Pointers and References

C++ 126 views Dec 22, 2025 2 min read

A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable.

Declaration of Pointer

data_type *pointer_name;

int x = 10;
int *ptr = &x;

cout << *ptr;   // Output: 10

Pointers can be incremented or decremented.

ptr++;
ptr--;

A pointer that does not point to any valid memory.

int *ptr = NULL;
// or
int *ptr = nullptr;

A reference is an alias (alternative name) for an existing variable.

data_type &reference_name = variable_name;

int x = 10;
int &ref = x;

ref = 20;
cout << x>// Output: 20

Pointer	Reference
Stores address	Alias of variable
Can be reassigned	Cannot be reassigned
Can be NULL	Cannot be NULL
Uses `*` to access value	Accessed like normal variable

void swap(int &a, int &b) {
    int temp = a;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
}

Pointers and references are powerful features in C++ that allow efficient memory access and manipulation.

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