Pointers in functions

[itzjonno]

void display(const vector<string>& vec); //prototype

int main()
{
	
	vector<string> inventory;
	inventory.push_back("Obj1");
	inventory.push_back("Obj2"); //load the vector 
	inventory.push_back("Obj3");

	display(inventory);

	cin.get();

	return 0;
}

void display(const vector<string>& vec)
{
	vector<string>::const_iterator iter; //iterator to go through the loop

	cout<<"Your items\n ";
	for(iter = vec.begin();iter != vec.end();++iter)  //display the contents of the vector
		cout << *iter << endl;
}

Hey guys,

I'm looking into pointers in functions, and in this part of the program there is an "&" sign. Ive known these to be "An address of" and the program runs with our without them, I'm just wondering what exactly are they doing?

[Disch]

This has nothing really to do with pointers.

Here, the & operator is not "address of". Instead, it's the reference operator.

it means that 'vec' is a const reference to the vector, rather than being a copy of the vector.

Passing by reference is typically more efficient with large objects like vectors, where copying may be expensive.