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C++ Pointer Operators
C++ provides two pointer operators, which are (a) Address of Operator & and (b) Indirection Operator *.
A pointer is a variable that contains the address of another variable or you can say that a variable that contains the address of another variable is said to "point to" the other variable. A variable can be any data type including an object, structure or again pointer itself.
The . (dot) operator and the -> (arrow) operator are used to reference individual members of classes, structures, and unions.
The Address of Operator &
The & is a unary operator that returns the memory address of its operand. For example, if var is an integer variable, then &var is its address. This operator has the same precedence and right-to-left associativity as the other unary operators.
You should read the & operator as "the address of" which means &var will be read as "the address of var".
The Indirection Operator *
The second operator is indirection Operator *, and it is the complement of &. It is a unary operator that returns the value of the variable located at the address specified by its operand.
The following program executes the two operations
#include <iostream> using namespace std; int main () { int var; int *ptr; int val; var = 3000; // take the address of var ptr = &var; // take the value available at ptr val = *ptr; cout << "Value of var :" << var << endl; cout << "Value of ptr :" << ptr << endl; cout << "Value of val :" << val << endl; return 0; }
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Value of var :3000 Value of ptr :0xbff64494 Value of val :3000