cpp / beginner
Snippet
Introduction to Pointers
A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable. The asterisk (*) declares a pointer, and the ampersand (&) gets the address of a variable. To access the value at the address, you dereference the pointer with *. Pointers are fundamental to C++ memory management and allow you to manipulate data directly in memory.
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#include <iostream>int main() {int age = 25;int* ptr = &age;std::cout << "Value of age: " << age << std::endl;std::cout << "Memory address of age: " << ptr << std::endl;std::cout << "Value through pointer: " << *ptr << std::endl;*ptr = 30;std::cout << "New value of age: " << age << std::endl;return 0;}
Breakdown
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int* ptr = &age;
Declares a pointer 'ptr' that stores the address of 'age'
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*ptr = 30;
Dereferences ptr and modifies the original variable 'age'
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std::cout << *ptr;
Outputs the value at the memory location pointer stores