Problem
Explain the concept of reference and pointer in a c programming language using examples.
Reference
It is the alternate name for the variable that we declared.
It can be accessed by using pass by value.
It cannot hold the null values.
Syntax
datatype *variablename
For example, int *a; //a contains the address of int type variable.
Pointer
It stores the address of variable.
We can hold the null values using pointer.
It can be access by using pass by reference.
No need of initialization while declaring the variable.
Syntax
pointer variable= & another variable;
Example
#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
int a=2,b=4;
int *p;
printf("add of a=%d\n",&a);
printf("add of b=%d\n",&b);
p=&a; // p points to variable a
printf("a value is =%d\n",a); // prints a value
printf("*p value is =%d\n",*p); //prints a value
printf("p value is =%d\n",p); //prints the address of a
p=&b; //p points to variable b
printf("b value is =%d\n",b); // prints b value
printf("*p value is =%d\n",*p); //prints b value
printf("p value is =%d\n",p); //prints add of b
}Output
add of a=-748899512 add of b=-748899508 a value is =2 *p value is =2 p value is =-748899512 b value is =4 *p value is =4 p value is =-748899508