C++11 rvalues and move semantics confusion (return statement)

Question

I\'m trying to understand rvalue references and move semantics of C++11.

What is the difference between these examples, and which of them is going to do no vector cop

Answer 1

As already mentioned in comments to the first answer, the return std::move(...); construct can make a difference in cases other than returning of local variables. Here's a runnable example that documents what happens when you return a member object with and without std::move():

#include 
#include 

struct A {
  A() = default;
  A(const A&) { std::cout << "A copied\n"; }
  A(A&&) { std::cout << "A moved\n"; }
};

class B {
  A a;
 public:
  operator A() const & { std::cout << "B C-value: "; return a; }
  operator A() & { std::cout << "B L-value: "; return a; }
  operator A() && { std::cout << "B R-value: "; return a; }
};

class C {
  A a;
 public:
  operator A() const & { std::cout << "C C-value: "; return std::move(a); }
  operator A() & { std::cout << "C L-value: "; return std::move(a); }
  operator A() && { std::cout << "C R-value: "; return std::move(a); }
};

int main() {
  // Non-constant L-values
  B b;
  C c;
  A{b};    // B L-value: A copied
  A{c};    // C L-value: A moved

  // R-values
  A{B{}};  // B R-value: A copied
  A{C{}};  // C R-value: A moved

  // Constant L-values
  const B bc;
  const C cc;
  A{bc};   // B C-value: A copied
  A{cc};   // C C-value: A copied

  return 0;
}

Presumably, return std::move(some_member); only makes sense if you actually want to move the particular class member, e.g. in a case where class C represents short-lived adapter objects with the sole purpose of creating instances of struct A.

Notice how struct A always gets copied out of class B, even when the class B object is an R-value. This is because the compiler has no way to tell that class B's instance of struct A won't be used any more. In class C, the compiler does have this information from std::move(), which is why struct A gets moved, unless the instance of class C is constant.