# Error: attempting to reference a deleted function

**URL:** <https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/error-attempting-to-reference-a-deleted-function/23855>\
**Category:** C++\
**Created:** [November 27, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/error-attempting-to-reference-a-deleted-function/23855 "2023-11-27T13:57:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![stephensaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@stephensaid](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/stephensaid)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/error-attempting-to-reference-a-deleted-function/23855/1 "2023-11-27T13:57:41Z")

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I’m following Part 2 of the C++ course, Operator Overloading.

Can anyone help, please?

ostream operator\<\<(ostream &stream, const Movie &movie)  
{  
stream \<\< movie.title;  
return stream; // this line here is giving me an error  
}

C:\Users\Stephen\Documents\Code\hellowworld\part2.cpp(352): error C2280: ‘std::basic\_ostream\<char,std::char\_traits\>::basic\_ostream(const std::basic\_ostream\<char,std::char\_traits\> &)’: attempting to reference a deleted function  
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.38.33130\include\ostream(64): note: see declaration of ‘std::basic\_ostream\<char,std::char\_traits\>::basic\_ostream’  
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.38.33130\include\ostream(64): note: ‘std::basic\_ostream\<char,std::char\_traits\>::basic\_ostream(const std::basic\_ostream\<char,std::char\_traits\> &)’: function was explicitly deleted

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**Author:** ![stephensaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@stephensaid](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/stephensaid)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/error-attempting-to-reference-a-deleted-function/23855/2 "2023-11-27T14:09:18Z")

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> [@stephensaid](#):
>
> ostream operator\<\<(ostream &stream, const Movie &movie)  
> {  
> stream \<\< movie.title;  
> return stream; // this line here is giving me an error  
> }

Found my error:  
ostream& operator\<\<(ostream &stream, const Movie &movie)

I was missing the & symbol to return ostream as a reference.

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**Author:** ![AJ\_KTS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.codewithmosh.com/aj_kts/32/7051_2.png) [@AJ\_KTS](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/u/AJ_KTS)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 10:39am UTC](https://forum.codewithmosh.com/t/error-attempting-to-reference-a-deleted-function/23855/3 "2023-11-28T10:39:18Z")

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Congratulations @stephensaid for identifying the error! Great job! Keep it up!