Why do I get an error in "forming reference to reference type" map?

Question

You cannot store references. References are just aliases to another variable.

The map needs a copy of the string to store:

map<pair<string, string>, string> m;

The reason you are getting that particular error is because somewhere in map, it's going to do an operation on the mapped_type which in your case is string&. One of those operations (like in operator[], for example) will return a reference to the mapped_type:

mapped_type& operator[](const key_type&)

Which, with your mapped_type, would be:

string&& operator[](const key_type& _Keyval)

And you cannot have a reference to a reference:

Standard 8.3.4:

There shall be no references to references, no arrays of references, and no pointers to references.

---

On a side note, I would recommend you use typedef's so your code is easier to read:

int main()
{
    typedef pair<string, string> StringPair;
    typedef map<StringPair, string> StringPairMap;

    string test;

    StringPair p("Foo","Bar");
    StringPairMap m;
    m[make_pair("aa","bb")] = test;

   return 0;

}

The previous answers here are outdated. Today we have std::reference_wrapper as part of the C++11 standard:

#include <map>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string test;
    pair<string, string> p = pair<string, string>("Foo", "Bar");
    map<pair<string, string>, reference_wrapper<string>> m;
    m[make_pair("aa", "bb")] = test;

    return 0;
}

A std::reference_wrapper will convert implicitly to a reference to its internal type, but this doesn't work in some contexts, in which case you call .get() for access.

http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/functional/reference_wrapper

You can use boost::reference_wrapper to store references in STL containers. Here is your example modified (not tested, and definitely not very well written, just illustrates a point)

#include <map>     
#include<iostream>
#include<string>   
#include <boost/ref.hpp>



int main()
{
   typedef std::pair< std::string, std::string> PairType;
   typedef std::map< PairType, boost::reference_wrapper<std::string> > MapType;
   std::string test = "Hello there!!";
   MapType m;
   PairType pp =  std::make_pair("aa","bb");
   m.insert(std::make_pair(pp , boost::ref(test) ) );

   MapType::iterator it (m.find( pp ) );
   if(it != m.end())
   {
       std::cout << it->second.get() << std::endl;
   }

   //change test
   test = "I am different now";
   std::cout << it->second.get() << std::endl;

   return 0;
}

You cannot use references as the val, due to how the template is built. You could also use pointer instead.

Essentially, the question is if you can use references in containers. Of course, you can, IF you properly prepare your class AND your container. I demonstrate it below with two simple vector containers: vectoref which modifies std::vector<> and the other, vec, which is implemented from scratch.

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

// requires compilation with --std=c++11 (at least)

using namespace std;

class A {
  int _a; // this is our true data
  A *_p; // this is to cheat the compiler

  public:
  A(int n = 0) : _a(n), _p(0)
  { cout << "A constructor (" << this << "," << _a << ")\n"; }
  // constructor used by the initializer_list (cheating the compiler)
  A(const A& r) : _p(const_cast<A *>(&r))
  { cout << "A copy constructor (" << this << "<-" << &r << ")\n"; }
  void print() const {cout << "A instance: " << this << "," << _a << "\n";}
  ~A() {cout << "A(" << this << "," << _a << ") destructor.\n";}
  // just to see what is copied implicitly
  A& operator=(const A& r) {
    cout << "A instance copied (" << this << "," << _a << ")\n";
    _a = r._a; _p = r._p;
    return *this;
  }
  // just in case you want to check if instance is pure or fake
  bool is_fake() const {return _p != 0;}
  A *ptr() const {return _p;}
};

template<typename T, int sz>
class vec { // vector class using initializer_list of A-references!!
  public:
  const T *a[sz]; // store as pointers, retrieve as references
  // because asignment to a reference causes copy operator to be invoked
  int cur;
  vec() : cur(0) {}
  vec(std::initializer_list<T> l) : cur(0) {
    cout << "construct using initializer list.\n";
    for (auto& t : l) // expecting fake elements
      a[cur++] = t.ptr();
  }
  const T& operator[](int i) {return *a[i];}
  // expecting pure elements
  vec& push_back(const T& r) {a[cur++] = &r; return *this;}
  void copy_from(vec&& r) {
    for (int i = 0; i < r.cur; ++i)
      push_back(r[i]);
  }
};

template<typename T>
class vectoref : public vector<T *> { // similar to vec but extending std::vector<>
  using size_type = typename vector<T*>::size_type;
  public:
  vectoref() {}
  vectoref(std::initializer_list<T> l) {
    cout << "construct using initializer list.\n";
    for (auto& t : l) // expecting fake elements
      vector<T*>::push_back(t.ptr());
  }
  const T& operator[](size_type i) {return *vector<T*>::at(i);}
  // expecting pure elements
  vectoref& push_back(const T& r)
  { vector<T*>::push_back(&r); return *this; }
  void copy_from(const vectoref&& r) {
    for (size_type i = 0; i < r.size(); ++i)
      vectoref<T>::push_back(r[i]);
  }
};

class X { // user of initializer_list of A
  public:
  X() {}
  void f(initializer_list<A> l) const {
    cout << "In f({...}):\n";
    for (auto& a : l)
      a.ptr()->print();
  }
};

int main()
{
  A a(7), b(24), c(80);
  cout << "----------------------------------\n";
  vectoref<A> w{a,a,b,c}; // alternatively, use next line
  // vec<A,5> w{a,a,b,c}; // 5-th element undefined
  w[0].print();
  w[3].print();
  cout << "----------------------------------\n";
  X x;
  x.f({a,b,c,a,b,c,b,a});
  cout << "==================================\n";
  return 0;
}