I am familiar with scope but have not used it much. I know how to change a variable's value inside of a function if I know what the variable name is by using GLOBAL `$variableName` in the function.  

I'm writing a method that is passed 2 arguments. The first will accept an array that contains strings and the second will hold settings to do such as md5 for encrypting and trim to trim spaces.  

Is there a way I can change the first argument's value inside the function? or do you know of a better method to accomplish this?  

```
    function _Edit($string, $rules)
{
    #check if array
    if(is_array($rules)!=TRUE)
    {array_push($GLOBALS[debug], '<span class="error">_Edits second arguement must be an array</span>');}
    if(is_array($string)!=TRUE)
    {array_push($GLOBALS[debug], '<span class="error">_Edits first arguement must be an array</span>');}else
    {       
        #loop through the strings
        foreach ($string as $sk=>$sv)
        {
            #make changes based on rules
            /* order of rules is important. 
            the changes will be made in the order the rules are sent */
            foreach ($rules as $rv)
            {
                switch ($rv)
                {
                    case 'md5':
                        //$string[$sk] = md5($sv);
                                                    //GLOBALS[$string][$sk] = md5($sv);
                        break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

```