Safe to return a vector populated with local variables?

Question

Is it safe to return a vector that\'s been filled with local variables?

For example, if I have...

#include 

struct Target
{
public:
             


        

Answer 1

Elements get copied when you push_back them into a vector (or assign to elements). Your code is therefore safe – the elements in the vector are no references to local variables, they are owned by the vector.

Furthermore, you don’t even need to return a pointer (and never handle raw pointers, use smart pointers instead). Just return a copy instead; the compiler is smart enough to optimise this so that no actual redundant copy is made.