note 32054 deleted from language.operators by sniper

Note Submitter: jsorrell at ubiqinc dot com ---- Regarding the note by wikiz at studentas dot lt I think PHP is doing a little sanity checking for you in the particular case you have presented. The expression 10 + $b is not a valid lvalue, that is you CAN'T make the assignment: (10 + $b) = 5 That's like trying the following assignment: 2 = 5 Since 10 + $b is an expression, it evaluates to a single returned value, in this case whatever the sum of the variable $b and 10 is. So, rather than throw an error (which might be more appropriate) PHP is doing the assignment first, since that is the only valid interpretation of the statement.