PHP: Swap Variables One Liner

March 29th, 2007 by Pete

Here's a nifty one liner in PHP which let's you swap 2 variables values.

PLAIN TEXT

PHP:

1. list($a,$b) = array($b,$a);

Much like the PHP XOR swap there's no real reason this is any better than using a temporary variable, but you might be able to impress chicks with it or something.

/* Pete Graham */

Posted in Tech, php, programming |

4 Responses

1. Mark Simon Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 12:37 pm

   … except that it makes it easier to write another one-liner like this:

   if(whatever) list($a,$b)=array($b,a);

2. Swapping Two Variables in One Line With PHP - Ninedays Blog - web development, photography, tutorials and adventure Says:
   December 27th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

   […] And then one day while perusing the internet I found an even easier solution on Optimus Pete - PHP Swap Variables One Liner. […]

3. Swapping values in PHP | Ehsan Akhgari Says:
   July 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

   […] It’s always a good thing to search for something cool that you’ve found before blogging it, to make sure that others have not already done the same!    It even helped me see a PHP trick that should be familiar to seasoned C/C++ programmers… […]

4. Aquaricat Says:
   October 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

   Doesn’t this just introduce the overhead of creating a temporary array? If the value of XOR swapping is that it saves memory, wouldn’t doing this just waste double the memory of making a single temporary variable?

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