PHP: can one determine the parent array's name and key from a reference to an array element?

let's assume we have an array like this

$arr=array(array('a'=>1,'b'=>2),array('c'=>3,'d'=>4));

and a reference to one of its elements

$element=&$arr[1]['c'];

My question is is it possible to get back to the original array using the reference alone? That is to get back to the parent array in so开发者_如何学Pythonme way without knowing it by name... This would be useful to me in a more complex scenario.

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No, it's certainly not possible. Being a "reference" (as PHP calls it; it's actually a copy inhibitor) doesn't help at all in that matter. You'll have to store the original array together with the element.

$elArrPair = array(
    "container" => $arr,
    "element"   => &$arr[1]['c'],
);

This way you can change the element with $elArrPair["element"] = $newValue and still be able to access the container.

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You cannot get from $element to $arr. You can use in_array() of course, but nothing about $element contains a reference to $arr.

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You copy the contect from one variable to another, nothing else, there is no connection between the two variables.