What are Pointers in C++?

 In today's tutorial, I will discuss pointers in c++. Let's first know  what pointer is? Pointer is a type of data type which stores the address of another data type. When we create a variable, it is stored in ram and the address where the store is in ram is the address. That is, the address of a variable is where it is stored. Here is the pointer

Why Pointer Needed?

When we work with a variable inside a function or class, they are local variables. In this case, reassigning the value of a variable does not change the value of the variable in the main function. Therefore, we pass the address of the variable to any function using pointers. I can change the value of that variable.

Now let's know about pointers in detail

Before knowing about pointers we need to know about two operators. They are:

& → address of operator

* → dereference operator

To know the address of a variable, we use the & operator. For example, if a variable is a, then its address will be &a

Now let's know about * operator. Using * operator we will declare pointer variable and again using * we will get value of original variable from pointer variable.

Now let's see some examples

First let's create a variable named x.

int x = 5;

Now let's write to store the address of x in the variable named y:

int x = 5;
int* y = &x;

To create a pointer variable, the address of the variable to be stored must be given a * after the data type. For example, if int is int*, if string is string*

Now if you cout y, you can see the address of x.

cout<<y;

Output:

0x7ffeeef92794

Now to print the value of x write:

cout<<*y;

In this case, use * before the name of the pointer variable. For example, *y here

output:

5

Here, the address of x is stored in y. Now many people may ask, how to store the address of y in another pointer? So let's find out.

Earlier we used a * after the data type while creating the pointer. However, this time we have to use two *. Now if we want to store the address of y in z, we have to write:

int x = 5:
int* y = &x;
int** z = &y;

Now if you want to print the value of x through z then write:

cout<<**z;

That is, use ** here.

This was basically the concept of pointers in c++