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I have a class called Object which stores some data.
I would like to return it by reference using a function like this:
Object& return_Object(); Then, in my code, I would call it like this:
Object myObject = return_Object(); I have written code like this and it compiles. However, when I run the code, I consistently get a seg fault. What is the proper way to return a class object by reference?
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"reference" is a widely used programming term that long predates the C++ standardizing of it. Passing a pointer to an object is passing that object by reference. According to Benjamin: If you have a pointer, e.g. int *a, then *a is precisely a reference.
If a method or function returns an object of a class for which there is no public copy constructor, such as ostream class, it must return a reference to an object. Some methods and functions, such as the overloaded assignment operator, can return either an object or a reference to an object.
Pass by reference in C++ The call by reference method is useful if you need to reflect on the changes done by a function. You can use a return statement if the function makes changes in exactly one parameter. But if multiple parameters are affected then call by reference will be useful.
Example 2: C++ Return Object from a Function In this program, we have created a function createStudent() that returns an object of Student class. We have called createStudent() from the main() method. // Call function student1 = createStudent();
You're probably returning an object that's on the stack. That is, return_Object() probably looks like this:
Object& return_Object() { Object object_to_return; // ... do stuff ... return object_to_return; } If this is what you're doing, you're out of luck - object_to_return has gone out of scope and been destructed at the end of return_Object, so myObject refers to a non-existent object. You either need to return by value, or return an Object declared in a wider scope or newed onto the heap.
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