Php: what's the difference between $var and &$var?

Question

What is the difference between

foreach ($my_array as $my_value) {
}

And:

foreach ($my_array as &$my_value) {
}

Answer 1

I only use references when i have to read csv files to know what is the delimitier. Just take the first line:

$handle = fopen($file, "r");
$firstLine = fgets($handle);
fclose($handle);

Then with this possible delimitiers

$delimiters = array(';' => 0,',' => 0,"\t" => 0,"|" => 0);

Count by reference what is the most used

foreach ($delimiters as $delimiter => &$count) {
    $count = count(str_getcsv($firstLine, $delimiter));
}
$delimiter =  array_search(max($delimiters), $delimiters);