C++ Pointers

By Tim-Bo Tolbert, posted on Jul 16, 2025

In C++ a Pointer is a variable that holds the memory address of another variable. So instead of storing data directly, it stores the memory location of where to find the data.

Pointers vs References

In C++, pointers and references are commonly used frequently in software development, however they are not the same thing and there are differences between the two:

Feature	Pointer	Reference
Must be initialized?	No	Yes
Can be reassigned?	Yes	No
Can be null?	Yes	No
Syntax	More flexible	More readable
Used in dynamic memory	Yes	N/A

Common Pointer Operations

Operation	Syntax	Meaning
Get address	`&x`	Where `x` lives in memory
Declare pointer	`int* ptr`	`ptr` will point to an int
Assign address	`ptr = &x`	`ptr` now knows where `x` is
Dereference	`*ptr`	Gets or sets the value at `ptr`
Null pointer	`int* ptr = nullptr`	Pointer points to nothing (safe default)

Pointer Example

C++

int x = 42;
int* ptr = &x;  // 'ptr' now stores the memory address of 'x'

// Output the value of x : 42
cout << x << "\n";

// Output the memory address of x : 0x6egfc9
cout << &x << "\n";

// Output the memory address of x with the pointer : 0x6egfc9
cout << ptr << "\n";

Let's break down int* ptr = &x;:

int* defines a pointer to an int
ptr is the custom name of our pointer variable
&x gives the memory address of x

Final Thoughts

Thank you for reading, I hope you found this blog post (tutorial) educational and helpful.

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