Php: Variable references

Using references, you can access the same value with different names. Let me explain this with an example.

 

Let’s create a variable that holds integer value.

 

$a = 10;

 

 

Let’s assign the reference of variable $a to $b.

 

$b = & $a;

As shown in the above image, both the variable $a, $b are pointing to same memory location.

 

Now if you update the variable $b, same will reflect to $a and vice versa.

 

$b = 1111;

 

 

variable_reference_demo.php

#!/usr/bin/php

<?php
    $a = 10;

    $b = & $a;

    echo "\$a : $a\n";
    echo "\$b : $b\n";

    echo "\nSetting \$b value to 1111\n\n";
    $b = 1111;

    echo "\$a : $a\n";
    echo "\$b : $b\n";

?>

 

Output

$./variable_reference_demo.php 

$a : 10
$b : 10

Setting $b value to 1111

$a : 1111
$b : 1111

Previous                                                    Next                                                    Home