference to the static variable $obj = new stdclass; } $obj->property++; return $obj; } function &get_instance_noref() { static $obj; echo 'Static object: '; var_dump($obj); if (!isset($obj)) { // Assign the object to the static variable $obj = new stdclass; } $obj->property++; return $obj; } $obj1 = get_instance_ref(); $still_obj1 = get_instance_ref(); echo "\n"; $obj2 = get_instance_noref(); $still_obj2 = get_instance_noref(); ?> ---- Server IP: 45.112.84.4 Probable Submitter: 185.85.3.195 (proxied: 150.129.164.240) ---- Manual Page -- http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/124750 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/124750 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/124750 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php