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class="sidebar-link">Internationalization in C++</a></li><li><a href="/cpp/contributors.html" class="sidebar-link">The Contributors</a></li></ul></section></li></ul> </aside> <main class="page"> <div class="theme-default-content content__default"><h1 id="references"><a href="#references" class="header-anchor">#</a> References</h1> <h2 id="defining-a-reference"><a href="#defining-a-reference" class="header-anchor">#</a> Defining a reference</h2> <p>References behaves similarly, but not entirely like const pointers. A reference is defined by suffixing an ampersand <code>&</code> to a type name.</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> i <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">10</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>refi <span class="token operator">=</span> i<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
</code></pre></div><p>Here, <code>refi</code> is a reference bound to <code>i</code>.<br>
References abstracts the semantics of pointers, acting like an alias to the underlying object:</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code>refi <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">20</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span> <span class="token comment">// i = 20;</span>
</code></pre></div><p>You can also define multiple references in a single definition:</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> i <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">10</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> j <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">20</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>refi <span class="token operator">=</span> i<span class="token punctuation">,</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>refj <span class="token operator">=</span> j<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token comment">// Common pitfall :</span>
<span class="token comment">// int& refi = i, k = j;</span>
<span class="token comment">// refi will be of type int&.</span>
<span class="token comment">// though, k will be of type int, not int&!</span>
</code></pre></div><p>References <strong>must</strong> be initialized correctly at the time of definition, and cannot be modified afterwards. The following piece of codes causes a compile error:</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>i<span class="token punctuation">;</span> <span class="token comment">// error: declaration of reference variable 'i' requires an initializer</span>
</code></pre></div><p>You also cannot bind directly a reference to <code>nullptr</code>, unlike pointers:</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">*</span><span class="token keyword">const</span> ptri <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token keyword">nullptr</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>refi <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token keyword">nullptr</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span> <span class="token comment">// error: non-const lvalue reference to type 'int' cannot bind to a temporary of type 'nullptr_t'</span>
</code></pre></div><h2 id="c-references-are-alias-of-existing-variables"><a href="#c-references-are-alias-of-existing-variables" class="header-anchor">#</a> C++ References are Alias of existing variables</h2> <p>A Reference in C++ is just an <code>Alias</code> or another name of a variable. Just like most of us can be referred using our passport name and nick name.</p> <p>References doesn't exist literally and they don't occupy any memory. If we print the address of reference variable it will print the same address as that of the variable its referring to.</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token function">main</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> i <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">10</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>j <span class="token operator">=</span> i<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
cout<span class="token operator"><<</span><span class="token operator">&</span>i<span class="token operator"><<</span>endl<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
cout<span class="token operator"><<</span><span class="token operator">&</span>b<span class="token operator"><<</span>endl<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">return</span> <span class="token number">0</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>
</code></pre></div><p>In the above example, both <code>cout</code> will print the same address. The situation will be same if we take a variable as a reference in a function</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">void</span> <span class="token function">func</span> <span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>fParam <span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
cout<span class="token operator"><<</span><span class="token string">"Address inside function => "</span><span class="token operator"><<</span>fParam<span class="token operator"><<</span>endl<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token function">main</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span>
<span class="token keyword">int</span> i <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token number">10</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
cout<span class="token operator"><<</span><span class="token string">"Address inside Main => "</span><span class="token operator"><<</span><span class="token operator">&</span>i<span class="token operator"><<</span>endl<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token function">func</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span>i<span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token keyword">return</span> <span class="token number">0</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span>
<span class="token punctuation">}</span>
</code></pre></div><p>In this example also, both <code>cout</code> will print the same address.</p> <p>As we know by now that <code>C++ References</code> are just alias, and for an alias to be created, we need to have something which the Alias can refer to.</p> <p>That's the precise reason why the statement like this will throw a compiler error</p> <div class="language-cpp extra-class"><pre class="language-cpp"><code><span class="token keyword">int</span> <span class="token operator">&</span>i<span class="token punctuation">;</span>
</code></pre></div><p>Because, the alias is not referring to anything.</p></div> <footer class="page-edit"><div class="edit-link"><a href="https://github.com/devtut/generate/edit/master/docs/cpp/references.md" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Edit this page on GitHub</a> <span><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="15" height="15" class="icon outbound"><path fill="currentColor" d="M18.8,85.1h56l0,0c2.2,0,4-1.8,4-4v-32h-8v28h-48v-48h28v-8h-32l0,0c-2.2,0-4,1.8-4,4v56C14.8,83.3,16.6,85.1,18.8,85.1z"></path> <polygon fill="currentColor" points="45.7,48.7 51.3,54.3 77.2,28.5 77.2,37.2 85.2,37.2 85.2,14.9 62.8,14.9 62.8,22.9 71.5,22.9"></polygon></svg> <span class="sr-only">(opens new window)</span></span></div> <!----></footer> <div class="page-nav"><p class="inner"><span class="prev">
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