Question

I wish I could have tested it myself, but unfortunately it’s impossible to do so in the current situation I’m in. Could anyone care to shed some light on this?

Answer 1

Unlike a pointer, a reference isn’t actually an object. It doesn’t have an address itself, it’s easier to think of it as an alias to an object that the compiler will then interpret.

Anyway, you can always test code online with IdeOne

#include <stdio.h>

void func(int &z)
{
    printf("&z: %p", &z);
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    int x = 0;
    int &y = x;

    printf("&x: %p\n", &x);
    printf("&y: %p\n", &y);

    func(x);

    return 0;
}

Executed online, with results.