Question

In my C++ class they were discussing how to create an assignment operator. At the end of the assignment was the line “return *this,” which they said returned a reference to the object that “this” points to. Why does it return a reference? If “this” is being dereferenced, shouldn’t it just return the object?

Answer 1

A function returns a reference if its declaration (i.e. its signature) tells so.

So (assuming a class Foo) if a function is declarated

 Foo fun();

then it returns a value (with copying, etc..)

But if it is declared as

 Foo& fun();

or as

 const Foo& fun();

a reference is returned.

The statement return *this; don’t define by itself if a reference or a value is returned.