In C++11, where move semantics is supported for standard containers, you should go with option 1.
It makes the signature of your function clear, communicating that you just want a vector of integers to be returned, and it will be efficient, because no copy will be issued: the move constructor of std::vector
will be invoked (or, most likely, Named Return Value Optimization will be applied, resulting in no move and no copy):
std::vector<int> foo()
{
std::vector<int> v;
// Fill in v...
return v;
}
This way you won't have to deal with issues such as ownership, unnecessary dynamic allocations, and other stuff which are just polluting the simplicity of your problem: returning a bunch of integers.
In C++03, you may want to go with option 4 and take an lvalue reference to a non-const
vector: standard containers in C++03 are not move-aware, and copying a vector may be expensive. Thus:
void foo(std::vector<int>& v)
{
// Fill in v...
}
However, even in that case, you should consider whether this penalty is really significant for your use cases. If it is not, you may well opt for a clearer function signature at the expense of some CPU cycles.
Also, C++03 compilers are capable of performing Named Return Value Optimization, so even though in theory a temporary should be copy-constructed from the value you return, in practice no copying is likely to happen.