While working with passing parameters by reference to an object method, I noticed a peculiar behavior:
class Test
{
private $value;
public function Set($value)
{
$this->value = $value;
}
public function Get(&$ref)
{
$ref = &$this->value; //Assigning reference parameter to the value of this object
}
}
$test = new Test();
$test->Set('test');
$test->Get($value1);
var_dump($value1); //Returns NULL instead of 'test'!
*Update: For clarification purposes, changing the function name from GetByRef(...) to Get(...)
*Update 2: Forgot to mention a real test case scenario where I encountered some difficulties:
$test->Get($value1);
$test->Get($value2);
$value1 = 'Another test value';
echo $value2; //Expected output is 'Another test value';
The issue arises because $value2 does not know whether $value1 has been initialized or not. Hence, standard assignment like $value2 = &$value1 will not work in this situation.