global $a in PHP is just another way to write $a =& $GLOBALS['a']; I.e. you ... | Hacker News

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rimantas on March 21, 2010 | parent | context | favorite | on: JavaScript: what is "this"?

global $a in PHP is just another way to write $a =& $GLOBALS['a'];

I.e. you just create reference to a global variable. Unsetting reference just breaks the tie between variable name and content.

IgorPartola on March 21, 2010 [–]

Exactly, which means that unset( $a ) is not the same thing as unset( $GLOBALS['a'] ). It makes perfect sense, just not a kind of thing you might not expect at first.

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