FAQ 11.05 What is a local reference?

A local reference is a local (auto) reference variable that isn't a parameter. The following example illustrates how local references provide a temporary alias relationship. Integer reference j is an alias for integer i, so changing i to 5 changes j, and changing j changes i.

 int main() {   int  i;   int& j = i; //establish the alias relation between j and i   i = 5;      //assigning 5 to i, changes both i and j   j = 6;      //assigning 6 to j, changes both i and j } 

Local references are not as common as reference parameters. Local references are sometimes used to avoid recalculating the same location several times; they allow a function to attach a handle to an object that would otherwise require nontrivial address computation to access. Applications that do a lot of data cacheing sometimes use local references.