How does passing a statically allocated array by reference work?
void foo(int (&myArray)[100])
{
}
int main()
{
int a[100];
foo(a);
}
Does (&myArray)[100]
have any meaning or its just a syntax to pass any array by reference?
I don\'t understand separate parenthesis followed by big brackets here. Thanks.
It\'s a syntax for array references - you need to use (&array)
to clarify to the compiler that you want a reference to an array, rather than the (invalid) array of references int & array[100];
.
EDIT: Some clarification.
void foo(int * x);
void foo(int x[100]);
void foo(int x[]);
These three are different ways of declaring the same function. They\'re all treated as taking an int *
parameter, you can pass any size array to them.
void foo(int (&x)[100]);
This only accepts arrays of 100 integers. You can safely use sizeof
on x
void foo(int & x[100]); // error
This is parsed as an \"array of references\" - which isn\'t legal.
It\'s just the required syntax:
void Func(int (&myArray)[100])
^ Pass array of 100 int
by reference the parameters name is myArray
;
void Func(int* myArray)
^ Pass an array. Array decays to a pointer. Thus you lose size information.
void Func(int (*myFunc)(double))
^ Pass a function pointer. The function returns an int
and takes a double
. The parameter name is myFunc
.
It is a syntax. In the function arguments int (&myArray)[100]
parenthesis that enclose the &myArray
are necessary. if you don\'t use them, you will be passing an array of references
and that is because the subscript operator []
has higher precedence over the & operator
.
E.g. int &myArray[100] // array of references
So, by using type construction ()
you tell the compiler that you want a reference to an array of 100 integers.
E.g int (&myArray)[100] // reference of an array of 100 ints
Arrays are default passed by pointers. You can try modifying an array inside a function call for better understanding.