Oh I've just realized I was being a little silly here. I don't need ref for pointers. Essentially I was looking to make this:
auto ref unqual(T)(ref T value) { return cast(Unqual!T)value; } do this: char* unqual(const char* value) { return cast(char*)value; } Except to make it work for any type. Which is why I thought auto ref would do it. :)