Lvalue Reference Declarator: &
Holds the address of an object but behaves syntactically like an object.
type-id & cast-expression
Remarks
You can think of an lvalue reference as another name for an object. An lvalue reference declaration consists of an optional list of specifiers followed by a reference declarator. A reference must be initialized and cannot be changed.
Any object whose address can be converted to a given pointer type can also be converted to the similar reference type. For example, any object whose address can be converted to type char * can also be converted to type char &.
Do not confuse reference declarations with use of the address-of operator. When the & identifier is preceded by a type, such as int or char, identifier is declared as a reference to the type. When & identifier is not preceded by a type, the usage is that of the address-of operator.
Example
The following example demonstrates the reference declarator by declaring a Person object and a reference to that object. Because rFriend is a reference to myFriend, updating either variable changes the same object.
// reference_declarator.cpp
// compile with: /EHsc
// Demonstrates the reference declarator.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
struct Person
{
char* Name;
short Age;
};
int main()
{
// Declare a Person object.
Person myFriend;
// Declare a reference to the Person object.
Person& rFriend = myFriend;
// Set the fields of the Person object.
// Updating either variable changes the same object.
myFriend.Name = "Bill";
rFriend.Age = 40;
// Print the fields of the Person object to the console.
cout << rFriend.Name << " is " << myFriend.Age << endl;
}
Bill is 40
See Also
Reference
Reference-Type Function Arguments