Is it possible for a non-member function to return a const value?

Question

If so, how? Does this question even make sense?

In my case it would make no sense to have the returned object modified by the caller, so I want to mark it as non-modifia

Answer 1

const MyClass foo(); is valid, but returning a const value doesn't make sense - it's copied anyway.

You can return e.g. a const reference: const MyClass & foo(); is also perfectly valid. This doesn't prevent the user from making a copy though.

If you're thinking about const MyClass * foo(); then the const is more meaningful - the user will not be able to modify the pointed to MyClass instance.