PHP return by reference
We can ask a function return by reference by adding a & before function declare. See example:
function & pass(& $a) {
return $a;
}
function duplicate(& $a) {
return $a;
}
$a = array('a'=>'a');
$b = duplicate($a);
$c = & pass($a);
$b['a'] = 'b';
echo $a['a'], "\n";
$c['a'] = 'c';
echo $a['a'], "\n";
output is:
a c
You will see, the trick here is: don’t forget to put an ‘&’ before the function of assign operation. Otherwise, the assign operation will make a copy of the returned reference.
