Return array of pointers by reference

Question

Inside one of my classes i've got a

Reservation * availability[30] = {nullptr};

(which I of course initialize later with some values).

Nevertheless, I've got a getReservations() function which is supposed to return a reference to that array of 30 elements, so that it can be used like:

getReservations()[i] ...

How should I declare that function?

Answer 1

The syntax for declaring a function that returns the array by reference is this:

Reservation * (& getReservations())[30];

Of course, as you can see, you shouldn't use this in real life. Instead do it with a type alias:

using Reservations = Reservation * [30];

Reservations & getReservations();

Or, because arrays aren't bounds-checked anyway, just return a pointer which you can then index like an array:

Reservation * getReservations();

Answer 2

Reservation *(&getReservations())[30];

should do it for you.

Please remember of dangling references and pointer management.

Answer 3

I would recommend you to use modern C++:

using ReservationArray = std::array<Reservation*, 30>;

ReservationArray _availability;

and to return that as:

ReservationArray& getReservations()