note 129380 added to language.references.spot

Here is another function for checking if two variables refer to each other. The function by BenBE works properly, but it's very long and maybe slow. This is a shorter, faster and hopefully bug-free alternative. Works at least from PHP 4.3.0 to 8.3.4: https://3v4l.org/5JNSl <?php function is_same_ref( & $a, & $b ){ // Save original values $ori_a = $a; $ori_b = $b; // Give them different values $a = 1; $b = 2; // Compare them, if they're equal, they are references to each other $eq = $a === $b; // Restore original values $a = $ori_a; $b = $ori_b; return $eq; } $a = array(1,2); $b =& $a; $c =& $a; // to check for side effects var_dump( is_same_ref( $a, $b )); // bool(true) $a[] = 3; $b[] = 4; // After juggling our array in various ways inside is_same_ref(), // all three variables still refer to the very same array: var_dump( implode( $a ), implode( $b ), implode( $c )); // string(4) "3456" // string(4) "3456" // string(4) "3456" ?> ---- Server IP: 45.112.84.4 Probable Submitter: 80.90.13.131 (proxied: 85.238.90.216) ---- Manual Page -- https://php.net/manual/en/language.references.spot.php Edit -- https://main.php.net/note/edit/129380 Del: integrated -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/integrated Del: useless -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/useless Del: bad code -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/bad+code Del: spam -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/spam Del: non-english -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/non-english Del: in docs -- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://main.php.net/note/delete/129380 Reject -- https://main.php.net/note/reject/129380 Search -- https://main.php.net/manage/user-notes.php