note 37867 deleted from language.variables.scope by irchtml

Note Submitter: jmarbas@hotmail.com ---- Whats good for the goose is not always good for the iterative gander. If you declare and initialize the static variable more than once inside a function ie. function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; echo $count; } the variable will take the value of the last declaration. In this case $count=2. But! however when you make that function recursive ie. function Test(){ static $count = 0; static $count = 1; static $count = 2; $count++; echo $count; if ($count<10){ Test(); } } Every call to the function Test() is a differenct SCOPE and therefore the static declarations and initializations are NOT executed again. So what Im trying to say is that its OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you are in one function... but its NOT OK to declare and initialize a static variable multiple times if you call that same function multiple times. In other words the static variable is set once you LEAVE a function (even if you go back into that very same function).