initialization of pointer variables

General syntax of pointer declaration is,

data-type *pointer_name;

Data type of pointer must be same as the variable, which the pointer is pointing. void type pointer works with all data types, but isn't used oftenly.

---

Initialization of Pointer variable

Pointer Initialization is the process of assigning address of a variable to pointer variable. Pointer variable contains address of variable of same data type. In C language address operator & is used to determine the address of a variable. The & (immediately preceding a variable name) returns the address of the variable associated with it.

int a = 10 ;
int *ptr ;        //pointer declaration
ptr = &a ;        //pointer initialization
or,
int *ptr = &a ;      //initialization and declaration together

Pointer variable always points to same type of data.

float a;
int *ptr;
ptr = &a;    //ERROR, type mismatch

---

Dereferencing of Pointer

Once a pointer has been assigned the address of a variable. To access the value of variable, pointer is dereferenced, using the indirection operator *.

int a,*p;
a = 10;
p = &a;   

printf("%d",*p);    //this will print the value of a. 

printf("%d",*&a);  //this will also print the value of a.

printf("%u",&a);  //this will print the address of a.

printf("%u",p);  //this will also print the address of a.

printf("%u",&p);  //this will also print the address of p.

---