cpp / beginner
Snippet
Introduction to Pointers
A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable, not its value. The asterisk (*) declares a pointer type. The ampersand (&) operator gets the memory address of a variable. To access the value at the address a pointer points to, use the dereference operator (*). This is fundamental for understanding memory management in C++.
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#include <iostream>int main() {int number = 42;int* ptr = &number;std::cout << "Value: " << number << std::endl;std::cout << "Address: " << ptr << std::endl;std::cout << "Dereferenced: " << *ptr << std::endl;return 0;}
Breakdown
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int number = 42;
Regular integer variable with value 42
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int* ptr = &number;
Pointer to int, stores address of number variable
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*ptr
Dereference operator accesses the value at the address (42)