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Pointers

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5 views

Pointers

Uploaded by

ramesh.n
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Pointers

Pointers
• Pointers are one of the most powerful features in C, allowing direct
memory access, manipulation of data, and efficient handling of arrays
and dynamic memory
• Definition: pointer is a variableintthat
*p; stores the memory address of
another variable.
Syntax for declaring a Pointer
int *p;
Here, p is a pointer to an integer.
The * indicates that the variable p is a pointer, not a regular integer.
Declaring and Initializing a
Pointer
• To declare a pointer, use the * symbol to indicate that the variable is a
pointer.
• To assign a value to the pointer, use the address-of operator (&).
int a = 10;
int *p;
p = &a; // p now stores the memory address of 'a‘

&a gets the memory address of the variable a.


Dereferencing a Pointer
• Dereferencing means accessing the value at the memory address
stored in the pointer.
• To dereference a pointer, use the * operator.
• printf("%d", *p); // This prints the value stored at the memory address 'p‘
• Here, *p gives you the value of a (which is 10), because p holds the address of a.
Pointer Arithmetic
• You can perform arithmetic operations on pointers to navigate
through memory.
• For example, incrementing a pointer moves it to the next memory
location of the same type.
int arr[] = {10, 20, 30};
int *p = arr; // p points to arr[0]
p++; // p now points to arr[1]
printf("%d", *p); // This prints 20
Summary of Pointer Operations

• & (address-of) operator: To get the address of a variable.


• * (dereference) operator: To get the value at the address a pointer
is pointing to.
• ++, --, +, -: Pointer arithmetic to navigate through memory.
• NULL: Special value indicating an uninitialized or invalid pointer.
Pointers and Arrays
• In C, arrays and pointers are closely related. The name of an array is
essentially a pointer to its first element.
int arr[] = {1, 2, 3};
int *p = arr; // p points to the first element of arr
printf("%d", *p); // Prints 1
p++;
printf("%d", *p); // Prints 2
Null Pointers
• A pointer can be assigned the value NULL, which means it is not
pointing to any valid memory location.
• Using a NULL pointer in dereferencing will cause a runtime error
(segmentation fault).
• int *p = NULL;// Dereferencing NULL pointer will result in an error://
printf("%d", *p); // Dangerous!
Pointers to Pointers
• A pointer can also point to another pointer, creating a chain of
pointers.
int a = 10;
int *p = &a; // p holds the address of a
int **pp = &p; // pp holds the address of p
printf("%d", **pp); // This prints the value of a (10)
Function Pointers
• A function pointer is a pointer that points to a function instead of a variable. It allows dynamic
function calling.
void greet()
{
printf("Hello, World!");
}

int main()
{
void (*func_ptr)() = greet; // Function pointer initialization
func_ptr(); // Call function using pointer
return 0;
}
Dynamic Memory Allocation
• Pointers are essential for dynamic memory management (e.g., malloc,
calloc, free).
• With pointers, you can allocate memory during runtime and manage
it manually.
int *p = (int*)malloc(sizeof(int)); // Allocating memory dynamically
*p = 10; // Storing a value in dynamically allocated memory
printf("%d", *p); // Prints 10
free(p); // Free allocated memory
Pointers and Structures
You can use pointers to work with structures, making it easier to
manipulate and pass structures to functions.

struct Person {
char name[50];
int age;
};
struct Person *p;
struct Person person = {"John", 25};
p = &person; // p points to person structure
printf("%s is %d years old.", p->name, p->age); // Access fields via pointer
Common Mistakes with Pointers

• Dereferencing uninitialized pointers.


• Dereferencing NULL pointers.
• Memory leaks when dynamically allocated memory is not freed.
• Incorrect pointer arithmetic causing out-of-bounds access.

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