php-doc-en/faq/misc.xml

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 <chapter id="faq.misc">
  <title>Miscellaneous Questions</title>
  <titleabbrev>Miscellaneous Questions</titleabbrev>

   <para>
    There can be some questions we can't put into other
    categories. Here you can find them.
   </para>

  <qandaset>
   <qandaentry id="faq.misc.bz2">
    <question>
     <para>
      How can I handle the bz2 compressed manuals on Windows?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      If you don't have an archiver-tool to handle bz2 files
      <ulink url="&url.bzip2;">download</ulink> the commandline tool
      from Redhat (please find further information below). 
     </para>
     <para>
      If you would not like to use a command line tool, you can try free 
      tools like <ulink url="&url.stuffit;">Stuffit Expander</ulink>, 
      <ulink url="&url.ultimatezip;">UltimateZip</ulink>,
      <ulink url="&url.7zip;">7-Zip</ulink>, or
      <ulink url="&url.quickzip;">Quick Zip</ulink>. If you
      have tools like <ulink url="&url.winrar;">WinRAR</ulink> or
      <ulink url="&url.powerarchiver;">Power Archiver</ulink>, you can
      easily decompress the bz2 files with it. If you use Total Commander
      (formerly Windows Commander),
      a bz2 plugin for that program is available freely from the
      <ulink url="&url.wincmd;">Total Commander</ulink> site. 
     </para>
     <para>
      The bzip2 commandline tool from Redhat:
     </para>
     <para>
      Win2k Sp2 users grab the latest version 1.0.2, all
      other Windows user should grab version 1.00. After downloading rename
      the executable to bzip2.exe. For convenience put it into a directory in
      your path, e.g. C:\Windows where C represents your windows installation
      drive.
     </para>
     <para>
      Note: lang stands for your language and x for the desired format, e.g.: pdf.
      To uncompress the php_manual_lang.x.bz2 follow these simple instructions:
      <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
        <simpara>open a command prompt window</simpara>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <simpara>
         cd to the folder where you stored the
         downloaded php_manual_lang.x.bz2
        </simpara>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <simpara>
         invoke bzip2 -d php_manual_lang.x.bz2, extracting
         php_manual_lang.x in the same folder
        </simpara>
       </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
     </para>
     <para>
      In case you downloaded the php_manual_lang.tar.bz2 with many html-files
      in it, the procedure is the same. The only difference is that you got a file
      php_manual_lang.tar. The tar format is known to be treated with most
      common archivers on Windows like e.g.
      <ulink url="&url.winzip;">WinZip</ulink>.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>
   
   <qandaentry id="faq.misc.arguments.references">
    <question>
     <para>
      What does &amp; beside argument mean in function declaration of e.g.
      <function>asort</function>?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      It means that the argument is
      <link linkend="language.references.pass">passed by reference</link> and
      the function will likely modify it corresponding to the documentation. You
      can pass only variables this way and you don't need to pass them with
      &amp; in function call (it's even
      <link linkend="ini.allow-call-time-pass-reference">deprecated</link>).
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>
   
   <qandaentry id="faq.misc.registerglobals">
    <question>
     <para>
      How do I deal with <literal>register_globals</literal>?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      For information about the security implications of
      <literal>register_globals</literal>, read the security chapter on
      <link linkend="security.globals">Using register_globals</link>.
     </para>
     <para>
      It's preferred to use
      <link linkend="language.variables.superglobals">superglobals</link>,
      rather than relying upon <literal>register_globals</literal> being on.
     </para>
     <para>
      If you are on a shared host with <literal>register_globals</literal> turned
      off and need to use some legacy applications, which require this option
      to be turned on, or you are on some hosting server, where this feature
      is turned on, but you would like to eliminate security risks, you might
      need to emulate the opposite setting with PHP. It is always a good idea to
      first ask if it would be possible to change the option somehow in PHP's
      configuration, but if it is not possible, then you can use these
      compatibility snippets.
     </para>
     <para>
      <example>
       <title>Emulating Register Globals</title>
        <para>
        This will emulate register_globals On.
       </para>
       <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// Emulate register_globals on
if (!ini_get('register_globals')) {
    $superglobals = array($_SERVER, $_ENV,
        $_FILES, $_COOKIE, $_POST, $_GET);
    if (isset($_SESSION)) {
        array_unshift($superglobals, $_SESSION);
    }
    foreach ($superglobals as $superglobal) {
        extract($superglobal, EXTR_SKIP);
    }
}
?>
]]>
       </programlisting>
       <para>
        This will emulate register_globals Off. Keep in mind, that this code should be called in the very beginning of your script.
       </para>
       <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
// Emulate register_globals off
function unregister_GLOBALS()
{
    if (!ini_get('register_globals')) {
        return;
    }

    // Might want to change this perhaps to a nicer error
    if (isset($_REQUEST['GLOBALS'])) {
        die('GLOBALS overwrite attempt detected');
    }

    // Variables that shouldn't be unset
    $noUnset = array('GLOBALS',  '_GET',
                     '_POST',    '_COOKIE',
                     '_REQUEST', '_SERVER',
                     '_ENV',     '_FILES');

    $input = array_merge($_GET,    $_POST,
                         $_COOKIE, $_SERVER,
                         $_ENV,    $_FILES,
                         isset($_SESSION) && is_array($_SESSION) ? $_SESSION : array());
    
    foreach ($input as $k => $v) {
        if (!in_array($k, $noUnset) && isset($GLOBALS[$k])) {
            unset($GLOBALS[$k]);
        }
    }
}

unregister_GLOBALS();

?>
]]>
       </programlisting>
      </example>
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>
  </qandaset>
 </chapter>

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