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Bug #40050 Array assignment without references
Submitted: 2007-01-07 19:57 UTC Modified: 2007-01-08 09:39 UTC
From: BenBE at omorphia dot de Assigned:
Status: Not a bug Package: Scripting Engine problem
PHP Version: 5.2.0 OS: Windows 2K
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
 [2007-01-07 19:57 UTC] BenBE at omorphia dot de
Description:
------------
When assigning an array by-value into itself PHP will insert a self-referencing Array into the new entry

Reproduce code:
---------------
$a = array();
$a[] =& $a;
print_r($a);

$b = array();
$b[] = $b;
print_r($b);

Expected result:
----------------
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      *RECURSION*
    }
  }
}
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(0) {
  }
}
$b[0] should contain an empty array because $b was assigned by-value, i.e. should get copied.

Actual result:
--------------
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      *RECURSION*
    }
  }
}
array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      *RECURSION*
    }
  }
}

Comparing the references (see my entry regarding Spotting References) you find that $b and $b[0] are different pointers and $b[0] is an array like the one created in $a.

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 [2007-01-07 21:58 UTC] iliaa@php.net
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

.
 [2007-01-07 22:52 UTC] BenBE at omorphia dot de
Please quote in detail the page of the manual you are referring to, as I can't find any reason why assigning an array with = should create such a weird pointer structure.

As mentioned below the =& assignment is right, only the = assignment is in question (and most likely wrong IMHO).
 [2007-01-08 09:39 UTC] bjori@php.net
Dupe of bug#38469
 
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