UNIT#3

POINTERS

By Abhishek Verma
Outline
 Features of pointers
 Pointer declaration
 Pointers and arrays
 Pointers and strings
Features of pointers
 Topics discussed in this section
 Pointer Constants
 Pointer Values
 Pointer Variables
 Accessing Variables Through Pointers
Pointer

Note

Pointer is nothing but a variable which stores

address of memory location, where that variable is
stored.
Pointer

Note

int a;
Address of a = &a
Value at address (&a) = *(&a)
Address and Indirection Operators

Inverse
& *
Character Constants and variables

Character ‘\n’ Variable

Constants . name
.
. aChar 14650
‘A’ A

‘G’ Starting
‘X’ Value address
.
.
‘a’
‘g’
‘z’ System
Memory
(RAM)
 Pointer Constants
‘\n’ Variable
Character 00000
. name
Constants .
.
14645
.
aChar 14650 14650
‘A’ A
14653
‘G’
.
‘X’
Starting .
.
address .
.
.
‘a’
1048575
‘g’
‘z’ System
Memory
(RAM)
Pointer Constants

Note

Pointer constants, drawn from the set of addresses for a

computer, exist by themselves. We cannot change them;
we can only use them.
Pointer Constants

Note

Address of a variable can be accessed using the special

character ampersand (&) before variable name:
&aChar
 Printing Character Address

//Print character address

#include<stdio.h>

int main () 142300

a A
{ 142300 142301
//Declaration 143001 b Z
char a=‘A’, b=‘Z’;
printf(“%p\n %p\n”, &a, &b);
}
Output
Note:
• Both a and b variables are of type char, and char takes 1 Byte in memory (Memory is Byte
addressable, i.e. a block is of a Byte.) System
• By using & before variables a and b, the address of variables, where they are stored in Memory
memory are printed. (RAM)
Pointer Constants

Note

A variable’s address is the first byte occupied

by the variable.
Integer Constants and Variables

Integer . Variable
Constants . name
.
. aInt 14650
-123 -123
14654 Starting
-122
. 14658 address
bInt 151
. 14662
.
151
152
. System
Memory
(RAM)
 Pointer Variable

aInt -123
aInt -123 14650

ptr_a= &a Address of

variable a

ptr_a
ptr_a 14650
Pointer
variable

Physical representation Logical representation