Question

Possible Duplicate:
C++ Returning reference to local variable
Can a local variable’s memory be accessed outside its scope?

In the following code

int& h() {

int o=100;
return o; 
}

int main() {
int t=h();     //line 1
cout<<t;     //line 2
return 0;
}

Why the output is coming as 100 i.e. the value of the local variable of the function and why there is no error in line 1 because the return type of function is int& but we are returning its return value to a int.

Answer 1

1. You should never return a reference or a pointer to a local variable. It will be destroyed right when the function returns. It may appear to work in some cases because the stack may not yet be overwritten. But it will fail unexpectedly eventually.

2. It is legal to assign a reference to something to a value of the same type. So in your assignment a copy is made.