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Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:44:22 +0200
To: PHP Internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Assigning to a reference returned by a function/method
From: claude.pache@gmail.com (Claude Pache)

Hi internals,


Today I tried something like that:

<?php
function &fooRef(...$args) {
    // ... impl details
    return $someRef;
}

fooRef('a', 'b') =3D 42;
?>

and it failed miserably (Fatal Error: Can't use function return value in =
write context).=20

Naturally, as workaround, I could write:

<?php
$ref =3D& fooRef('a', 'b');
$ref =3D 42;
unset($ref);
?>

which is passable for one instruction, but not so much for ten similar =
instructions in a row.

Another hackier workaround:

<?php
function arrayFoo(...$args) {
    // ... impl details
    $arr =3D [ &$someRef ];
    return $arr;
}

arrayFoo('a', 'b')[0] =3D 42;
?>

(... and I was wondering that it worked, while <?php [ &fooRef('a', 'b') =
][0] =3D 42; ?> triggered a fatal error).


So... what do you think? Is it reasonable to allow to assign to a =
function/method return value, when it is a reference?


=E2=80=94Claude