PHP Conference Nagoya 2025

Parameterübergabe per Referenz

Man kann Variablen an Funktionen per Referenz übergeben, so dass die Funktion die Variable modifizieren kann. Dazu benutzt man folgende Syntax:

<?php

function foo(&$var)
{
$var++;
}

$a=5;

foo($a);
// $a ist 6

?>

Hinweis: Zu beachten ist, dass beim Funktionsaufruf kein Referenz-Zeichen steht, sondern nur in der Funktionsdefinition. Diese allein ist ausreichend, um das Argument per Referenz zu übergeben.

Folgende Dinge können per Referenz übergeben werden:

  • Variablen, zum Beispiel foo($a)
  • Referenzen, zurückgegeben von einer Funktion, zum Beispiel:

    <?php

    function foo(&$var)
    {
    $var++;
    }

    function &
    bar()
    {
    $a = 5;
    return
    $a;
    }

    foo(bar());

    ?>
    Es gibt detailliertere Erläuterungen zur Rückgabe per Referenz.

Alle anderen Ausdrücke sollten nicht per Referenz übergeben werden, da das Ergebnis undefiniert ist. Folgende Beispiele sind etwa ungültig:

<?php

function foo(&$var)
{
$var++;
}

function
bar() // Beachte das fehlende &
{
$a = 5;
return
$a;
}

foo(bar()); // Erzeugt einen Hinweis

foo($a = 5); // Ausdruck, nicht Variable
foo(5); // Erzeugt einen fatalen Fehler

class Foobar {}

foo(new Foobar()) // Erzeugt einen Hinweis von PHP 7.0.7 an
// Hinweis: Nur Variablen sollten als Referenz übergeben werden

?>

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User Contributed Notes 5 notes

up
448
tnestved at yahoo dot com
10 years ago
By removing the ability to include the reference sign on function calls where pass-by-reference is incurred (I.e., function definition uses &), the readability of the code suffers, as one has to look at the function definition to know if the variable being passed is by-ref or not (I.e., potential to be modified). If both function calls and function definitions require the reference sign (I.e., &), readability is improved, and it also lessens the potential of an inadvertent error in the code itself. Going full on fatal error in 5.4.0 now forces everyone to have less readable code. That is, does a function merely use the variable, or potentially modify it...now we have to find the function definition and physically look at it to know, whereas before we would know the intent immediately.
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29
ccb_bc at hotmail dot com
5 years ago
<?php
// PHP >= 5.6

// Here we use the 'use' operator to create a variable within the scope of the function. Although it may seem that the newly created variable has something to do with '$x' that is outside the function, we are actually creating a '$x' variable within the function that has nothing to do with the '$x' variable outside the function. We are talking about the same names but different content locations in memory.
$x = 10;
(function() use (
$x){
$x = $x*$x;
var_dump($x); // 100
})();
var_dump($x); // 10

// Now the magic happens with using the reference (&). Now we are actually accessing the contents of the '$y' variable that is outside the scope of the function. All the actions that we perform with the variable '$y' within the function will be reflected outside the scope of this same function. Remembering this would be an impure function in the functional paradigm, since we are changing the value of a variable by reference.
$y = 10;
(function() use (&
$y){
$y = $y*$y;
var_dump($y); // 100
})();
var_dump($y); // 100
?>
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37
mike at eastghost dot com
9 years ago
beware unset() destroys references

$x = 'x';
change( $x );
echo $x; // outputs "x" not "q23" ---- remove the unset() and output is "q23" not "x"

function change( & $x )
{
unset( $x );
$x = 'q23';
return true;
}
up
2
Anonymous
1 year ago
Parameters passed by references can have default values.
You can find out if a variable was actually passed by using func_num_args():

<?php

function refault( & $ref = 'Do I have to be calculated?'){
echo
'NUM ARGS: '. func_num_args()."\n";
echo
"ORI VALUE: {$ref}\n";
if(
func_num_args() > 0 ) $ref = 'Yes, expensive to calculate result: ' . sleep(1);
else
$ref = 'No.';
echo
"NEW VALUE: {$ref}\n";
}

$result = 'Do I have to be calculated?';
refault( $result );
echo
"RESULT: {$result}\n";
// NUM ARGS: 1
// ORI VALUE: Do I have to be calculated?
// NEW VALUE: Yes, expensive to calculate result: 0
// RESULT: Yes, expensive to calculate result: 0

refault();
// NUM ARGS: 0
// ORI VALUE: Do I have to be calculated?
// NEW VALUE: No.
?>
up
2
Jason Steelman
5 years ago
Within a class, passing array elements by reference which don't exist are added to the array as null. Compared to a normal function, this changes the behavior of the function from throwing an error to creating a new (null) entry in the referenced array with a new key.

<?php

class foo {
public
$arr = ['a' => 'apple', 'b' => 'banana'];
public function
normalFunction($key) {
return
$this->arr[$key];
}
public function &
referenceReturningFunction($key) {
return
$this->arr[$key];
}
}

$bar = new foo();
$var = $bar->normalFunction('beer'); //Notice Error. Undefined index beer
$var = &$bar->referenceReturningFunction('beer'); // No error. The value of $bar is now null
var_dump($bar->arr);
/**
[
"a" => "apple",
"b" => "banana",
"beer" => null,
],
*/

?>
This is in no way a "bug" - the framework is performing as designed, but it took careful thought to figure out what was going on. PHP7.3
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