What is Pointer?

 A normal variable is used to store value.

 A pointer is a variable that store address / reference of another variable.
 Pointer is derived data type in C language.
 A pointer contains the memory address of that variable as their value. Pointers are
also called address variables because they contain the addresses of other variables.

1
Declaration & Initialization of Pointer
Syntax Output
1 datatype *ptr_variablename; 10 10 5000

Example
1 void main()
2 { Variable Value Address
3 int a=10, *p; // assign memory address of a
4 to pointer variable p a 10 5000
5 p = &a;
6 printf("%d %d %d", a, *p, p); p 5048
7 }
5000

 p is integer pointer variable

 & is address of or referencing operator which returns memory address of variable.
 * is indirection or dereferencing operator which returns value stored at that memory
address.
 & operator is the inverse of * operator
 x = a is same as x = *(&a)
2
Why use Pointer?
 C uses pointers to create dynamic data structures, data structures built up from
blocks of memory allocated from the heap at run-time. Example linked list, tree,
etc.
 C uses pointers to handle variable parameters passed to functions.
 Pointers in C provide an alternative way to access information stored in arrays.
 Pointer use in system level programming where memory addresses are useful. For
example shared memory used by multiple threads.
 Pointers are used for file handling.
 This is the reason why C is versatile.

3
Pointer to Pointer – Double Pointer
 Pointer holds the address of another variable of same type.
 When a pointer holds the address of another pointer then such type of pointer is
known as pointer-to-pointer or double pointer.
 The first pointer contains the address of the second pointer, which points to the
location that contains the actual value.
Syntax
Pointer Pointer Variable
1 datatype **ptr_variablename;
address address value
Example
1 int **ptr;

4
 Write a program to print variable, address of pointer variable and pointer to pointer variable.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 #include <stdio.h>
2 int main () {
3 int var;
4 int *ptr;
5 int **pptr;
6 var = 3000;
7 ptr = &var; // address of var
8 pptr = &ptr; // address of ptr using address of operator &
9 printf("Value of var = %d\n", var );
10 printf("Value available at *ptr = %d\n", *ptr );
11 printf("Value available at **pptr = %d\n", **pptr);
12 return 0;
13 }

Output
Value of var = 3000
Value available at *ptr = 3000
Value available at **pptr = 3000

5
Relation between Array & Pointer
 When we declare an array, compiler allocates continuous blocks of memory so that
all the elements of an array can be stored in that memory.
 The address of first allocated byte or the address of first element is assigned to an
array name.
 Thus array name works as pointer variable.
 The address of first element is also known as base address.

6
Relation between Array & Pointer – Cont.
 Example: int a[10], *p;
 a[0] is same as *(a+0), a[2] is same as *(a+2) and a[i] is same as *(a+i)

a: a[0] a: *(a+0) 2000

a[1] a+1: *(a+1) 2002

. .
. .
. .
. .
a[i] a+i: *(a+i) 2000 + i*2
. .
. .
. .
. .
a[9] a+9: *(a+9) 2018

7
Array of Pointer
 As we have an array of char, int, float etc, same way we can have an array of pointer.
 Individual elements of an array will store the address values.
 So, an array is a collection of values of similar type. It can also be a collection of
references of similar type known by single name.

Syntax
1 datatype *name[size];

Example
1 int *ptr[5]; //declares an array of integer pointer of size 5

8
Array of Pointer – Cont.
 An array of pointers ptr can be used to point to different rows of matrix as follow:
Example
1 for(i=0; i<5; i++)
2 {
3 ptr[i]=&mat[i][0];
4 }

ptr 0 1 2
ptr[0]
ptr[1]
ptr[2]
ptr[3]
ptr[4]

 By dynamic memory allocation, we do not require to declare two-dimensional

array, it can be created dynamically using array of pointers.
9
 Write a program to swap value of two variables using pointer / call by reference.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 int main()
2 {
3 int num1,num2;
4 printf("Enter value of num1 and num2: ");
5 scanf("%d %d",&num1, &num2);
6
7 //displaying numbers before swapping
8 printf("Before Swapping: num1 is: %d, num2 is: %d\n",num1,num2);
9
10 //calling the user defined function swap()
11 swap(&num1,&num2);
12
13 //displaying numbers after swapping
14 printf("After Swapping: num1 is: %d, num2 is: %d\n",num1,num2);
15 return 0;
16 }

Output
Enter value of num1 and num2: 5
10
Before Swapping: num1 is: 5, num2 is: 10
After Swapping: num1 is: 10, num2 is: 5

10
Pointer and Function
 Like normal variable, pointer variable can be passed as function argument and
function can return pointer as well.
 There are two approaches to passing argument to a function:
 Call by value
 Call by reference / address

11
Call by Value
 In this approach, the values are passed as function argument to the definition of
function.
Program Output
1 #include<stdio.h> Values before calling 10, 20
2 void fun(int,int); Values after calling 10, 20
3 int main()
4 {
5 int A=10,B=20;
6 printf("\nValues before calling %d, %d",A,B);
7 fun(A,B); Address 48252 24688
8 printf("\nValues after calling %d, %d",A,B);
9 return 0; Value 10 20 10 11 20 22
10 }
11 void fun(int X,int Y) Variable A B X Y
12 {
13 X=11;
14 Y=22;
15 }

12
Call by Reference / Address
 In this approach, the references / addresses are passed as function argument to the
definition of function.
Program
Output
1 #include<stdio.h>
Values before calling 10, 20
2 void fun(int*,int*); Values after calling 11, 22
3 int main()
4 {
5 int A=10,B=20;
6 printf("\nValues before calling %d, %d",A,B);
7 fun(&A,&B); Address 24688
48252
8 printf("\nValues after calling %d, %d",A,B);
9 return 0; Value 10 11 20 22 48252 24688
10 }
11 void fun(int *X,int *Y) Variable A B *X *Y
12 {
13 *X=11;
14 *Y=22;
15 }

13
Pointer to Function
 Every function has reference or address, and if we know the reference or address of
function, we can access the function using its reference or address.
 This is the way of accessing function using pointer.
Syntax
1 return-type (*ptr-function)(argument list);

 return-type: Type of value function will return.

 argument list: Represents the type and number of value function will take, values
are sent by the calling statement.
 (*ptr-function): The parentheses around *ptr-function tells the compiler that it is
pointer to function.
 If we write *ptr-function without parentheses then it tells the compiler that ptr-
function is a function that will return a pointer.

14
 Write a program to sum of two numbers using pointer to function.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 #include<stdio.h> Output
2 int Sum(int,int); Enter 1st number : 5
3 int (*ptr)(int,int);
4 int main() Enter 2nd number : 10
5 {
6 int a,b,rt; The sum is : 15
7 printf("\nEnter 1st number : ");
8 scanf("%d",&a);
9 printf("\nEnter 2nd number : ");
10 scanf("%d",&b);
11 ptr = Sum;
12 rt = (*ptr)(a,b);
13 printf("\nThe sum is : %d",rt);
14 return 0;
15 }
16 int Sum(int x,int y)
17 {
18 return x + y;
19 }

15
Practice Programs
1. Write a C program to print the address of variable using pointer.
2. Write a C a program to swap two elements using pointer.
3. Write a C a program to print value and address of a variable
4. Write a C a program to calculate sum of two numbers using pointer
5. Write a C a program to swap value of two numbers using pointer
6. Write a C a program to calculate sum of elements of an array using pointer
7. Write a C a program to swap value of two variables using function
8. Write a C a program to print the address of character and the character of string using pointer
9. Write a C a program for sorting using pointer

16


Thank you