Pointer Variables

A pointer is a variable that contains a memory address

The address is commonly the location of another variable in memory

This pointer “points” to the other variable in memory

A pointer is declared using the general statement:

type *name; e.g. int *i1;

Important Uses of Pointers

Allows functions to modify their arguments

Supports dynamic memory allocation functions

Improves the efficiency of certain routines

Allows communication to other functions, programs, and hardware using shared memory and memory transfers

Pointers are one of the most powerful features of C/C++ but are also the most dangerous

Pointer Operators

&b return the memory address of variable b

*p return the value of the variable at address p

* is the complement of & so that *(&b)=b

These operators have a higher precedence than other arithmetic operators except urinary minus which is equal

int b = 7777, *p;

p = &b;

cout << *p; 7777

A Variable Pointing to Another Variable

Memory address Variable in memory

1000 1003

1001

1002

1003 7777

1004

p

i1 *p

Pointer Expressions

p = q pointer assignment

p++, p-- increment and decrement

p = p + i addition of an integer i

p = p - i subtraction of an integer i

p == q test for equality

p < q , p > q pointer comparison

char *ch = 3000;int *i = 3000;

expression Memory (bytes)

expression

ch 3000 i

ch + 1 3001

ch + 2 3002

ch + 3 3003

ch + 4 3004 i + 1

ch + 5 3005

Pointers and Arrays

A 1D array is equivalent to a pointer to the first element

There are two ways of accessing arrays:

pointer arithmetic and array indexing, s1[i]=*(s1+i)

Indexing can also be used on pointer variables

char s1[6] = “peach”, *p1;

p1 = s1;

cout << s1[3] << *(p1+3) << p1[3] << *(s1+3); cccc

Passing Pointers and Arrays to Functions

1D arrays and pointers are interchangeable when passing arguments to functions

Since the memory location is passed to the function it will modify the contents of the array: call by reference

No copies of the array are made when passed to the function

Be sure to know the boundaries of the array to avoid invalid memory access

Modifying Function Arguments

Pointers allow C functions to modify their arguments

call by value

int i = 0; fun1(i); cout << i; 0

call by reference

int i = 0; fun2(&i); cout << i; 7777

void fun1(int i) { i = 7777; }

void fun2(int *i) { *i = 7777; }

Array Swapping

int ar[2]={1,2}, br[2]={3,4};

int *a=ar,*b=br,*c;

c = a; a = b; b = c;

cout << a[0] << a[1] << “\n”; 34

cout << b[0] << b[1]; 12

This is more efficient than swapping each element

Make sure you swap any dimension information too

Initializing Pointers

Always initialize your pointers to valid memory locations

A pointer initialized incorrectly is called a wild pointer

Reading data from a wild pointer will return garbage

Writing data to a wild pointer could overwrite program, data or operating system memory, e.g.

int x, *p;

x = 10; *p = x;

Common Problems With Pointers

int x, *p;

x = 10; p = x;

cout << *p; improper usage

char a[10], b[10];

char *p1, *p2;

p1 = a; p2 = b;

if (p1 < p2) …

two arrays will not be stored in any particular order

Dynamic Memory Allocation

static arrays allocate memory at the beginning of program execution

char s1[10], *p1;

p1 = s1;

dynamic memory is allocated during program execution

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <malloc.h>

char *p1;

p1 = (char *)malloc(10*sizeof(char));

Dynamic Arrays

Dynamic arrays are useful because the size of the array can be determined at run-time

The size of the array can be made just small enough for the application

The memory allocated can also be freed for other functions to use when it is no longer needed

It must be freed before the program is finished using the function

free(p1)

New and Delete Operators

C++ provides operators for dynamic memory allocation

p = new type [size]; // new operator for allocation

delete p; // delete operator for freeing memory

int *p1; char *p2;

p1 = new int; p2 = new char [5];

*p1 = 8; strcpy(p2,”ball”);

cout << *p1 << p2;

delete p1; delete p2; 8ball

Comparison with C Allocation Routines

New and delete have the following advantages over malloc and free:

Automatically computes the size needed in bytes

Automatically returns a pointer of a specified type

Provides support for C++ features related to operator overloading, initialization, constructors, and destructors

Note that both malloc and new can take longer to run than static memory allocation for large blocks of memory

Arrays of Pointers

Arrays of pointers can be declared like any other type

char *pa[2];

char p1[]="hello", p2[]="goodbye";

pa[0] = p1; pa[1] = p2;

cout << "\n" << pa[0] << "\t" << pa[1];

cout << "\n" << *(pa[0]+1) << "\t" << *(pa[1]+1);

cout << "\n" << pa[0][1] << "\t" << pa[1][1];

