Is it possible to pass a variable stored in an array by reference in PHP?

Question

If I want myFunction to take $myVariable and assign to it an instance of SomeClass , I know I can do this:

class SomeClass { }

function myFunction(&$myVariable) {
    $myVariable = new SomeClass();
}

myFunction($myVariable);

var_dump($myVariable);

However, I would like to be able to have myFunction operate like this:

class SomeClass { }

function myFunction($args = array()) {
    if(isset($args['something'])) {
        $$args['something'] = new SomeClass();
    }
}

myFunction(array(
    'something' => $myVariable
));

var_dump($myVariable);

Is there any way to achieve this?

Answer 1

it's an ugly hack but could work:

 global $$args['something'];
 $$args['something'] = new SomeClass();

But you should never introduce such side effects.

Answer 2

You can only pass variables by reference, so

myFunction(array()) 

will not work in either case.

Im not sure what your doing, but lets say

$myVariable = 'Mary';
$array['something'] = $myVariable;

Then

$$array['something'] === $Mary

Which doesnt exist.

I havent tested it, but I dont think that will work the way you want it to, even with global variables.