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Subject: A reference problem
From: karoly@negyesi.net ("Karoly Negyesi")

Hi!

Without much ado, here is a piece of problematic code:

<?php
ini_set('error_report', E_ALL);
function f1() {
   global $a;
   $array = array();
   $throwaway = f3($array);
   var_dump($a);
}

function f2() {
   global $a;
   $array = array();
   f3($array);
   var_dump($a);
}

function f3($array) {
   global $a;
   $array[0] = &$a;
   $array[0] = &$array[0]['foo']; // no notice here. interesting.
   $array[0] = 'bar';
   return $array;
}

$a = array();
f1();
$a = array();
f2();
?>

Please note that the only difference between f1 and f2 that the first  
records the return value of f3() into a variable. However, this changes  
the output:

array(1) {
   ["foo"]=>
   &string(3) "bar"
}
array(1) {
   ["foo"]=>
   string(3) "bar"
}

Is this a bug? Or I miss something?

Thanks

Karoly Negyesi

Ps. There is a good reason for using such ugly reference magic, and I am  
happy to explain it to anyone who is interested, but it's a long story...