What kind of variable declaration is "char&"?

[neshtak]

What kind of variable declaration is it when you put the "&" sign right after specifying the type of a variable?

In source code it usually looks something like this:

...
void function_name(char& achar, ...);
...

I noticed that it mostly occurs inside parameter definition of any function.
At first I thought that it had to do with the "address-of" operator "&", but isn't it used more like this?:

...
int * x;
x = &a; //Where "a" is a previously declared variable with or without any value in it's memory block
...

[Disch]

This has nothing to do with the "address of" operator. It just happens to be the same symbol.


It makes 'achar' a reference to a char.

References are sort of like aliases for another variable. For example:

int a = 0;
int& b = a;  // b IS a

b = 5;  // same as saying a = 5 

When in the context of a function parameter, it's like passing the variable to the function:

void func(int& foo)
{
  foo += 5;
}

int main()
{
  int a = 3;
  func( a );  // this will actually modify 'a'

  cout << a;  // outputs '8'
}

[neshtak]

Now I see.

Thanks Disch.