Hi,If you want to check if two variables are referencing each other (i.e. point to the same memory) you can use a function like this:<?phpfunction same_type(&$var1, &$var2){    return gettype($var1) === gettype($var2);}function is_ref(&$var1, &$var2) {    //If a reference exists, the type IS the same    if(!same_type($var1, $var2)) {        return false;    }    $same = false;    //We now only need to ask for var1 to be an array ;-)    if(is_array($var1)) {        //Look for an unused index in $var1        do {            $key = uniqid("is_ref_", true);        } while(array_key_exists($key, $var1));        //The two variables differ in content ... They can't be the same        if(array_key_exists($key, $var2)) {            return false;        }        //The arrays point to the same data if changes are reflected in $var2        $data = uniqid("is_ref_data_", true);        $var1[$key] =& $data;        //There seems to be a modification ...        if(array_key_exists($key, $var2)) {            if($var2[$key] === $data) {                $same = true;            }        }        //Undo our changes ...        unset($var1[$key]);    } elseif(is_object($var1)) {        //The same objects are required to have equal class names ;-)        if(get_class($var1) !== get_class($var2)) {            return false;        }        $obj1 = array_keys(get_object_vars($var1));        $obj2 = array_keys(get_object_vars($var2));        //Look for an unused index in $var1        do {            $key = uniqid("is_ref_", true);        } while(in_array($key, $obj1));        //The two variables differ in content ... They can't be the same        if(in_array($key, $obj2)) {            return false;        }        //The arrays point to the same data if changes are reflected in $var2        $data = uniqid("is_ref_data_", true);        $var1->$key =& $data;        //There seems to be a modification ...        if(isset($var2->$key)) {            if($var2[$key] === $data) {                $same = true;            }        }        //Undo our changes ...        unset($var1->$key);    } elseif (is_resource($var1)) {        if(get_resource_type($var1) !== get_resource_type($var2)) {            return false;        }        return ((string) $var1) === ((string) $var2);    } else {        //Simple variables ...        if($var1!==$var2) {            //Data mismatch ... They can't be the same ...            return false;        }        //To check for a reference of a variable with simple type        //simply store its old value and check against modifications of the second variable ;-)        do {            $key = uniqid("is_ref_", true);        } while($key === $var1);        $tmp = $var1; //WE NEED A COPY HERE!!!        $var1 = $key; //Set var1 to the value of $key (copy)        $same = $var1 === $var2; //Check if $var2 was modified too ...        $var1 = $tmp; //Undo our changes ...    }    return $same;}?>Although this implementation is quite complete, it can't handle function references and some other minor stuff ATM.This function is especially useful if you want to serialize a recursive array by hand.The usage is something like:<?php$a = 5;$b = 5;var_dump(is_ref($a, $b)); //false$a = 5;$b = $a;var_dump(is_ref($a, $b)); //false$a = 5;$b =& $a;var_dump(is_ref($a, $b)); //trueecho "---\n";$a = array();var_dump(is_ref($a, $a)); //true$a[] =& $a;var_dump(is_ref($a, $a[0])); // trueecho "---\n";$b = array(array());var_dump(is_ref($b, $b)); //truevar_dump(is_ref($b, $b[0])); //falseecho "---\n";$b = array();$b[] = $b;var_dump(is_ref($b, $b)); //truevar_dump(is_ref($b, $b[0])); //falsevar_dump(is_ref($b[0], $b[0][0])); //true*echo "---\n";var_dump($a);var_dump($b);?>* Please note the internal behaviour of PHP that seems to do the reference assignment BEFORE actually copying the variable!!! Thus you get an array containing a (different) recursive array for the last testcase, instead of an array containing an empty array as you could expect.BenBE.

For the sake of clarity:$this is a PSEUDO VARIABLE - thus not a real variable. ZE treats is in other ways then normal variables, and that means that some advanced variable-things won't work on it (for obvious reasons):<?phpclass Test {    var $monkeys = 0;        function doFoobar() {        $var = "this";        $$var->monkeys++; // Will fail on this line.    }}$obj = new Test;$obj->doFoobar(); // Will fail in this call.var_dump($obj->monkeys); // Will return int(0) if it even reaches here.?>

One may check reference to any object by simple operator==( object). Example:

<?php
  class A {}

  $oA1 = new A();

  $roA = & $oA1;

  echo "roA and oA1 are " . ( $roA == $oA1 ? "same" : "not same") . "<br>";

  $oA2 = new A();
  $roA = & $roA2;

  echo "roA and oA1 are " . ( $roA == $oA1 ? "same" : "not same") . "<br>";
?>

Output:

roA and oA1 are same
roA and oA1 are not same

Current technique might be useful for caching in objects when inheritance is used and only base part of extended class should be copied (analog of C++: oB = oA):

<?php
class A { 
  /* Any function changing state of A should set $bChanged to true */
  public function isChanged() { return $this->bChanged; }
  private $bChanged;
  //...
}

class B extends A {
// ...
  public function set( &$roObj) {
    if( $roObj instanceof A) {
      if( $this->roAObj == $roObj &&
          $roObj->isChanged()) {
        /* Object was not changed do not need to copy A part of B */
      } else {
        /* Copy A part of B */
        $this->roAObj = &$roObj;
      }
    }
  }

  private $roAObj;
}
?>

Sometimes an object's method returning a reference to itself is required. Here is a way to code it:<?phpclass MyClass {  public $datum;  public $other;    function &MyRef($d) { // the method    $this->datum = $d;    return $this; // returns the reference  }}$a = new MyClass;$b = $a->MyRef(25); // creates the referenceecho "This is object \$a: \n";print_r($a);echo "This is object \$b: \n";print_r($b);$b->other = 50;echo "This is object \$a, modified" .     " indirectly by modifying ref \$b: \n";print_r($a);?>This code outputs:This is object $a:MyClass Object(    [datum] => 25    [other] =>)This is object $b:MyClass Object(    [datum] => 25    [other] =>)This is object $a, modified indirectly by modifying ref $b:MyClass Object(    [datum] => 25    [other] => 50)

