Creating References
A reference variable is an alias for an existing variable. It is created using the & operator:
string food = "Pizza"; // food variable
string &meal = food;
// reference to food
Now, you can use either food or meal to refer to the same value:
Example
string food = "Pizza";
string &meal = food;
cout << food << "\n";
// Outputs Pizza
cout << meal << "\n"; //
Outputs Pizza
Note: Both food and meal refer to the same memory location. Changing one affects the other.
Updating Through References
If you change the value of a reference variable, the original variable will also change (and vice versa), because they both refer to the same memory location:
Example
string food = "Pizza"; // food variable
string &meal = food; //
reference to food
meal = "Burger"; // changes both meal and food
cout <<
food << "\n"; // Outputs Burger
cout << meal << "\n"; // Outputs Burger
