Objects and references in PHP

In PHP, objects are instances of classes, which are templates that define the properties and methods that objects of that class can have. Objects can be created using the new keyword and accessed using the arrow (->) operator.

PHP also has a concept of references, which are variables that point to the same value in memory. This can be useful for creating aliases or for passing variables by reference to functions.

When working with objects, variables that hold objects are actually references to the object in memory. This means that when you pass an object to a function or assign it to another variable, you are passing or assigning a reference to the same object, not a copy of the object itself.

Understanding references is important when working with objects in PHP, as it can affect how changes to an object are propagated throughout your code.