What is the significance of passing variables by reference in PHP functions?

Passing variables by reference in PHP functions allows the function to directly modify the original variable rather than creating a copy of it. This can be useful when working with large arrays or objects to avoid unnecessary memory usage. To pass a variable by reference in PHP, simply use an ampersand (&) before the variable name in both the function definition and when calling the function. 

// Passing a variable by reference in PHP function
function incrementByReference(&$num) {
    $num++;
}

$number = 5;
incrementByReference($number);
echo $number; // Output: 6

Keywords

PHP variables reference functions significance

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