Can I force std::vector to leave a memory leak?

Question

Can I force std::vector to not deallocate its memory after the vector goes out of scope?

For example, if I have

Answer 1

No.

And you're doing it wrong. Return the vector instead so the lifetime works out:

Write your own special Python memory vector class, something like (most crudely):

template <typename T>
class python_vector
{
    T* buffer_;
public:
    python_vector(size_t n, const T& value) : buffer_{new T(n)}
    {}
    // copy, assignment, operator[](), *etc*
    ~python_vector()
    {
        // DO NOTHING!
    }
}

python_vector<int> foo() {      
    python_vector<int> v(10,1);
    // process v
    return v;
}

int main()
{
    python_vector<int> bar = foo();  // copy allusion will build only one python_vector here
    std::cout << bar[5] << std::endl;
}