What are some potential pitfalls of using explicit references in PHP code?

Using explicit references in PHP code can lead to unexpected behavior and make the code harder to understand and maintain. It can also introduce potential bugs if not used carefully. To avoid these pitfalls, consider using object-oriented programming principles and passing objects by value instead of by reference when possible. 

// Avoid using explicit references in PHP code
$var1 = 5;
$var2 = &$var1;
$var1 = 10;

echo $var2; // This will output 10, which might be unexpected

// Instead, consider passing objects by value
$var1 = 5;
$var2 = $var1;
$var1 = 10;

echo $var2; // This will output 5 as expected

Keywords

explicit references PHP code memory management circular references garbage collection

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