semi-dirty PHP trick?

[metawidget]

How ugly is this approach to making a copy of an array that moves only values, not references?

$copy_of_array = unserialize(serialize($multidimensional_array));

I feel a little dirty... assuming I'm not too worried about efficiency, should I?

Comments

[v0idnull.livejournal.com]


$a1[0] = 'hello world';
$a2 = $a1;
$a2[0] = 'foo bar';
echo $a1[0].':'.$a2[0]; // hello world:foo bar

$a2 =& $a1;
$a2[0] = 'foo bar';
echo $a1[0].':'.$a2[0]; // foo bar:foo bar


the = operator means assignment. =& operator means reference.

ecmascript (which is what actionscript/javascript are dervitives of), can be wierd when it comes to references.


var i;
var x;
i = x; // i & x are two seperate variables.

var i;
i = some.global.scope.object; // i is a reference of that object