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Does C have references? i.e. as in C++ :
void foo(int &i) 
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Parameters in C functions There are two ways to pass parameters in C: Pass by Value, Pass by Reference.
The main use of references is acting as function formal parameters to support pass-by-reference. In an reference variable is passed into a function, the function works on the original copy (instead of a clone copy in pass-by-value). Changes inside the function are reflected outside the function.
The C Language Reference describes the C programming language as implemented in Microsoft C. The book's organization is based on the ANSI C standard (sometimes referred to as C89) with additional material on the Microsoft extensions to the ANSI C standard. Organization of the C Language Reference.
Each programming language has its own terminology. And in C call by reference or pass by reference means pass indirectly through a pointer to an object. This wrong statement arises when somebody is saying about C but is using the terminology of the definition of the term reference introduced in other languages.
No, it doesn't. It has pointers, but they're not quite the same thing.
In particular, all arguments in C are passed by value, rather than pass-by-reference being available as in C++. Of course, you can sort of simulate pass-by-reference via pointers:
void foo(int *x) { *x = 10; } ... int y = 0; foo(&y); // Pass the pointer by value // The value of y is now 10 For more details about the differences between pointers and references, see this SO question. (And please don't ask me, as I'm not a C or C++ programmer :)
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Conceptually, C has references, since pointers reference other objects.
Syntactically, C does not have references as C++ does.
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