diff --git a/reference/strings/functions/sscanf.xml b/reference/strings/functions/sscanf.xml
index 1435a16481..a6715b810e 100644
--- a/reference/strings/functions/sscanf.xml
+++ b/reference/strings/functions/sscanf.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.8 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.9 $ -->
 <!-- splitted from ./en/functions/strings.xml, last change in rev 1.33 -->
   <refentry id="function.sscanf">
    <refnamediv>
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@ echo "Item $serial was manufactured on: $year-" . substr($month, 0, 3) . "-$day\
       </programlisting>
      </example>
      If optional parameters are passed, the function will return the
-     number of assigned values. The optional parameters must be passed
-     by reference.
+     number of assigned values.
      <example>
       <title><function>sscanf</function> - using optional parameters</title>
       <programlisting role="php">
@@ -55,7 +54,7 @@ echo "Item $serial was manufactured on: $year-" . substr($month, 0, 3) . "-$day\
 <?php
 // get author info and generate DocBook entry
 $auth = "24\tLewis Carroll";
-$n = sscanf($auth, "%d\t%s %s", &$id, &$first, &$last);
+$n = sscanf($auth, "%d\t%s %s", $id, $first, $last);
 echo "<author id='$id'>
     <firstname>$first</firstname>
     <surname>$last</surname>