


How does PHP's garbage collection mechanism work, particularly with circular references?
Jun 04, 2025 pm 03:53 PMPHP has dealt with memory leaks caused by circular references starting from version 5.3 by building possible root object graphs and periodically analyzing them. The specific steps are: 1. Use reference count to track variables; 2. Build possible root object graphs during execution; 3. Periodically or manually trigger analysis and free recycled reference memory. Automatic triggering is based on internal heuristic algorithms, or you can call gc_collect_cycles() manually or run at the end of the script. For long-running scripts, it is recommended to manually trigger GC to reduce memory usage, and pay attention to rationally designing object reference structures and using memory monitoring tools to assist in optimization.
PHP's garbage collection system handles memory management automatically, but one of its trickier aspects involves circular references — when two or more objects reference each other, potentially causing memory leaks. Let's break down how PHP deals with this.
What are circular references and why do they matter?
A circular reference occurs when two or more variables or objects refer to each other directly or indirectly. For example:
$a = new stdClass(); $b = new stdClass(); $a->b = $b; $b->a = $a;
In this case, $a
and $b
form a cycle. If both go out of scope but still reference each other, a naive garbage collector might miss them because each has a reference count of at least 1.
Before PHP 5.3, the default reference counting mechanism could't detect these cycles, which means such objects wouldn't be cleaned up, leading to memory leaks.
How does PHP handle garbage collection?
Starting from PHP 5.3, an improved garbage collection mechanism was introduced that specifically targets these circular references.
Here's how it works in short:
- PHP uses reference counting for most variable tracking. As long as something points to a variable, it stays in memory.
- But for circular references, PHP builds a graph of possible root candidates (called "possible roots") during normal execution.
- Periodically, or when triggered manually using
gc_collect_cycles()
, PHP analyzes these candidates to detect actual cycles and frees the memory accordingly.
This means even if two objects point to each other and no one else does, PHP will recognize the cycle and clean them up.
When does garbage collection run?
Garbage collection doesn't run all the time — that would be essential. Instead, PHP triggers it under certain conditions:
- Automatically based on internal heuristics (eg, after a certain number of allocations).
- Manually by calling
gc_collect_cycles()
. - At the end of a script's execution.
You can also control some behaviors via php.ini
settings like zend.enable_gc
, though it's enabled by default.
If you're dealing with large data structures or long-running scripts (like daemons or command-line tools), explicitly calling gc_collect_cycles()
may help keep memory usage lower.
Practical tips for managing memory in PHP
- Don't worry too much about small scripts — PHP's GC usually handles things well.
- In long-running processes, consider manually triggering GC after heavy operations.
- Be cautious when building object graphs that link to each other; while PHP handles cycles now, it's still good practice to break references when done.
- Use tools like
memory_get_usage()
to monitor memory behavior during development or debugging.
For example, if you're processing thousands of objects in a loop, resetting variables or unsetting references between iterations can help the GC identify unused memory faster.
That's basically how PHP's garbage collection works with circular references — not perfect, but solid enough for most use cases. It's easy to overlook, but knowing how it behaves helps avoid subtle memory issues.
The above is the detailed content of How does PHP's garbage collection mechanism work, particularly with circular references?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics

The method to get the current session ID in PHP is to use the session_id() function, but you must call session_start() to successfully obtain it. 1. Call session_start() to start the session; 2. Use session_id() to read the session ID and output a string similar to abc123def456ghi789; 3. If the return is empty, check whether session_start() is missing, whether the user accesses for the first time, or whether the session is destroyed; 4. The session ID can be used for logging, security verification and cross-request communication, but security needs to be paid attention to. Make sure that the session is correctly enabled and the ID can be obtained successfully.

To extract substrings from PHP strings, you can use the substr() function, which is syntax substr(string$string,int$start,?int$length=null), and if the length is not specified, it will be intercepted to the end; when processing multi-byte characters such as Chinese, you should use the mb_substr() function to avoid garbled code; if you need to intercept the string according to a specific separator, you can use exploit() or combine strpos() and substr() to implement it, such as extracting file name extensions or domain names.

UnittestinginPHPinvolvesverifyingindividualcodeunitslikefunctionsormethodstocatchbugsearlyandensurereliablerefactoring.1)SetupPHPUnitviaComposer,createatestdirectory,andconfigureautoloadandphpunit.xml.2)Writetestcasesfollowingthearrange-act-assertpat

In PHP, the most common method is to split the string into an array using the exploit() function. This function divides the string into multiple parts through the specified delimiter and returns an array. The syntax is exploit(separator, string, limit), where separator is the separator, string is the original string, and limit is an optional parameter to control the maximum number of segments. For example $str="apple,banana,orange";$arr=explode(",",$str); The result is ["apple","bana

JavaScript data types are divided into primitive types and reference types. Primitive types include string, number, boolean, null, undefined, and symbol. The values are immutable and copies are copied when assigning values, so they do not affect each other; reference types such as objects, arrays and functions store memory addresses, and variables pointing to the same object will affect each other. Typeof and instanceof can be used to determine types, but pay attention to the historical issues of typeofnull. Understanding these two types of differences can help write more stable and reliable code.

std::chrono is used in C to process time, including obtaining the current time, measuring execution time, operation time point and duration, and formatting analysis time. 1. Use std::chrono::system_clock::now() to obtain the current time, which can be converted into a readable string, but the system clock may not be monotonous; 2. Use std::chrono::steady_clock to measure the execution time to ensure monotony, and convert it into milliseconds, seconds and other units through duration_cast; 3. Time point (time_point) and duration (duration) can be interoperable, but attention should be paid to unit compatibility and clock epoch (epoch)

In PHP, to pass a session variable to another page, the key is to start the session correctly and use the same $_SESSION key name. 1. Before using session variables for each page, it must be called session_start() and placed in the front of the script; 2. Set session variables such as $_SESSION['username']='JohnDoe' on the first page; 3. After calling session_start() on another page, access the variables through the same key name; 4. Make sure that session_start() is called on each page, avoid outputting content in advance, and check that the session storage path on the server is writable; 5. Use ses

ToaccessenvironmentvariablesinPHP,usegetenv()orthe$_ENVsuperglobal.1.getenv('VAR_NAME')retrievesaspecificvariable.2.$_ENV['VAR_NAME']accessesvariablesifvariables_orderinphp.iniincludes"E".SetvariablesviaCLIwithVAR=valuephpscript.php,inApach
