What does *& mean in a function parameter

Question

If I have a function that takes int *&, what does it means? How can I pass just an int or a pointer int to that function?

function(int *&am         


        

Answer 1

It means a reference to a pointer to an int. In other words, the function can change the parameter to point to something else.

To pass a variable in, just pass an int*. As awoodland points out, what's passed in must be an l-value.

Edit:

To build on awoodland's example:

#include 

void foo(int*& var)
{
    delete var;
    var = new int;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    int* var = NULL;

    std::cout << var << std::endl;

    foo(var);   // this function can/will change the value of the pointer

    std::cout << var << std::endl;

    delete var;

    return 0;
}