For php programmers that come from pascal,
in object pascal (delphi),
variable references are used with the "absolute" keyword.

PHP example:

<?php

global $myglobal;

$myglobal = 5;

function test()
{
global $myglobal;

/*local*/ $mylocal =& $myglobal;

echo "local: " . $mylocal . "\n";
echo "gloal: " . $myglobal . "\n";
}

test();

?>

Pascal example:

program dontcare;

var myglobal: integer;

procedure test;
var mylocal ABSOLUTE myglobal;
begin
  write("local: ", mylocal);
  write("global: ", myglobal);
end;

begin
  myglobal := 5;
  test;
end.

By the way, a "local" keyword in php for local variables,
could be welcome :-)