Why can't I make a vector of references?

c++ vector reference stl container-data-type
Colen picture Colen · May 28, 2009 · Viewed 189.9k times · Source

When I do this:

std::vector<int> hello;

Everything works great. However, when I make it a vector of references instead:

std::vector<int &> hello;

I get horrible errors like

error C2528: 'pointer' : pointer to reference is illegal

I want to put a bunch of references to structs into a vector, so that I don't have to meddle with pointers. Why is vector throwing a tantrum about this? Is my only option to use a vector of pointers instead?

Answer

newacct picture newacct · May 28, 2009

The component type of containers like vectors must be assignable. References are not assignable (you can only initialize them once when they are declared, and you cannot make them reference something else later). Other non-assignable types are also not allowed as components of containers, e.g. vector<const int> is not allowed.

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