A pointer is a variable whose value is the address of another variable, i.e., direct address of the memory location. Like any variable or constant, you must declare a pointer before using it to store any variable address.
The Pointer in C, is a variable that stores address of another variable. A pointer can also be used to refer to another pointer function. A pointer can be incremented/decremented, i.e., to point to the next/ previous memory location. The purpose of pointer is to save memory space and achieve faster execution time.
A pointer declaration names a pointer variable and specifies the type of the object to which the variable points. A variable declared as a pointer holds a memory address.
Example:
#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
int number=50;
int *p;
p=&number;//stores the address of number variable
printf("Address of p variable is %x \n",p); // p contains the address of the number therefore printing p gives the address of number.
printf("Value of p variable is %d \n",*p); // As we know that * is used to dereference a pointer therefore if we print *p, we will get the value stored at the address contained by p.
return 0;
} Pointers in C and C++ are nothing but variables and therefore as declared in a similar fashion with the addition of a unary operator called the dereference operator (*) before the identifier name of the pointer. A pointer declaration names a pointer variable and specifies the type of the object to which the variable points. A variable declared as a pointer holds a memory address.
Pointers store the memory addresses. Wild pointers are different from pointers i.e. they also store the memory addresses but point the unallocated memory or data value which has been deallocated. Such pointers are known as wild pointers. … That is why, they point any random memory location.
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