Question

I’ve looked at Is it possible to pass parameters by reference using call_user_func_array()?, and http://php.net/manual/en/function.call-user-func-array.php. The approved technique for passing by reference using call_user_func_array() seems to be by making the parameter array an array of variable references. For example, setting $parameters = array( &$some_variable). My question is, can we instead make the parameter array an array of variables (not references), and pass the whole parameter array as a reference instead? This is illustrated below:

function toBeCalled( &$parameter1, $parameter2 ) {
    //...Do Something...
}

$changingVar = 'passThis';
$changingVar2 = 'passThisToo';
$parameters = array( $changingVar, $changingVar2 );
call_user_func_array( 'toBeCalled', &$parameters );

Notice that the function toBeCalled expects the first variable as a reference, and the second as a value. The reason I ask is because the syntax here is convenient, and it seems to work (see this PHP 5.3 patch for the DruTex module for Drupal – http://drupal.org/node/730940#comment-4054054), but I’m just checking what experts think about it.

Answer 1

You can’t, because the moment you put things into an array not by reference, they are copied. So no matter what you do with the array afterwards, it will not affect the original variables you put in (if they were even variables to start with).

The thing you linked to doesn’t seem to be relevant. It is removing a pointless call-time pass-by-reference.