ZEND PHP 5 Certification STUDY GUIDE

20 ” PHP Basics
4,294,967,296—which, incidentally, will now be a float because such a number cannot
be represented using a signed 32-bit integer.
Assignment Operators
Given the creativity that we have shown in the naming conventions to this point,
you’ll probably be very surprised to hear that assignment operators make it possible
to assign a value to a variable. The simplest assignment operator is a single equals
sign, which we have already seen in previous examples:
$variable = ’value’;
// $variable now contains the string ’value’
In addition, it is possible to combine just about every other type of binary arithmetic
and bitwise operator with the = sign to simultaneously perform an operation on a
variable and reassign the resulting value to itself:
$variable = 1;
// $variable now contains the integer value 1
$variable += 3;
/*
$variable now contains the integer 4
*/
In this example, we pair the addition operator (the plus sign) with the equals sign to
add the existing value of $variable to the right operand, the integer 3. This technique
can be used with all binary arithmetic and bitwise operators.
Referencing Variables
Licensed to 482634 - Amber Barrow (itsadmin@deakin.edu.au)
By default, assignment operators work by value—that is, they copy the value of an
expression on to another. If the right-hand operand happens to be a variable, only
its value is copied, so that any subsequent change to the left-hand operator is not
reflected in the right-hand one. For example:
$a = 10;