PHP变量按值赋值，按值传递给函数，当包含/表示对象时通过引用传递。可以使用“&”强制变量通过引用传递。

由值/引用示例赋值:

$var1 = "test";
$var2 = $var1;
$var2 = "new test";
$var3 = &$var2;
$var3 = "final test";

print ("var1: $var1, var2: $var2, var3: $var3);

输出:

Var1:测试，var2:最终测试，var3:最终测试

按值/引用示例传递:

$var1 = "foo";
$var2 = "bar";

changeThem($var1, $var2);

print "var1: $var1, var2: $var2";

function changeThem($var1, &$var2){
    $var1 = "FOO";
    $var2 = "BAR";
}

输出:

foo, var2 BAR

引用示例传递的对象变量:

class Foo{
    public $var1;

    function __construct(){
        $this->var1 = "foo";
    }

    public function printFoo(){
        print $this->var1;
    }
}


$foo = new Foo();

changeFoo($foo);

$foo->printFoo();

function changeFoo($foo){
    $foo->var1 = "FOO";
}

输出:

喷火

(最后一个例子可能更好。)

当您希望简单地更改原始变量并将其返回到相同的变量名并赋予其新值时，可以将此用于函数。

function add(&$var){ // The & is before the argument $var
   $var++;
}
$a = 1;
$b = 10;
add($a);
echo "a is $a,";
add($b);
echo " a is $a, and b is $b"; // Note: $a and $b are NOT referenced

根据PHP文档，它是按值计算的。

默认情况下，函数实参是按值传递的(这样，如果函数内实参的值改变了，它不会在函数外被改变)。为了允许函数修改其参数，它们必须通过引用传递。 要让函数的实参始终通过引用传递，请在函数定义中的实参名称前加上&。

<?php
function add_some_extra(&$string)
{
    $string .= 'and something extra.';
}

$str = 'This is a string, ';
add_some_extra($str);
echo $str;    // outputs 'This is a string, and something extra.'
?>

http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration5.oop.php

In PHP 5 there is a new Object Model. PHP's handling of objects has been completely rewritten, allowing for better performance and more features. In previous versions of PHP, objects were handled like primitive types (for instance integers and strings). The drawback of this method was that semantically the whole object was copied when a variable was assigned, or passed as a parameter to a method. In the new approach, objects are referenced by handle, and not by value (one can think of a handle as an object's identifier).

取决于版本，4是值，5是引用。

可以通过引用将变量传递给函数。这个函数将能够修改原始变量。

你可以在函数定义中通过引用来定义段落:

<?php
function changeValue(&$var)
{
    $var++;
}

$result=5;
changeValue($result);

echo $result; // $result is 6 here
?>