fix: #42

src/emitter.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ import {
     isClassLike,
     isClassInstance,
     isFunctionLike,
-    isVariable
+    isVariable,
+    shouldUseReference
 } from './utilities/nodeTest';
 
 import {
@@ -2749,6 +2750,11 @@ export function emitFile(
             writeSpace();
             emitTokenWithComment(SyntaxKind.EqualsToken, equalCommentStartPos, writeOperator, container);
             writeSpace();
+
+            if (shouldUseReference(node, typeChecker)) {
+                writeBase("&");
+            }
+
             emitExpression(node);
         }
     }

src/utilities/nodeTest.ts

@@ -115,6 +115,15 @@ export function shouldUseArray(format: ts.ListFormat) {
     return arrayBracketsMap[format] || '';
 }
 
+/**
+ * e.g. let a = []; let b = a;  ==>  $a = array(); $b = &$a;
+ * @param node node
+ */
+export function shouldUseReference(node: ts.Node, typeChecker: ts.TypeChecker) {
+    const nodeType = typeChecker.getTypeAtLocation(node);
+    return ts.isIdentifier(node) && !isFunctionLike(node, typeChecker) && (nodeType.flags === ts.TypeFlags.Object);
+}
+
 const stringLikeType = new Set([
     ts.TypeFlags.String,
     ts.TypeFlags.StringLiteral

test/features/reference.php

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?php
+namespace test\case_reference;
+$a = array();
+$b = &$a;
+$c = array();
+$d = &$c;
+$e = function () { };
+$f = $e;

test/features/reference.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+let a: number[] = [];
+let b = a;
+
+let c: {aaa?: string} = {};
+let d = c;
+
+let e = function () {};
+let f = e;