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 (Click here for a personal note from Marshall Cline.) |
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Section 8:
| 8.1 | What is a reference? |
| 8.2 | What happens if you assign to a reference? |
| 8.3 | What happens if you return a reference? |
| 8.4 | What does object.method1().method2() mean? |
| 8.5 | How can you reseat a reference to make it refer to a different object? |
| 8.6 | When should I use references, and when should I use pointers? |
| 8.7 | What does it mean that a reference must refer to an object, not a dereferenced NULL pointer? |
| 8.8 | What is a handle to an object? Is it a pointer? Is it a reference? Is it a pointer-to-a-pointer? What is it? |
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[8.5] How can you reseat a reference to make it refer to a different object?
No way.
You can't separate the reference from the referent.
Unlike a pointer, once a reference is bound to an object, it can not be "reseated" to another object. The reference itself isn't an object (it has no identity; taking the address of a reference gives you the address of the referent; remember: the reference is its referent).
In that sense, a reference is similar to a const pointer such as int* const p (as opposed to a pointer to const such as int const* p). But please don't confuse references with pointers; they're very different from the programmer's standpoint.