Direct binding

Suppose a reference r of type T is initialized by an expression e of type U.

The reference r is bound directly to e if the following statements are true:

• Expression e is an lvalue
• T is the same type as U, or T is a base class of U
• T has the same, or more, const or volatile qualifiers than U

The reference r is also bound directly to e if e can be implicitly converted to a type such that the previous list of statements is true.

Related information

• References (C++ only)
• Pass by reference