Reference (C++) - Syntax and Terminology

where is a type and is an identifier whose type is reference to .

Examples:

1. int A = 5;
2. int& rA = A;
3. extern int& rB;
4. int& foo ;
5. void bar (int& rP);
6. class MyClass { int& m_b; /* ... */ };
7. int funcX { return 42 ; }; int (&xFunc) = funcX;

Here, rA and rB are of type "reference to int", foo is a function that returns a "reference to int", bar is a function with a reference parameter, which is a "reference to int". MyClass is a class with a member which is reference to int; funcX is a function that returns a (non-reference type) int, and xFunc is an alias for funcX.

Types which are of kind "reference to " are sometimes called reference types. Identifiers which are of reference type are called reference variables. To call them variable, however, is in fact a misnomer, as we will see.