Return a const reference or a copy in a getter function?

Question

What\'s better as default, to return a copy (1) or a reference (2) from a getter function?

class foo {
public:
    std::string str () { // (1)
              


        

Answer 1

The only problem I have with returning a const-reference, which is something I would typically do for non basic types, is that there is nothing to stop the caller removing the "const"ness and then modifying the value.

Personally, I'd suggest that such code is a bug. If they know you're returning a reference and continue to cast away the const then it's on their head.