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C++ Pointers

This document discusses C++ pointers, which allow storing and accessing memory addresses in programs. It explains what pointers are, how to declare and initialize pointer variables, and how to dereference pointers to access the value at a given memory address. It also gives examples of using pointers and lists some important pointer concepts.

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Abirami
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24 views

C++ Pointers

This document discusses C++ pointers, which allow storing and accessing memory addresses in programs. It explains what pointers are, how to declare and initialize pointer variables, and how to dereference pointers to access the value at a given memory address. It also gives examples of using pointers and lists some important pointer concepts.

Uploaded by

Abirami
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10/13/21, 10:52 AM C++ Pointers

C++ Pointers

C++ pointers are easy and fun to learn. Some C++ tasks are performed more easily with
pointers, and other C++ tasks, such as dynamic memory allocation, cannot be performed
without them.

As you know every variable is a memory location and every memory location has its address
defined which can be accessed using ampersand (&) operator which denotes an address in
memory. Consider the following which will print the address of the variables defined −

Live Demo
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main () {

int var1;

char var2[10];

cout << "Address of var1 variable: ";

cout << &var1 << endl;

cout << "Address of var2 variable: ";

cout << &var2 << endl;

return 0;

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Address of var1 variable: 0xbfebd5c0

Address of var2 variable: 0xbfebd5b6

What are Pointers?


A pointer is a variable whose value is the address of another variable. Like any variable or
constant, you must declare a pointer before you can work with it. The general form of a pointer
variable declaration is −

type *var-name;

Here, type is the pointer's base type; it must be a valid C++ type and var-name is the name of
the pointer variable. The asterisk you used to declare a pointer is the same asterisk that you use
for multiplication. However, in this statement the asterisk is being used to designate a variable
as a pointer. Following are the valid pointer declaration −
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10/13/21, 10:52 AM C++ Pointers

int *ip; // pointer to an integer

double *dp; // pointer to a double

float *fp; // pointer to a float

char *ch // pointer to character

The actual data type of the value of all pointers, whether integer, float, character, or otherwise, is
the same, a long hexadecimal number that represents a memory address. The only difference
between pointers of different data types is the data type of the variable or constant that the
pointer points to.

Using Pointers in C++


There are few important operations, which we will do with the pointers very frequently. (a) We
define a pointer variable. (b) Assign the address of a variable to a pointer. (c) Finally access the
value at the address available in the pointer variable. This is done by using unary operator * that
returns the value of the variable located at the address specified by its operand. Following
example makes use of these operations −

Live Demo
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main () {

int var = 20; // actual variable declaration.

int *ip; // pointer variable

ip = &var; // store address of var in pointer variable

cout << "Value of var variable: ";

cout << var << endl;

// print the address stored in ip pointer variable

cout << "Address stored in ip variable: ";

cout << ip << endl;

// access the value at the address available in pointer

cout << "Value of *ip variable: ";

cout << *ip << endl;

return 0;

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces result something as follows −

Value of var variable: 20

Address stored in ip variable: 0xbfc601ac

Value of *ip variable: 20

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10/13/21, 10:52 AM C++ Pointers

Pointers in C++

Pointers have many but easy concepts and they are very important to C++ programming. There
are following few important pointer concepts which should be clear to a C++ programmer −

Sr.No Concept & Description

1 Null Pointers
C++ supports null pointer, which is a constant with a value of zero defined in several
standard libraries.

2 Pointer Arithmetic
There are four arithmetic operators that can be used on pointers: ++, --, +, -

3 Pointers vs Arrays
There is a close relationship between pointers and arrays.

4 Array of Pointers
You can define arrays to hold a number of pointers.

5 Pointer to Pointer
C++ allows you to have pointer on a pointer and so on.

6 Passing Pointers to Functions


Passing an argument by reference or by address both enable the passed argument
to be changed in the calling function by the called function.

7 Return Pointer from Functions


C++ allows a function to return a pointer to local variable, static variable and
dynamically allocated memory as well.

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