what are the difference between these operators = and =&

Question

I found this but confused totally what are the difference between these operators (= and =&)

$instance = new SimpleClass();

$assigned   =  $instance;
$reference  =& $instance;

Can anyone explain about this properly, please?

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.whatare.php — , Aug 25 '13 at 05:37
you could also check out [this link](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/879/php-variables-passed-by-value-or-by-reference) — orustammanapov, Aug 25 '13 at 05:45

mahendra · Answer 1 · 2013-08-25T06:15:13.353

1

    <?php
    $a = 1;
    $b = $a;
    $b = 2;
    echo "a:{$a} / b: {$b}<br />";
    // returns 1/2

    $a = 1;
    $b =& $a;
    $b = 2;
    echo "a:{$a} / b: {$b}<br />";
    // returns 2/2
     ?>
Above example clarifies the difference

edited Aug 25 '13 at 06:15

answered Aug 25 '13 at 05:59

mahendra

133
3

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

You may understood as following:

$instance = "5";
$assigned = $instance; // stores "5"
$reference =& $instance; // Point to the object $instance stores "5"
$instance = null; // $instance and $reference become null

Which means

$instance has the value "5" would be null

$assigned has the value "5" wouldn't be null coz it is stored with "5"

$reference has the value "5" would be null as it is pointed to $instance

what are the difference between these operators = and =&

2 Answers2