C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

Returning a Pointer to Function

As with arrays (§ 6.3.3, p. 228), we can’t return a function type but can return a pointer to a function type. Similarly, we must write the return type as a pointer type; the compiler will not automatically treat a function return type as the corresponding pointer type. Also as with array returns, by far the easiest way to declare a function that returns a pointer to function is by using a type alias:

using F = int(int*, int);     // F is a function type, not a pointerusing PF = int(*)(int*, int); // PF is a pointer type

Here we used type alias declarations (§ 2.5.1, p. 68) to define F as a function type and PF as a pointer to function type. The thing to keep in mind is that, unlike what happens to parameters that ...