Why am I getting an "unexpected token &" here?

Question

My PHP syntax highlighter / intellisense is telling me that the & of &$cases in the line

$thisTable = $work_type === WorkTypes::Study ? &$cases : &$projs);

is an unexpected token. What I'm trying to do is create an alias for either my $cases or $projs object depending on whether $work_type === WorkTypes::Study.

You have a `)` but no `(` – AbraCadaver Aug 27 '15 at 16:05 — AbraCadaver, Aug 27 '15 at 16:05
@AbraCadaver That was a type-o on my part – Aug 27 '15 at 16:44 — , Aug 27 '15 at 16:44

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 27 '15 at 19:52

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You are missing a parenthesis:

$thisTable = ($work_type === WorkTypes::Study ? &$cases : &$projs);

edited Aug 27 '15 at 19:52

ceiroa

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answered Aug 27 '15 at 16:07

Halayem Anis

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 27 '15 at 16:09

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Sometimes a missing ( bracket could kill you, happens to the best of us.

$thisTable = ($work_type === WorkTypes::Study ? &$cases : &$projs);

answered Aug 27 '15 at 16:09

DirtyBit

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

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The highlighter is right: the reference operator does not work inside a ternary operator because the =& is atomic (although the spaces don't seem to matter too much). Use this instead:

$work_type === WorkTypes::Study ? $thisTable = &$cases : $thisTable = &$projs;

(and as others have mentioned: either no brackets or both)

See also this SO answer.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

Community

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answered Aug 27 '15 at 16:26

Marten Koetsier

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Thanks! It appears that this bit of code is what was causing my entire page to not renderr. – Aug 27 '15 at 16:46
You're welcome. If it works, please mark the answer as accepted (see also [this guide](http://stackoverflow.com/help/someone-answers). – Marten Koetsier Aug 28 '15 at 10:45

Why am I getting an "unexpected token &" here?

3 Answers3