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What are pointers in D?
Mohe Ud Din SheikhOverview
In D programming language, a pointer is a variable that points to the memory address of another variable. It can be defined in any datatype like int, char, double, and so on. However, the pointer and the variable whose address is assigned to the pointer should have the same data type. For example, if the pointer is of int data type, then the variable x should also have int data type.
Syntax
Let's look at the syntax:
Initialization
int *p;
Initialization of pointer
- To initialize a pointer variable, we use an asterisk
*with the variable.
Operators
- Dereferencing operator: To use the dereferencing operator, we again use an asterisk
*, and it will help to access the value stored on the address that the pointer points to. - Address operator: To use the address operator we use an ampersand
&to get the address of that variable.
Code example
Let's look at the code below:
import std.stdio;
void main () {
int a= 10; //Declaring variable a
int b= 15; //Declaring variable a
int *p; //Declaring pointer variable
p = &a; //Storing address of a variable in the pointer
p = &b; //Storing address of b variable in the pointer
// Address of a variable
writeln("Address of a: ",&a);
// Address of b variable
writeln("Address of b: ",&b);
// Address stored in pointer variable
writeln("Pointer point's toward address: ",*p);
}Example of pointer in D language
Code explanation
- Line 6: We initialize a pointer variable
int *pwith the namepby using*before the name of the variable. - Line 7: We assign the address of the variable
ato the pointer variablep. - Line 8: We assign the address of the variable
bto the pointer variablep. - Lines 10 and 12: We show the address of
aandbvariables. - Line 14: We show the value of the address stored in the pointer by using the dereferencing operator.
RELATED TAGS
d language
pointer
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Mohe Ud Din SheikhCopyright ©2022 Educative, Inc. All rights reserved
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