Weak References¶
Weak references allow the programmer to retain a reference to an object which does not prevent the object from being destroyed. They are useful for implementing cache like structures.
<?php
$obj = new stdClass;
$weakref = WeakReference::create($obj);
var_dump($weakref->get());
unset($obj);
var_dump($weakref->get());
// NULL
?>
See also 0 <`PHP 8.0 feature focus: Weak maps>`_ and 1 <`WeakReferences>`_.
Related : References, Circular Reference
Added in PHP 7.4
