Some languages, like Perl, support symbolic references, which are just string values that contain the names of variables. When a value that is not a regular reference is dereferenced, Perl considers it to be a symbolic reference and gives the variable with the name given by the value. PHP has a similar feature in the form of its $$var syntax.
Read more about this topic: Reference (computer Science)
Famous quotes containing the word symbolic:
“An ancient bridge, and a more ancient tower,
A farmhouse that is sheltered by its wall,
An acre of stony ground,
Where the symbolic rose can break in flower,
Old ragged elms, old thorns innumerable....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)