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    Pointers Inc

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    virus1811
    This document discusses pointers in C, including how to declare pointers, use the address-of and dereference operators to assign addresses to pointers and access the values pointed to, and examples of dynamically allocating memory using malloc() and free() and assigning arbitrary addresses to pointers. Pointers in C hold memory addresses and are used to reference and indirectly access values in memory.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Pointers Inc

    Uploaded by

    virus1811
    114 views11 pages
    This document discusses pointers in C, including how to declare pointers, use the address-of and dereference operators to assign addresses to pointers and access the values pointed to, and examples of dynamically allocating memory using malloc() and free() and assigning arbitrary addresses to pointers. Pointers in C hold memory addresses and are used to reference and indirectly access values in memory.

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    This document discusses pointers in C, including how to declare pointers, use the address-of and dereference operators to assign addresses to pointers and access the values pointed to, and examples of dynamically allocating memory using malloc() and free() and assigning arbitrary addresses to pointers. Pointers in C hold memory addresses and are used to reference and indirectly access values in memory.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    114 views11 pages

    Pointers Inc

    Uploaded by

    virus1811
    This document discusses pointers in C, including how to declare pointers, use the address-of and dereference operators to assign addresses to pointers and access the values pointed to, and examples of dynamically allocating memory using malloc() and free() and assigning arbitrary addresses to pointers. Pointers in C hold memory addresses and are used to reference and indirectly access values in memory.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 11

    Pointers in

    C
    Pointer Definition
    • Holds a data value that references a unit of
    memory storage.
    In other words:
    • A variable that holds Memory Address

    How do we declare a Pointer in


    C?
    ip
    <data_type> *ptr1, *ptr2, … ;
    0x123
    e.g. int * ip; 4
    Variable ip is a pointer that can
    Address-of and Dereference
    Operators
    A pointer is nothing more than a box that contains a
    value that is underneath some other box.
    There are two basic operators for dealing with
    pointers in C.
    • One is the address-of operator ‘&’. If you give it a
    box, it returns the value underneath it.
    • The other operator is the dereference operator
    ‘*’. This does exactly the opposite thing. If you give it
    a box, it takes the value inside that box, then goes
    and finds the other box that has that value
    underneath it.
    Address-of and Dereference Operators

    example
    1: void main(void)
    {
    2: int num;
    3: int *pNum;
    4: num = 57;
    5: pNum = &num;
    6: *pNum = 23
    7: printf(“%d\n”,
    num);
    8: return 0;
    }
    Assigning Addresses to
    Pointers
    • Pointer to single element
    Format: ptr = &element;
    • Pointer to first array element
    Format: ptr = array;
    • Pointer to array element x
    Format: ptr = &array[x];
    Working with Pointers in
    C
    int *a, *b; // Declare Pointers a and b
    int n=10; // Declare and initialize n
    a = &n; // Store the address of n in a
    *a = 20; // Change the value of n
    // via pointer a
    • a = b; // Store the content of
    // Pointer a in pointer b
    another example
    int i = 7; // Declare and initialize i

    int *p = &i; //Declare and initialize


    Pointer p

    int j = 8; // Declare another variable j

    p = &j; // Let p points to j

    *p = 10; // Change the value via p


    Now lets get more
    serious
    int *P; // Declare Pointer P of type
    integer
    P = (int *) 1234; // assign arbitrary
    address to P
    *P = 10; // Store value 10 in the
    allocated // memory 1234
    Dynamic Memory Allocation
    • Allocating /De-allocating
    memory at the run-time.
    • malloc(), calloc() and free()

    • void *malloc (size_in_bytes);


    • void *calloc (no_of_slots,
    size_of_each_slot_in_bytes);
    • void free(address);
    example
    what does this complicated line do?:
    •

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