Returning a Reference
You can also return a reference from a function. When a function returns a reference, the function call can exist in any context where a reference can exist, including being on the receiving side of an assignment.
Consider the following function:
int & max ( int & x, int & y)
{
if ( x > y )
return x ;
else
return y ;
}
A function call such as max (a , b ) returns reference to a or b depending on their values. This means that this function call can appear on the left-hand side of an assignment statement.
That is, the statement
max (a , b) = -1 ;
is legal and assigns -1 to a if it is larger, otherwise -1 to b.
