When writing a classfunction that returned an array and passed it to array_pop like:
array_pop($obj->getArray());
I encountered the problem that my original array was modified...so i ended up having one less after every call...which I did not expect, because the getArray() function should return a copy after all...
So I fooled around a bit and found this, one is able to FORCE a classfunction, and only classfunctions, to return a reference and not a copy. the function does not have to be defined as:
function &blah(){return $this->foo;}
But when I tried the same with a global function and variable, I could not reproduce this. So...isn't this odd?...and certainly unexpected? (since most array modification functions have expect a reference as an argument i can't even decide modify ONLY the copy)
Maybe I am just pestering but It unnerved me that there might be other, similiar bugs/features...
IMHO one should not be able to force references...not if the class designer clearly did not want this.
I did not know where to put this comment...so...feel free to add, modify, ignore...:)
Take care and stay tuned... Lars
<? $testArray = array('foo', 'bar'); function getArray(){ global $testArray; return $testArray; } $testString = 'blah'; function getString(){ global $testString; return $testString; }
$testReference =& getString(); //force a reference $testReference = 'bloo'; echo 'globalFunction: '; print_r($testString); $testReference =& getArray(); //force a reference $testReference = array(); echo '<br>globalFunction: '; print_r($testArray);
echo '<hr>';
class test{ var $testArray; var $testString; function test(){ $this->testArray = array('foo', 'bar'); $this->testString = 'blah'; } function getArray(){ return $this->testArray; } function getString(){ return $this->testString; } }
$testObj = new test(); $testReference =& $testObj->getArray(); //force a reference $testReference = array(); echo 'classFunction: '; print_r($testObj->testArray); $testReference =& $testObj->getString(); //force a reference $testReference = 'bloo'; echo '<br>classFunction: '; print_r($testObj->testString); ?>
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