Rvalue References and Lvalue References in C++

Helpful Articles on Understanding Rvalue References, Move Semantics and Forwarding References

The rvalues references and forwarding references introduced in C++11 provide the foundation for move semantics, a way of efficiently creating new object from the resouces of objects about to die. We look here at rvlaue references.

Rvalue References and Their Role

An lvalue is object that has a name (identity) and whose address can be taken. Examples of lvalues:

int i; // lvalue
int j = 8; // lvalue assigned rvalue

int& f2(); // f2() returns an lvalue

If an object is not an lvalue, it is an rvalue. An rvalue is a temporary object whose lifetime does not extend past the current line. You cannot take the address of an rvalue. Below are some examples of rvalue and lvalues:

int i; // lvalue
int j = 8; // lvalue assigned rvalue

int f1(); // f1() returns an rvalue. We can't do &f1().
int& f2(); // f2() returns an lvalue
int&& f3(); // f3() returns an rvalue.

class X { //...};

X x1; // lvalue declared
X f4(); // returns rvalue
X& f5(); // returns lvalue

An rvalue reference is declared using &&:

int&& j = 8;
int&& f3(); // f3() returns an rvalue
int&& k = f3();
int v = 9;
int&& l = v; // error: cannot bind rvlue reference l to lvalue v.

The rvalue reference j above is not really of any value. While we can change the value of a literal using this trick

int&& j = 8;
j = 9;
cout << j;  // prints: 9

the temporay gets deleted once j goes out of scope, and this technique has no wide applicability. However, when the compiler see an rvalue, it thinks, “oh, this is an rvalue, let me see if the class method being invoked takes an rvalue reference, so I can invoke it.”, and this ability to detect an rvalue is crucial to the implementation of move semantics bring, which is discussed in the section Move Semantics.

#include <iostream>
#include <utility>

void f(int& x) {
    std::cout << "lvalue reference overload f(" << x << ")\n";
}

void f(const int& x) {
    std::cout << "lvalue reference to const overload f(" << x << ")\n";
}

void f(int&& x) {
    std::cout << "rvalue reference overload f(" << x << ")\n";
}

int main() {
    int i = 1;
    const int ci = 2;
    f(i);  // calls f(int&)
    f(ci); // calls f(const int&)
    f(3);  // calls f(int&&)
           // would call f(const int&) if f(int&&) overload wasn't provided
    f(std::move(i)); // calls f(int&&)

    // rvalue reference variables are lvalues when used in expressions
    int&& x = 1;
    f(x);            // calls f(int& x)
    f(std::move(x)); // calls f(int&& x)
}

Note: rvalue reference variables are lvalues when used in expressions. To see this, consider parameter x in void f(SomeClass&& x) below

void f(SomeClass&& x)
{
    ...
    SomeClass *p = &x; // note: we can take the address of x.
    ...
}

f(SomeClass());

The parameter x is a reference to an rvalue that refers to a temporary SomeClass instantiated at the point f is invoked. But within the body of f, x is an lvalue because it has a name. x refers to a object about to die, an rvalue, but x itself is not about to die. It will exist for the lifetime of f. This fact, the fact that an rvalue reference parameter is itself an lvalue, will have important implications later when move constructors and move assignment operators are introduced.

Further Discussion

The topic of rvalue and lvalues is part of the larger topic of value categories.