Is there any advantage of using references instead of pointers in c++? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What are the differences between pointer variable and reference variable in C++?

For example, I have two functions that do the same thing:

int func(int &a)
{
   return a+1;
}

and

int func2(int *a)
{
   return *a+1;
}

What is the advantage of using func over func2 when calling any one of these functions?

Answer 1

• A reference cannot be assigned null directly, but a pointer can be.
• A reference cannot be reassigned to point to something else, but a pointer can be.

Both these can be advantages or disadvantages, depending on the situation.

Answer 2

Both of your functions are wrong. Since they don't modify the argument passed in, they should take them in as const, like this:

int func(const int &a)
{
    return a+1;
}

int func2(const int *a)
{
    return *a+1;
}

Now here's an advantage for references, I can pass rvalues into the reference version:

func(10);
func(func(func(10)));

I can't do that with the pointer version.

Answer 3

The pointer is more flexible, it can also be predefined in the declaration like:

 int func2(int *a = nullptr);

Which does not work in your simple case but in many others it does.

The pointer may also more easily be used for other things, like storing in a list, typacasting it and other things.

And yes, the reference cannot be reassigned.