Behaviour ofPHP references with globals

[[deleted]]

Try the following code:

<?php

$gGlobal = 1;
function ChangeGlobalValue()
{
global $gGlobal;

$local = 55;
$gGlobal = $local;
print "Value:Global=$gGlobal<BR>";

}

function ChangeGlobalRef()
{
global $gGlobal;

$local = 99;
$gGlobal = &$local;
print "Ref:Global=$gGlobal<BR>";

}

print "Global=$gGlobal<BR>";
ChangeGlobalValue();
print "Global=$gGlobal<BR>";
ChangeGlobalRef();
print "Global=$gGlobal<BR>";
?>

I get the following results:

Global=1
Value:Global=55
Global=55
Ref:Global=99
Global=55

Why does setting a global variable to a reference fail in a function?

Tested on PHP 4.0.4 on IIS5 (CGI version).

[Anon]

I suppose, the trick is that your variable called $local does not exist outside your ChangeGlobalRef() function, so outside this function $gGlobal cannot reference to inexisting $local.