return by reference in cpp

Returning by reference in C++ involves the use of the "&" operator in the function declaration and definition.

1. Declare the function with a return type as a reference. For example: cpp int& myFunction(int& num) {

2. Inside the function, use the return statement to return the reference to the variable or object. For example: cpp return num;

3. When calling the function, you can store the reference returned in another variable. For example: cpp int x = 10; int &ref = myFunction(x);

4. The variable "ref" now acts as an alias to the variable "x" and any changes made to "ref" will affect the original variable "x".