What do the '&=' and '=&' operators do?

Question

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Answer 1

'&=' and '=&' are very different operators.

'&=' is a bitwise assignment operator:

$var = false;
$var &= foo(); // will call foo()
$var = false & foo(); // will call foo()
$var = $var && foo(); // will not call foo()

'=&' returns a reference:

$a = $b; //$a points to $b
$a =& $b; //$a does NOT point to $b... both point to the same thing.