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<title>Spotting References</title>
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<h2 class="title">Spotting References</h2>
<p class="simpara">
Many syntax constructs in PHP are implemented via referencing
mechanisms, so everything mentioned herein about reference binding also
applies to these constructs. Some constructs, like passing and
returning by reference, are mentioned above. Other constructs that
use references are:
</p>
<div class="sect2" id="references.global">
<h3 class="title">global References</h3>
<p class="para">
When you declare a variable as <strong class="command">global $var</strong> you
are in fact creating reference to a global variable. That means,
this is the same as:
<div class="informalexample">
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$var </span><span style="color: #007700">=& </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$GLOBALS</span><span style="color: #007700">[</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"var"</span><span style="color: #007700">];<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
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<p class="simpara">
This also means that unsetting <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$var</var></var>
won't unset the global variable.
</p>
</div>
<div class="sect2" id="references.this">
<h3 class="title"><em>$this</em></h3>
<p class="simpara">
In an object method, <var class="varname"><var class="varname">$this</var></var> is always a reference
to the caller object.
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