Re: reference to a vector

Pete was correct. f is copy constructed with a reference (alias)
returned from run_it().

My mistake in my previous post, sorry for that.

The code that allows deletion should be:

    int main()
    {
       std::vector<bar>& f = run_it(); // Note its a reference now.
       std::cout << f.size() << std::endl;
       std::cout << f[ 0 ].variable << std::endl;
       delete &f;
    }

But a better way to do the same thing is to return a vector directly:

//std::vector< bar >& run_it ()
std::vector<bar> run_it()
{
   std::vector<bar> v;
   std::vector<bar> *ptr_f = &v;
   bar f;

   f.variable = 99.;
   ptr_f->push_back ( f );
   // return ( *ptr_f );
   return v;
}

// later
int main()
{
   std::vector<bar> f = run_it();
   std::cout << f.size() << std::endl;
   std::cout << f[ 0 ].variable << std::endl;

}