Pointer Function return value of Struct in Class

Question

I have been attempting to create a function getLocation() that utilizes a pointer to return the value of the struct Location declared in the Character class. I was curious as to the problem with my syntax (or my structure). Knowing that the asterisk * should refer to the value, why is it that my function using an ampersand string& Character::getInventory is able to return the value of that particular index (its return does not need to be converted)?

Trying Location& Character::getLocation() {return position; } when run results in error C2679: binary '<<': no operator found

Nor Location* Which cannot be run as there is no conversion.

I read that the following is likely the most proper because it specifies the scope in which the structure resides, but still results in needing and returning a temporary.

Character::Location* const & Character::getLocation() {return &position; }

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. Below is my main.cpp, which of course will show the hexadecimal address for Location.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using std::cerr;
using std::cin;
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
using std::string;

class Character {

private:

    string name;
    string inventory[4];

public:

    struct Location {
        int x; int y;
    };
    Location position;

public:

    void Character::setName(string x) { name = x; }
    string Character::getName() { return name; }

    void Character::setLocation(int x, int y) {
        position.x = x; position.y = y;
    }

    Location* Character::getLocation() {return &position; }

    void Character::setInventory(string(&x)[4]) { for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) { inventory[i] = x[i]; } }
    string& Character::getInventory(int itemNumber) { return inventory[itemNumber]; }
};

void showUser(Character Character);

int main() {

        try {

            string items[4] = { "Sword", "Shield", "Potion", "Cloak" };

            Character CharacterI;

            CharacterI.setName("Some Character");
            CharacterI.setInventory(items);
            CharacterI.setLocation(1, 30);

            cout << "\n" << "Retrieving Character Info..." << "\n" << endl;
            showUser(CharacterI);

        }
        catch (std::exception & e) {
            cerr << "\nError : " << e.what() << '\n';
        }

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

void showUser(Character character) {
    cout << "Name : " << character.getName() << endl;
    cout << "Location : " << character.getLocation() << endl;
    for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
        cout << "Inventory " << i + 1 << " : " << character.getInventory(i) << endl;
    }
}

Answer 1

Ok, I think I understand the question better now. The reason why getInventory can successfully return a reference while getLocation does not is because getLocation returns a reference to a temporary variable, which is not good. See the link in @NathanOliver's comment for details. Additionally, to paraphrase a previous comment by @Peter Schneider, an * in an expression dereferences a pointer to return a value, while in a declaration it signifies that a variable will be of pointer type. The two usages are more or less opposites of each other. Example:

int* p = new int;  //Declares a pointer to int
int x = *p;        //Dereferences a pointer and returns an int

What you need to do is create a member variable to hold the Character's location, then set/get from that variable instead of creating temporaries. You did this already for name and inventory, just keep using that same pattern.

Additionally, whenever you use the Location struct outside of the Character class scope, you need to fully-qualify it with Character::Location.

Example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Character {
public:
    struct Location {
        int x;
        int y;
    };

    Location loc;

    void SetLocation(int x, int y) {loc.x = x; loc.y = y;}
    Location& GetLocation() {return loc;}
};


int main ()
{
    Character c;
    c.SetLocation(1,42);
    Character::Location l = c.GetLocation();

    cout << l.x << endl << l.y << endl;

    return 0;
}

Output:

1

42