Can't figure out pointersto save my life

[hetheria]

So I can't comprehend pointers and their use to save my life. I want to pass the variable message through get_line() so the user can input a string and then use it later on down in main(). Every time I print the string message after get_line, it loses whatever was stored in it and it prints nothing to the screen. I could use & I suppose but my professor says we must use pointers. Thanks in advance!

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;


void get_line(string *line){
string reply;
cout << "Please enter a string: " << endl;
getline(cin, reply);
reply=*line;
}
int main()
{
string message, coded;
get_line(&message);
cout << "Your message is: " << message << endl;
return 0;
}

[Chervil]

This assignment statement is the wrong way round,

    reply = *line;

it should be

    *line = reply;

Though variable reply is not needed. Just use the parameter directly:

void get_line(string *line)
{
    cout << "Please enter a string: " << endl;
    getline(cin, *line);
}