initializing ifstream

[Yazing]

Hi, easy question (i think).
I have a header file with a private ifstream& field, say ifstream& str, and in the .cpp file in visual studio i have made a constructor. When i build the project it errors and says "must be initialized in constructor base/member initializer list", which is right as i have not initialized it but i dont know how to do this. I thought it would be as easy as Chars::str() or something. (where chars is the name of the class). Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[mtweeman]

Reference must be initialized. You should consider using pointer.

[Yazing]

but how do i initialize the reference. Shouldnt it be just one line of code in the constructor

[Albatross]

What's the point of using a reference to an ifstream object anyways?

-Albatross