append_by_ref

append_by_ref -- 

void append_by_ref ( string varname, mixed var [, bool merge])

This is used to append values to the templates by reference. If you append a variable by reference then change its value, the appended value sees the change as well. For objects, append_by_ref() also avoids an in-memory copy of the appended object. See the PHP manual on variable referencing for an in-depth explanation. If you pass the optional third parameter of true, the value will be merged with the current array instead of appended.

Technical Note: The merge parameter respects array keys, so if you merge two numerically indexed arrays, they may overwrite each other or result in non-sequential keys. This is unlike the array_merge() function of PHP which wipes out numerical keys and renumbers them.

Example 1. append_by_ref

<?php
// appending name/value pairs
$smarty->append_by_ref("Name", $myname);
$smarty->append_by_ref("Address", $address);
?>