php - I'm getting a "syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE" error. I don't see what I'm doing wrong?

Quoting the manual (that page is about static properties, but the same applies for variables) :

Like any other PHP static variable, static properties may only be
initialized using a literal or
constant; expressions are not
allowed. So while you may initialize
a static property to an integer or
array (for instance), you may not
initialize it to another variable, to
a function return value, or to an
object.

You are using this :

static $originalsize = $currentsize;

Which is initializing with an expression -- and not a constant.

And here's the manual's section that says quite the same about static variables :

Static variables may be declared as
seen in the examples above. Trying to
assign values to these variables which
are the result of expressions will
cause a parse error.

And, just in case, here's about expressions.

In your case, to avoid that problem, I suppose you could modify your code, so it looks like this :

$currentsize = sizeof($charArr);
static $originalsize = null;
if ($originalsize === null) {
    $originalsize = $currentsize;
}

With that :

• The static variable is initialized with a constant


• If its value is the constant one, assign the dynamic value.