First of all -> is not a pointer in the c/c++ sense in php. Instead -> is how you access object properties and methods for an instantiated class.
Pointers in the c/c++ sense don't really exist in php. You can pass by reference like this:
<?php
function square(&$value) {
$value = $value << 1;
} //end square
?>
Note that there is no return value. This is because since I passed by reference I have directly affected the passed variable from inside the function. It is equivalent to:
<?php
function square() {
global $value;
$value = $value << 1;
}//end square
?>
Except that it is more portable because I do not need a global named $value in the first instance.
To the best of my knowledge you can't access the actual address of a variable in php. That is why we have array processing built into the language instead of using linked lists.
