Strict standards: Only variables should be passed by reference

PHP
1

I am getting this error for number of comments in wordpress post meta. The error remains even after remover ‘&’ from seperate_comments function.

function shizzo_comments_number( $count )
{
    if ( !is_admin() ) {
        global $id;
        $comments_by_type = &separate_comments( get_comments( 'status=approve&post_id=' . $id ) );
        return count( $comments_by_type['comment'] );
    } else {
        return $count;
    }
}

This message appears after turning on the Wp_debug and reviewer asked me to correct this.

2

You didn’t say what the message is so one can only guess.

How about if you replace
'status=approve&post_id='
with
'status=approve&post_id='

3

It shows error for following line:-

$comments_by_type = &separate_comments( get_comments( 'status=approve&post_id=' . $id ) );

The solution you provided above didn’t work.

4

It’s referring to the & in that line, to get rif of that error you’ll need to remove that &

5

That’s what I was thinking. Going by the topic’s title

Strict standards: Only variables should be passed by reference

But if

The error remains even after remover ‘&’ from seperate_comments function.

I see no other “&” so I’m guessing the error message is different then?

6

Please excuse me for butting in but I was intrigued.

// Replace this:
   $comments_by_type = &separate_comments( get_comments( 'status=approve&post_id=' . $id ) ); 

//  With this:
   $comments_by_type = separate_comments( get_comments( 'status=approve&post_id=' . $id ) );

Reason is that separate_comments(…) is a function and not a variable.

7

Exactly, so I would expect a “function undefined” or “parameter not found” type of error, if any, after it’s being removed.

8

@Orahmax is this part of a plug-in?

9

Looks to be Orahmax’s theme
https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21698

10

Your calling a fuction as a reference, you can’t do that in php. Were you trying to use error supression? Error suppression is also not advisible. Remove the & before the function call and it should work.

11

Finally, Fixed it!

$get_comments = get_comments('status=approve&post_id=' . $id); 
$comments_by_type = separate_comments( $get_comments );

You can see the difference here - https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=/haunted/1.04&new_path=/haunted/1.05

Theme Reviewer suggested me to look at this theme as the author resolved this issue.

12

Once again the personification of the quality of work produced within the Wordpress ecosystem. Just music to my ears.

13

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