Any way to pass 'nothing' to a function member defined 'by ref'

[tonnot]

I have this function ( depending on some criteria id will have 1 or 2 )

my_function(int &id) 
{ id=1  
....
id=2 }

Ok, sometimes I want to call the function, but I have no interest in knowing the id value. How can I call the function ?
( I dont want to declare a garbage var ...)

[Athar]

Either return the id or use a pointer instead of a reference.

[hanst99]

Provide a parameterless overload that calls this one with a local.

But if you have a function that does something and returns something, and the thing it does is useful with or without the return value, it's a sign that the function is bloated and should be split up into smaller functions.

[1vRz3TCk]

You could do something along the lines of:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

static int dummy = 0;

void my_function(int &id = dummy) 
{ 
    id = 1;
}

int main()
{
	my_function();

	return 0;
}

[hanst99]

No offense, but I like

void my_function(int &id) 
{ 
    id = 1;
}

void my_function()
{
    int id;
    my_function(id);
}

better. I'd still like to know what the actual example here is though, as I am pretty sure that the better solution would probably be refactoring.

[1vRz3TCk]

I reserve opinion as to what I like as a solution as the full details of the problem domain are not available to me; I only offer a posable solution for the OPs consideration.
_____
P.S. I take no offense :0)