C++ function returning reference to array

Question

Is there any other way to receive a reference to an array from function returning except using a pointer?

Here is my code.

int ia[] = {1, 2, 3};
decl         


        

Answer 1

Some alternatives I think are superior in C++14 onwards:

auto and array reference trailing return type:

template 
auto array_ref_test(T(&array)[N]) -> T(&)[N]
{
    return array;
}

decltype(auto):

template 
decltype(auto) array_ref_test(T(&array)[N])
{
    return array;
}

Example usage:

int array_ref_ [] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };   
decltype(auto) array_ref_result = array_ref_test(array_ref_); //'decltype(auto)' preserves reference unlike 'auto'
std::cout << std::size(array_ref_result);