---
title: "Reference Operator"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/html/GVREFERENCE.html"
section_path: "XPresso > XPresso Nodes > General > Reference Operator"
element_id: "GVREFERENCE"
description: "With this Node you can access an object using a relative search path. This path is described by the letters U, D, N and P. Use U and D to move up or down …"
---

# Reference Operator

![Image: 004680.jpg](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/004680.jpg)

With this Node you can access an object using a relative search path. This path is described by the letters **U**, **D**, **N** and **P**. Use U and D to move **up** or **down** a hierarchy level respectively, and **N** and **P** to move to the next or previous element respectively. The Object Node also references objects in this way — see the description of the Object Node for more details.

![Image: 004681.jpg](https://help.maxon.net/c4d/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/004681.jpg)\
This Reference Node finds the object that is directly below the Cube object (Path = **D** for **Down**), i.e., the Sphere object. Once found, the object (i.e. the Sphere) is then passed to an Object Node, which in turn outputs the object's name: **Sphere**.