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Bug #73919 Short ternary operator and reference
Submitted: 2017-01-12 12:54 UTC Modified: 2017-01-12 13:37 UTC
From: p17 at ivaldi dot xyz Assigned:
Status: Not a bug Package: Scripting Engine problem
PHP Version: 7.1.0 OS: Linux 4.8.0-2-amd64
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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 [2017-01-12 12:54 UTC] p17 at ivaldi dot xyz 
Description:
------------
Using the short tertiary operator ?: with a pointer as first condition results in a non expected result.

Test script:
---------------
#!/usr/bin/php
<?php

error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);

$val = &$foo ?: 'default';

var_dump($val);

Expected result:
----------------
string(7) "default"

Actual result:
--------------
NULL

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 [2017-01-12 13:13 UTC] cmb@php.net
-Summary: Short tertiary operator and pointer +Summary: Short ternary operator and reference -Status: Open +Status: Verified -Package: *General Issues +Package: Scripting Engine problem
 [2017-01-12 13:13 UTC] cmb@php.net 
Confirmed: <https://3v4l.org/IU2Cq#v560>.
 [2017-01-12 13:37 UTC] nikic@php.net
-Status: Verified +Status: Not a bug
 [2017-01-12 13:37 UTC] nikic@php.net 
Your code is equivalent to ($val =& $foo) ?: 'default' and behaves accordingly. The RHS of a by-reference assignment must be variable-like, so this is the only valid way of parsing the code.

We could relax the RHS to be an expression and impose the variable-like constraint subsequently. However, this would be a backwards-incompatible change. The current parsing is consistent with our treatment of variables in other circumstances, e.g. !$x instanceof y parses as !($x instanceof y) rather than (!$x) instanceof y, because the LHS of instanceof must be variable-like.
 
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