Copy constructor called even when returning by reference?
- by Johnyy
Hi,
I am testing the return of local objects by reference. My original test went well but something else happens unexpected.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class MyInt {
public:
MyInt(int i){
value = new int(i);
}
~MyInt(){
delete value;
}
int getValue(){
return *value;
}
MyInt(const MyInt &b){
cout<<"Copy"<<endl;
}
private:
int* value;
};
MyInt& returnref(){
MyInt a(10);
cout<<"Returning from returnref()"<<endl;
return a;
}
int main(){
MyInt a = returnref();
cout<<a.getValue()<<endl;
return 0;
}
My console prints "Returning from ..." then "Copy" then a random value.
My understanding of pass by reference is that it does not need to make any copy. Why is it not doing what I expected?
