why is the copy constructor called twice?

[nowrd2xpln]

In my Date class I added a static integer that keeps track of the # of objects created, but the count is incorrect and it begins when I call my post-fix increment. The first copy constructor call is called when I declare the temp, and the second call is when I return my temp. After the return only one destructor is called. I verified this by stepping through the code in VC++.

Date Date::operator ++(int)
{
Date temp(*this);
nextDay();
return temp;
}

[nowrd2xpln]

I fixed my code to get the correct # count of objects, but I'm still puzzled as to why the copy constructor is called twice. This was my calling function in my driver.cpp code:

cout << "\nd++ is " << d++;

[firedraco]

It is because you are not returning 'temp' itself, you are returning a copy of 'temp', thus another copy constructor is called. If you want to not call the copy constructor there, you would want to return by reference.