How to get the value of const string& in C++

Question

I have a function that takes const string& value as argument. I am trying to get the value of this string so that I can manipulate it in the function. So I want to store the value into a string returnVal but this does not work:

string returnVal = *value

Answer 1

Simply do

string returnVal = value;

Since value is not a pointer but a reference you do not need the pointer-dereferencing-operator (otherwise it would be const string *value).

Answer 2

string returnVal = value;

value isn't a pointer that needs dereferencing, it's a reference and the syntax is the same as if you're dealing with a plain old value.