This is useful for developing multidimensional arrays

pa

pa[0]

pa[1]

memory address variable

900 1000

1000 1008

1004 100E

1008 ‘h’

1009 ‘e’

100A ‘l’

100B ‘l’

100C ‘o’

100D ‘\0’

100E ‘g’

100F ‘o’

Pointers to Pointers

Since pointers are stored in memory we can declare pointers to them as well

char **pp;

char *p, s[]="MJ";

p = s; // point to the string

pp = &p; // get the pointer to p

cout << "\n" << p << "\t" << *pp;

cout << "\n" << *(p+1) << "\t" << *(*pp+1);

A pointer to a pointer is the same as an array of pointers

memory address variable

1000 1004

1001

1002

1003

1004 1008

1005

1006

1007

1008 ‘M’

1009 ‘J’

pp

p , s

**pp

*pp

pa

pa[0]

pa[1]

memory address variable

900 1000

1000 1008

1004 100E

1008 ‘h’

1009 ‘e’

100A ‘l’

100B ‘l’

100C ‘o’

100D ‘\0’

100E ‘g’

100F ‘o’

pp

pp[0]

pp[1]

Why Pointers ?

Allows functions to modify their arguments

Supports dynamic memory allocation functions

Improves the efficiency of certain routines (swapping, …)

Allows communication to other functions, programs, and hardware using shared memory and memory transfers

Useful for passing functions to other functions

Important for developing multidimensional dynamic arrays

Key Things to Remember

A 1D array is the same as a pointer to the first element

double s[2] = { 1.0, 2.0 }, *p; p = s;

p[1] == s[1] == *(p+1) == *(s+1) == 2

We can dynamically allocate a 1D array using new

double *p; int n = 10;

p = new double [n]; p[1] = 1.0; delete p;

We can also have a 1D array of pointers which is the same as a pointer to a pointer

double *pa[10], **pp; pp = pa;

More on Static Multidimensional Arrays

2D static arrays are stored in a row by row format

int a[2][3] = {1,2,3,4,5,6}; a =

int *r0, *r1, i;

r0 = a[0]; r1 = a[1];

for(i=0;i<6;i++) cout << r0[i] << “ ”;

1 2 3 4 5 6

for(i=0;i<3;i++) cout << r1[i] << “ ”;

4 5 6

1 2 3

4 5 6

Limitations of Static Multidimensional Arrays

They cannot be passed to general functions since arrays of different sizes cannot be used interchangeably

int a[4][4]; a[0][0] = 1;

f1(a); can’t convert int[4][4] to int[][3]

int fun1(int a[3][3]) { return a[0][0]; }

They also cannot be converted to a pointer to pointer

Only use static multidimensional arrays for simple applications where the size is always fixed

Multidimensional Dynamic Arrays

One way to construct a 2D dynamic array:

First allocate a 1D dynamic array of pointers

This will have a pointer to pointer type

Then initialize each array element to a 1D dynamic array that stores each row done !

Dynamic arrays of any size can be passed to a function since they all have pointer to pointer type

Row Swapping

Rows of a dynamic array can be efficiently swapped by swapping the pointers to the rows

int *pa[2], **m, r0[] = {1,2}, r1[] = {3,4}, *d;

m = pa; m[0] = r0; m[1] = r1;

cout << m[0][0] << m[0][1] << “\n” << m[1][0] << m[1][1];

d = m[0]; m[0] = m[1]; m[1] = d;

cout << “\n\n”;

cout << m[0][0] << m[0][1] << “\n” << m[1][0] << m[1][1];

Pointers to Objects

class string_class {

public:

char str[100];

void strcpy2(char *s);

};

void string_class::strcpy2(char *s) { strcpy(str,s); }

string_class s1, *sp;

s1.strcpy2(“ya”); sp = &s1;

cout << s1.str << (*sp).str << sp->str; yayaya

Arrays of Objects

string_class s1[3], *sp;

s1[0].strcpy2(“one”); s1[1].strcpy2(“two”);

s1[2].strcpy2(“three”); sp = s1;

cout << sp->str << “\n“; sp++; one

cout << sp->str << “\n“; sp++; two

cout << sp->str << “\n”; three

cout << sp[0].str; three

Dynamically Allocated Objects

string_class *sp1,*sp2;

sp1 = new string_class(“apple”); // initialize object to “apple”

sp2 = new string_class [3]; // can’t initialize dynamic arrays

sp2[0].strcpy2(“peach”);

cout << sp1->str << “ “ << sp2[0].str << “\n”;

delete sp1;

delete [3] sp2; // need to put [size] first for dyn object arrays

string_class::string_class(char *s) {

strcpy(str,s); cout << “construct\n”; } // for sp1

string_class::string_class() { cout << “c0\n”; } // for sp2