Get Memory Address and Value
In the example from the previous page, we used the pointer variable to get the memory address of a variable (used together with the & reference operator). However, you can also use the pointer to get the value of the variable, by using the * operator (the dereference operator):
Example
string food = "Pizza"; // Variable declaration
string* ptr =
&food; // Pointer declaration
//
Reference: Output the memory address of food with the pointer (0x6dfed4)
cout <<
ptr << "\n";
//
Dereference: Output the value of food with the pointer (Pizza)
cout <<
*ptr << "\n";
Note: that the
*sign can be confusing here, as it does two different things in our code: When used in declaration (string* ptr), it creates a pointer variable. When not used in declaration, it act as a dereference operator.
