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</div><hr /><div id="language.references.unset" class="sect1">
<h2 class="title">Unsetting References</h2>
<p class="para">
When you unset the reference, you just break the binding between
variable name and variable content. This does not mean that
variable content will be destroyed. For example:
<div class="informalexample">
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$a </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b </span><span style="color: #007700">=& </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />unset(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">); <br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
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</div>
won't unset <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$b</var></var>, just <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$a</var></var>.
</p>
<p class="simpara">
Again, it might be useful to think about this as analogous to the Unix
<strong class="command">unlink</strong> call.
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