Reference Operator

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Used to provide alias name/duplicate name for existing varibale.

Syntax : datatype &new_name = existing_name;

example: 

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
	int data=20;
	int &x = data;
	cout<<"data: "<<data<<endl;
	cout<<"x: "<<x<<endl;
}

output: 
data: 20
x: 20

Reference to Array

Syntax : datatype (&new_array)[size] = existing_array;

example: 

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    int arr[5]={1,2,3,4,5};
    cout<<arr[2]<<endl;
    int (&new_arr)[5] = arr;
    cout<<new_arr[2]<<endl;
}

output: 
3
3

Reference to Pointer

Syntax : datatype* (&new_variable) = existing_variable;

example: 

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    int a = 10;
    int *b = &a;
    cout<<"a:"<<a<<" "<<"b: "<<*b<<endl;
    int *(&c)=b;
    cout<<"c:"<<*c<<endl;
}

output: 
a: 10 b: 10
c: 10

Points

• Reference variable must be initialized at the time of declaration
• Seperate memory is not created for Reference
• Null reference is not possible
• One variable can have multiple references
• Reference to reference is not possible

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