*** WARNING about OBJECTS TRICKY REFERENCES ***-----------------------------------------------The use of references in the context of classesand objects, though well defined in the documentation,is somehow tricky, so one must be very careful whenusing objects. Let's examine the following twoexamples:<?php  class y {    public $d;  }    $A = new y;  $A->d = 18;  echo "Object \$A before operation:\n";  var_dump($A);    $B = $A; // This is not an explicit (=&) reference assignment,           // however, $A and $B refer to the same instance            // though they are not equivalent names  $C =& $A; // Explicit reference assignment, $A and $C refer to             // the same instance and they have become equivalent            // names of the same instance    $B->d = 1234;   echo "\nObject \$B after operation:\n";  var_dump($B);  echo "\nObject \$A implicitly modified after operation:\n";  var_dump($A);   echo "\nObject \$C implicitly modified after operation:\n";  var_dump($C);     // Let's make $A refer to another instance  $A = new y;  $A->d = 25200;  echo "\nObject \$B after \$A modification:\n";  var_dump($B); // $B doesn't change  echo "\nObject \$A after \$A modification:\n";  var_dump($A);   echo "\nObject \$C implicitly modified after \$A modification:\n";  var_dump($C); // $C changes as $A changes?>Thus, note the difference between assignments $X = $Y and $X =& $Y.When $Y is anything but an object instance, the first assignment meansthat $X will hold an independent copy of $Y, and the second, means that$X and $Y will refer to the same thing, so they are tight together until either $X or $Y is forced to refer to another thing. However, when $Y happens to be an object instance, the semantic of $X = $Y changes and becomes only slightly different to that of $X =& $Y, since in bothcases $X and $Y become references to the same object. See what thisexample outputs:Object $A before operation:object(y)#1 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(18)}Object $B after operation:object(y)#1 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(1234)}Object $A implicitly modified after operation:object(y)#1 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(1234)}Object $C implicitly modified after operation:object(y)#1 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(1234)}Object $B after $A modification:object(y)#1 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(1234)}Object $A after $A modification:object(y)#2 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(25200)}Object $C implicitly modified after $A modification:object(y)#2 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(25200)}Let's review a SECOND EXAMPLE:<?php  class yy {    public $d;    function yy($x) {      $this->d = $x;    }  }  function modify($v)  {     $v->d = 1225;  }  $A = new yy(3);  var_dump($A);   modify($A);  var_dump($A);?>Although, in general, a formal argument declared as $v in the function 'modify' shown above, impliesthat the actual argument $A, passed when calling the function, is not modified, this is not the case when $A is an object instance. See what theexample code outputs when executed:object(yy)#3 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(3)}object(yy)#3 (1) {  ["d"]=>  int(1225)}

here is an unconventional (and not very fast) way of detecting references within arrays:<?php    function is_array_reference ($arr, $key) {        $isRef = false;        ob_start();        var_dump($arr);        if (strpos(preg_replace("/[ \n\r]*/i", "", preg_replace("/( ){4,}.*(\n\r)*/i", "", ob_get_contents())), "[" . $key . "]=>&") !== false)            $isRef = true;        ob_end_clean();        return $isRef;    }?>

Here is another function for checking if two variables refer to each other.The function by BenBE works properly, but it's very long and maybe slow.This is a shorter, faster and hopefully bug-free alternative.Works at least from PHP 4.3.0 to 8.3.4: https://3v4l.org/5JNSl<?phpfunction is_same_ref( & $a, & $b ){  // Save original values  $ori_a = $a;  $ori_b = $b;  // Give them different values  $a = 1;  $b = 2;  // Compare them, if they're equal, they are references to each other  $eq = $a === $b;  // Restore original values  $a = $ori_a;  $b = $ori_b;  return $eq;}$a = array(1,2);$b =& $a;$c =& $a;  // to check for side effectsvar_dump( is_same_ref( $a, $b ));// bool(true)$a[] = 3;$b[] = 4;// After juggling our array in various ways inside is_same_ref(),// all three variables still refer to the very same array:var_dump( implode( $a ), implode( $b ), implode( $c ));// string(4) "3456"// string(4) "3456"// string(4) "3456"?>

This is one way to check if is a reference<?php$a = 1;$b =& $a;$c = 2;$d = 3;$e = array($a);function is_reference($var){    $val = $GLOBALS[$var];    $tmpArray = array();    /**     * Add keys/values without reference     */    foreach($GLOBALS as $k => $v){        if(!is_array($v)){            $tmpArray[$k] = $v;        }    }    /**     * Change value of rest variables     */    foreach($GLOBALS as $k => $v){        if($k != 'GLOBALS'            && $k != '_POST'            && $k != '_GET'            && $k != '_COOKIE'            && $k != '_FILES'            && $k != $var            && !is_array($v)        ){            usleep(1);            $GLOBALS[$k] = md5(microtime());        }    }    $bool = $val != $GLOBALS[$var];    /**     * Restore defaults values     */    foreach($tmpArray as $k => $v){        $GLOBALS[$k] = $v;    }    return $bool;}var_dump(is_reference('a'));var_dump(is_reference('b'));var_dump(is_reference('c'));var_dump(is_reference('d'));?>This won't check if reference is inside a array.