is pointers available in PHP like that in C...can i get the address of variables using pointers ...

<?php
/* REVERSE.PHP */

$str = ""; /* Buffer to hold reverse string */

reverse("cat", &$str); /* Reverse the string "cat" */
printf("reverse (\"cat\") = %s\n", $str); /* Display result */
reverse("noon", &$str); /* Reverse the string "noon" */
printf("reverse (\"noon\") = %s\n", $str); /* Display result */

function reverse($before, $after) {
$after=$before; /* Expand $str to length, preventing array */
$len = strlen($before);
for ($j=$len-1, $i=0; $j>=0; $j--, $i++)
$after{$i} = $before{$j};
}
?>

/* REVERSE.C */

#include <stdio.h>

/* Function Prototype */
reverse ();

main () {
char str [100]; // Buffer to hold reverse string

reverse("cat", str); // Reverse the string "cat"
printf("reverse (\"cat\") = %s\n", str); // Display
reverse("noon", str); // Reverse the string "noon"
printf("reverse (\"noon\") = %s\n", str); // Display
}

reverse (before, after)
char *before; // A pointer to the source string
char *after; // A pointer to the reversed string
{
int i;
int j;
int len;

len = strlen (before);

for (j = len - 1, i = 0; j >= 0; j--, i++) // reverse loop
after[i] = before[j];
after[len] = NULL // NULL terminate reversed string
}