pass-by-reference

A method used in a function call that determines how an argument is passed to the programmer-defined function. With pass-by-reference, the address in memory of the actual argument is passed to the function. This method means that changes made to the value of the formal argument within the body of the function will be visible from the calling routine when the function exits. 4GL uses pass-by-reference only for blob (BYTE and TEXT) variables.

See also argument, blob, function call, pass-by-value.