returning pointers from a function

If I use dynamic allocation to create node in a binary tree within a function, will these pointers exisist outside of the function.

I was warned not to return pointers to temporary variables from a function so it seems there are three options. Pass the pointer as an argument to the function and return it after manipulation, use a global pointer (bad idea I understand), or I think use dynamic memory allocation and delete the pointers in another function.

Are these all of the options for returning of type pointer or pointer to functions?

Not dealing with classes yet just a simple struct, and functions.

Returning a pointer to something that was created on the stack is a bad idea as it will be destroyed when it goes out of scope, so your pointer will point to either nothing in particular, or something owned by another part of your program (which leads to unpredictable and undefined behavior), unless the variable was static (which probably isn't what you want). Here is an example of what not to do:

Code:

---

int* foo( )
{
  int x = 3;
  return &x; // Once the function returns, x goes out of scope, so what your pointer points to is unpredictable.
}

---

You can, however, return a pointer to something that was created on the heap without fear of it going out of scope. You must, however, make sure that the memory allocated is later freed.

Code:

---

int* foo( )
{
  int* p = new int;
  *p = 3;
  return p;
}

void bar( )
{
  int* r = foo( );
  // ...
  delete r;

  // The following, however, is a memory leak.
  foo( ); // Now, nothing points to the allocated memory, so it cannot be freed.
}

---

Thanks that helps clarify what I was thinking!