Posted by ColdShine on 03/18/06 04:53

frizzle in news:1142637987.677378.96420@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com wrote:

> noone wrote:
>
>> frizzle wrote:
>
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> Recently i noticed a few times an ampersand in front of a variable in a
>>> function.
>>> Like so:
>>>
>>> function foo( &$bar )
>>> {
>>> // do something
>>> };
>>>
>>> What is it for? I can't figure it out ...
>>
>> from:
>> http://www.softwareprojects.org/php-functions-12.htm
>>
>> Another way to access the data outside the function, without using an
>> argument is by using a reference to a variable as an argument. You can
>> do this by placing an ampersand "&" in front of the argument, when you
>> define the function. This way, the function will directly access the
>> variable thru the reference, and the variable can be assigned and read
>> at the same time.
>
> Hmm, could you maybe give me a small simple example ?

function modify_arg1(&$arg1, $arg2)
{
$arg1 = 'first';
$arg2 = 'second';
}

$arg1 = 1;
$arg2 = 2;
modify_arg1($arg1, $arg2);
echo $arg1;
echo $arg2;

Outputs:
first
2

Hope this helps!
--
ColdShine

"Experience is a hard teacher: she gives the test first, the lesson
afterwards." - Vernon Sanders law

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