Voting

The Note You're Voting On

15 years ago
When using references in a class, you can reference $this-> variables.

<?php
class reftest
{
 public $a = 1;
 public $c = 1;

 public function reftest()
 {
 $b =& $this->a;
 $b = 2;
 }

 public function reftest2()
 {
 $d =& $this->c;
 $d++;
 }
}

$reference = new reftest();

$reference->reftest();
$reference->reftest2();

echo $reference->a; //Echoes 2.
echo $reference->c; //Echoes 2.
?>

However, this doesn't appear to be completely trustworthy. In some cases, it can act strangely.

<?php
class reftest
{
 public $a = 1;
 public $c = 1;

 public function reftest()
 {
 $b =& $this->a;
 $b++;
 }

 public function reftest2()
 {
 $d =& $this->c;
 $d++;
 }
}

$reference = new reftest();

$reference->reftest();
$reference->reftest2();

echo $reference->a; //Echoes 3.
echo $reference->c; //Echoes 2.
?>

In this second code block, I've changed reftest() so that $b increments instead of just gets changed to 2. Somehow, it winds up equaling 3 instead of 2 as it should.
<< Back to user notes page