A reference variable is a "reference" to an existing variable, and it is created with the & operator:
string food = "Pizza"; // food variable
string &meal = food; // reference to food
string &meal = food; // reference to food
Now, we can use either the variable name food or the reference name meal to refer to the food variable:
Example
string food = "Pizza";
string &meal = food;
cout << food << "\n"; // Outputs Pizza
cout << meal << "\n"; // Outputs Pizza
string &meal = food;
cout << food << "\n"; // Outputs Pizza
cout << meal << "\n"; // Outputs Pizza
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