cast to a reference to a static array

Code:

---

template<unsigned int size>class foo
{   
    private:
        char arr[size];
    public:
//returns a reference to arr
        char (&getArr())[size]
        {
            return arr;
        }
//want to provide a cast operator to cast foo to a reference to a static char array of length size. syntax seems to follow the same rules as above, but the compiler doesn't like it. is this possible?
        operator char (&())[size]
        {
            return arr;
        }
}

---

Try using a typedef within the class body.

Code:

---

    typedef char (&array_reference)[size];

    operator array_reference();

---

Returning non-const references to private class members completely defeats the intent of encapsulation, so is not something I recommend.

These kind of operators also typically allows evil implicit conversions that are not intended, but I suspect that because of this odd type, that risk is lessened. Regardless, be careful about these operators. It's far better to make an explicit function that returns your desired type.