General rules of passing/returning reference of array (not pointer) to/from a function?

If you want to return a reference to an array from a function, the declaration would look like this:

// an arrayint global[10];// function returning a reference to an arrayint (&f())[10] {   return global;}

The declaration of a function returning a reference to an array looks the same as the declaration of a variable that is a reference to an array - only that the function name is followed by (), which may contain parameter declarations:

int (&variable)[1][2];int (&functionA())[1][2];int (&functionB(int param))[1][2];

Such declarations can be made much clearer by using a typedef:

typedef int array_t[10];array_t& f() {   return global;}

If you want it to get really confusing, you can declare a function that takes a reference to an array and also returns such a reference:

template<int N, int M>int (&f(int (&param)[M][N]))[M][N] {   return param;}

Pointers to arrays work the same, only that they use * instead of &.

With C++11's trailing return type syntax, you can also write:

auto foo () -> int (&)[3]{    static int some_array[3]; // doesn't have to be declared here    return some_array; // return a reference to the array.}

You cannot return an array from a function.

8.3.5/6:

Functions shall not have a return type of type array or function, although they may have a return type of type pointer or reference to such things.

EDIT: You'll love the syntax:

int (&bar()) [5] {  static int x[5];  return x;}int (* & bar()) [6][10] {    static int x[6][10];    static int (*y)[6][10] = &x;    return y;}// Note - this returns a reference to a pointer to a 2d array, not exactly what you wanted.