Pointers in C

Outline

Pointers
What is a Pointer
Creating pointers in C
& operator, * operator, printf, scanf used for pointers
A detail example using pointers
Basic of pointer manipulations
Why we need pointers
Operators applicable to pointers
Arrays and pointers
Problem solving with pointers and arrays
Problem solving with pointers and strings
Pointers and dynamic memory allocation

A Rahman Pointers
 What is a Pointer?
0 void main(){
1 int a;
int b;
a = 5;
b = 78;
printf(“%d\n”, a);
printf(“%d\n”, b);
200 5 a
RAM }
204 78 b

Pointer is a special variable

that holds memory address
of another variable.

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Outline

Pointers
What is a Pointer
Creating pointers in C
& operator, * operator, printf, scanf used for pointers
A detail example using pointers
Why we need pointers
Basic of pointer manipulation
Operators applicable to pointers
Arrays and pointers
Problem solving with pointers and arrays
Problem solving with pointers and strings
Pointers and dynamic memory allocation

A Rahman Pointers
How to create pointers?

datatype *variable_name;

char *cp;
int *ip;
float *fp;
double *dp;

Pointer variables do not have any data type. The

datatype in front indicates the data type of the
variable whose address the pointer is going to hold

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Outline

Pointers
What is a Pointer
Creating pointers in C
& operator, * operator, printf, scanf used for pointers
A detail example using pointers
Basic of Pointer Manipulations
Why we need pointers
Operators applicable to pointers
Arrays and pointers
Problem solving with pointers and arrays
Problem solving with pointers and strings
Pointers and dynamic memory allocation

A Rahman Pointers
 Example of creating pointers?
0 void main(){
1 int a, b;
int *p,*q;
a = 5;
b = 78;
p = 200;
q = 204;
200 5 a
RAM
204 78 b }
208 200 p
212 204 q But a and b may not have the address
200 and 204 respectively in your computer
Use & operator to get address of a
And address of b

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 Example of creating pointers?
void main(){
0 int a, b;
1 int *p,*q;
a = 5;
b = 78;
p = &a;
q = &b;
printf(“%d\n”, p);
200 5 a RAM printf(“%d\n”,q);
204 78 b printf(“%d\n”, *p);
printf(“%d\n”, *q);
208 200 p }
212 204 q But a and b may not have the address
200 and 204 respectively in your computer
Use & operator to get address of a
And address of b
Use * operator to get value at the
location stored in a pointer
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 It’s DEMO time………..

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Question

Write down a program that will take two

integers as input using pointers. Then using
pointers multiply the two values and display
the result.

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 Example of creating pointers?
0
void main(){
1 int a, b,r;
int *p,*q;
p = &a;
q = &b;
390 r scanf(“%d”,&a); scanf(“%d\n”,p);
200 5 a scanf(“%d”,&b); scanf(“%d\n”,q);
RAM
r = (*p) * (*q);
204 78 b printf(“%d\n”,r);
208 200 p }

212 204 q
Prints 390

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Outline

Pointers
What is a Pointer
Creating pointers in C
& operator, * operator, printf, scanf used for pointers
A detail example using pointers
Basic of Pointer Manipulations
Why we need pointers
Operators applicable to pointers
Arrays and pointers
Problem solving with pointers and arrays
Problem solving with pointers and strings
Pointers and dynamic memory allocation

A Rahman Pointers
Pointer Basic Operations

int i = 5;
int *ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip); Prints 5

*ip = 7;

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Pointer Basic Operations

int i = 5;
int *ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

*ip = 7;

printf("%d\n", i); Prints 7

int j = 3;
ip = &j;

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Pointer Basic Operations

int i = 5;
int *ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

*ip = 7;

printf("%d\n", i);

int j = 3;
ip = &j;
printf("%d\n", *ip); Prints 3

int *ip2;
ip2 = ip;

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Pointer Basic Operations

int i = 5;
int *ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

*ip = 7;

printf("%d\n", i);

int j = 3;
ip = &j;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

int *ip2;
ip2 = ip;
printf("%d\n", *ip2); Prints 3
ip = &i;

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Pointer Basic Operations

int i = 5;
int *ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

*ip = 7;

printf("%d\n", i);

int j = 3;
ip = &j;
printf("%d\n", *ip);

int *ip2;
ip2 = ip;
printf("%d\n", *ip2);
ip = &i;
printf("%d\n", *ip); Prints 7
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 Solve an exercise………..

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Assume address of a is 200 and address of b is 300.

a b a_p b_p
int a = 50, b = 0; 50 0 - -
int *a_p = &a, *b_p = &b; 50 0 200 300
b = a+*b_p; 50 50 200 300
a_p = b_p 50 50 300 300
a = (*a_p) * (*b_p); 2500 50 300 300
*b_p = a/b; 2500 50 300 300

*a_p = a%b; 2500 0 300 300

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Outline

Pointers
What is a Pointer
Creating pointers in C
& operator, * operator, printf, scanf used for pointers
A detail example using pointers
Basic of Pointer Manipulations
Why we need pointers
Operators applicable to pointers
Arrays and pointers
Problem solving with pointers and arrays
Problem solving with pointers and strings
Pointers and dynamic memory allocation

A Rahman Pointers
Question

Write down a void function that will take two

integers as parameters and will interchange
their values. From your main function take
two integers as input and use this function
two interchange their values. Finally print
their values.

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Interchanging content using
function?
void swap(int x, int y){
x y
int t;
t = x;
x = y;
y = t;
}
void main(){
int a, b;
scanf(“%d%d”,&a,&b);
swap(a,b);
printf(“%d %d”,a,b);
}

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 Interchanging content using
function?
0 void swap(int x, int y){
1 int t;
t = x;
x = y;
y = t;
}
void main(){
200 25 a
RAM int a, b;
204 50 b scanf(“%d%d”,&a,&b);
208 25 50 swap(a,b);
x
printf(“%d %d”,a,b);
212 50 25 y }

25 t

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 Interchanging content using
function?
0 void swap(int *x, int *y){
1 int t;
t = *x;
*x = *y;
*y = t;
}
void main(){
200 25 50 a
RAM int a, b;
204 50 25 b scanf(“%d%d”,&a,&b);
208 200 swap(&a,&b);
x
Prints 50 25 printf(“%d %d”,a,b);
212 204 y }

25 t Passing address instead of values

solved the problem
scanf stores the value at a variable
So it needs the address of the variable
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