If you ask a reference for its address, it returns the address of its target.
#include <iostream> int main() // w w w . ja va 2 s . c o m { int intOne; int &rSomeRef = intOne; intOne = 5; std::cout << "intOne: " << intOne << std::endl; std::cout << "rSomeRef: " << rSomeRef << std::endl; std::cout << "&intOne: " << &intOne << std::endl; std::cout << "&rSomeRef: " << &rSomeRef << std::endl; return 0; }