What does int * means?
This declares a pointer to an integer. It means that the variable a can store the memory address of the integer variable.
You can use another variable of type integer pointer ‘a’ to point to a single integer variable:
int x = 10;
int *a = &x; // ‘a’ points to the integer variable ‘x’
a stores the address of an integer variable, so you can dereference it using the * operator to access the value of the integer it points to like *a.
Example
C
// C Program to illustrate 'int *' #include <stdio.h> int main() { int x = 20; int* a = &x; // 'a' is a pointer to an integer // pointing to 'x' printf("The Value of x: %d\n", x); printf("The Value pointed to by 'a': %d\n", *a); return 0; } |
The Value of x: 20 The Value pointed to by 'a': 20
In this example, int *a; declares a single-level pointer a which points to the integer variable x. a stores the memory address of the x and you can access the value of x using the *a.
Difference between int *a and int **a in C
In C, the declarations int *a and int **a represent two different concepts related to pointers. Pointers play a fundamental role in memory management and data manipulation in C programming so it is important to have a clear understanding of them.
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