PHP Question: Variable Reference

Question

What does the following code snipped print?

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$a=5;$b='a';print$$b;

Answer

This will print "5" because $$b tells PHP to use the value of the $b variable as a variable name, so as the value of $b is 'a' we are really looking at the value of $a; the $$b above could be replaced by $a and have the same output. This variable variable feature is a little obscure but it is useful to use in certain circumstances.

This can be taken a step further by using multiple levels of reference to access a variable by adding more dollar signs to the front of the variable name. All of the following will print out 5 because all of the print statements will point back to the variable $a.

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$a=5;$b='a';$c='b';$d='c';$e='d';$f='e'; 
print$$b;print $$$c;print $$$$d;print $$$$d;print $$$$$e;print $$$$$$f;