Question

Do pointers and {l,r}value references belong to the same group of type decorations that signifies how a type should be accessed? If so, what is the name of this group? For example, {const, volatile, restrict} are all type qualifiers. I am looking for a name like this that can be applied to pointers and references of all kinds (and one that is hopefully mentioned in the standard somewhere).

Thanks for your insight!

Answer 1

According to the C++ grammar they are both called a ptr-operator when they occur in a ptr-declarator, as defined in [dcl.decl]/4

ptr-operator:
    * attribute-specifier-seqopt cv-qualifier-seqopt
    & attribute-specifier-seqopt
    && attribute-specifier-seqopt
    nested-name-specifier * attribute-specifier-seqopt cv-qualifier-seqopt

But that’s just the formal name in the grammar, in terms of how you use pointers and references they are not similar and I don’t think there’s much value in grouping them together. Pointers are objects and can be copied, passed by value, re-assigned etc. whereas references can’t do any of those things, they’re a completely different language construct. Trying to group them into something that “signifies how a type should be accessed” is a mistake IMHO.