Pointers and Memory Management

Pointers are variables that store memory addresses. They allow us to directly manipulate and access memory locations in our program. Understanding pointers is essential for efficient memory management in C++.

Declaring and Using Pointers

To declare a pointer, we use the * symbol followed by the variable name. For example:

1int* ptr;

In the above code, we declare a pointer named ptr that can store the memory address of an integer.

To assign a value to a pointer, we use the address-of operator & followed by a variable. For example:

1int value = 42;
2ptr = &value;

In the above code, we assign the memory address of the value variable to the ptr pointer.

To access the value stored at a memory address, we use the dereference operator *. For example:

1cout << "Dereferenced Pointer: " << *ptr << endl;

In the above code, we dereference the ptr pointer and print the value stored at that memory address.

Memory Management

One important aspect of using pointers is memory management. In C++, we are responsible for allocating and deallocating memory using new and delete operators.

When allocating memory, we use the new operator followed by the data type. For example:

1int* ptr = new int;

In the above code, we allocate memory for an integer and assign the memory address to the ptr pointer.

When we no longer need the allocated memory, we should deallocate it using the delete operator:

1delete ptr;

In the above code, we deallocate the memory pointed to by the ptr pointer.

Proper memory management helps prevent memory leaks and ensures efficient utilization of system resources.

Additional Resources

• C++ Pointers
• Memory Management in C++

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#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

​

int main() {

  int* ptr;

​

  int value = 42;

  ptr = &value;

​

  cout << "Value: " << value << endl;

  cout << "Pointer: " << ptr << endl;

  cout << "Dereferenced Pointer: " << *ptr << endl;

​

  return 0;

}