What does '&' do in a C++ declaration?

Question

I am a C guy and I\'m trying to understand some C++ code. I have the following function declaration:

int foo(const string &myname) {
  cout << \"ca         


        

Answer 1

Here, & is not used as an operator. As part of function or variable declarations, & denotes a reference. The C++ FAQ Lite has a pretty nifty chapter on references.