How can PHP references (&) be used to prevent variable overwriting in foreach loops?

When iterating over arrays in a foreach loop in PHP, the loop creates a copy of the array element, not a reference. This means that if you modify the element within the loop, the original array remains unchanged. To prevent variable overwriting and modify the original array within the loop, you can use references by adding an ampersand (&) before the variable in the foreach loop declaration. 

$originalArray = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

foreach ($originalArray as &$value) {
    $value *= 2;
}

print_r($originalArray);

Keywords

PHP references foreach loop variable overwriting prevent

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