Changing the reference of an array with a function not working

Question

The following works...

$a = ['a','b','c'=>[1,2,3]];
$b = &$a;
$b = &$b['c'];

So... I want to change the reference of an array with this function:

function change_array_pointer ( &$array, $path ) {    
    foreach ($path as $subpath) {
        $array = &$array[$subpath];
    }    
}

Looks simple, but doesn't work.

For example, this code is not working and I don't know why:

$a = ['a','b','c'=>[1,2,3]];
$b = &$a;
change_array_pointer($b,['c']);

In my opinion $b should be [1,2,3], but it's not.

Please explain to me what's happening :(

Federkun · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-18 23:57:14Z

1

$array = &$array[$subpath];

References in php are not like C pointers. Change that with

$array = $array[$subpath];

answered Oct 18, 2015 at 23:57

Federkun

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