We can get the memory address of a variable by using the & operator:

A pointer however, is a variable that stores the memory address as its value.

A pointer variable points to a data type (like int or string) of the same type, and is created with the * operator. The address of the variable you're working with is assigned to the pointer:

Create a pointer variable with the name ptr, that points to a string variable, by using the asterisk sign * (string* ptr). Note that the type of the pointer has to match the type of the variable you're working with.

Use the & operator to store the memory address of the variable called food, and assign it to the pointer.

Now, ptr holds the value of food's memory address.

There are three ways to declare pointer variables, but the first way is preferred:

We can also use the pointer to get the value of the variable, by using the * operator (the dereference operator):

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.

You can also change the pointer's value. But note that this will also change the value of the original variable: