实际上这两种方法都是有效的，但这取决于你的需求。通过引用传递值通常会使脚本变慢。因此，考虑到执行时间，最好按值传递变量。此外，当按值传递变量时，代码流更加一致。

取决于版本，4是值，5是引用。

PHP引用是一个别名，允许两个不同的变量写入相同的值。

在PHP中，如果你有一个包含对象的变量，这个变量不包含对象本身。相反，它包含该对象的标识符。对象访问器将使用标识符查找实际对象。因此，当我们在函数中使用对象作为参数或将其赋值给另一个变量时，我们将复制指向对象本身的标识符。

https://hsalem.com/posts/you-think-you-know-php.html

class Type {}

$x = new Type();
$y = $x;
$y = "New value";

var_dump($x); // Will print the object.
var_dump($y); // Will print the "New value"

$z = &$x; // $z is a reference of $x

$z = "New value";
var_dump($x); // Will print "New value"
var_dump($z); // Will print "New value"

class Holder
{
    private $value;

    public function __construct( $value )
    {
        $this->value = $value;
    }

    public function getValue()
    {
        return $this->value;
    }

    public function setValue( $value )
    {
        return $this->value = $value;
    }
}

class Swap
{       
    public function SwapObjects( Holder $x, Holder $y )
    {
        $tmp = $x;

        $x = $y;

        $y = $tmp;
    }

    public function SwapValues( Holder $x, Holder $y )
    {
        $tmp = $x->getValue();

        $x->setValue($y->getValue());

        $y->setValue($tmp);
    }
}


$a1 = new Holder('a');

$b1 = new Holder('b');



$a2 = new Holder('a');

$b2 = new Holder('b');


Swap::SwapValues($a1, $b1);

Swap::SwapObjects($a2, $b2);



echo 'SwapValues: ' . $a2->getValue() . ", " . $b2->getValue() . "<br>";

echo 'SwapObjects: ' . $a1->getValue() . ", " . $b1->getValue() . "<br>";

属性在没有通过引用传递时仍然是可以修改的，所以要小心。

输出:

SwapObjects: b, a SwapValues: a, b

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。)

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).