What does it mean if you add '&'before the variable, while declaring it?

Question

What is the difference between int &r and int r?

I'm new to this

What language are we talking about? – OWSam Mar 18 '20 at 10:52 — OWSam, Mar 18 '20 at 10:52
You need to add this as a tag to the question then. – OWSam Mar 18 '20 at 10:55 — OWSam, Mar 18 '20 at 10:55
It defines a reference to an integer. – erenon Mar 18 '20 at 10:58 — erenon, Mar 18 '20 at 10:58

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 18 '20 at 11:00

0

First keep in mind that int& r and int &r are syntactically the same thing: r is a variable of type int&. So r is an integer reference.

To learn more about references in C++, there are plenty of online guides. Here's one: https://www.embedded.com/an-introduction-to-references/

answered Mar 18 '20 at 11:00

tenfour

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So a reference is like a 'brother' or 'twin' of the original variable, which, when made changes to, will affect the original variable too? – Swaroop Joshi Mar 18 '20 at 11:12
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The second half of your sentence is correct. But neither brothers nor twins work that way =) – tenfour Mar 18 '20 at 11:13
@SwaroopJoshi • I'd call a reference (if not using the term "reference") an "alias" or "agnomen". – Eljay Mar 18 '20 at 11:15
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@tenfour Hah, maybe it's not a good analogy. – Swaroop Joshi Mar 18 '20 at 11:24

1 Answers1