what is pnPtr?

[technologist]

I'm still getting used to pointers. It seems like the more I study them the more confused I get : )

Anyway, code below:

for (int *pnPtr = myStringArray; pnPtr < myStringArray + arraySize; pnPtr += 1)
		{cout << "pnPtr: " << pnPtr <<"\t&pnPtr: "<<&pnPtr<<"\t*pnPtr: " << *pnPtr << endl;}

address of pointer pnPtr-->&pnPtr
dereferencing pnPtr---->*pnPtr

?? ---->cout<<pnPtr
I get a hexadecimal number here. What is pnPtr?

pnPtr: 0x23fdd0	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 1
pnPtr: 0x23fdd4	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 2
pnPtr: 0x23fdd8	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 3
pnPtr: 0x23fddc	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 4
pnPtr: 0x23fde0	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 5
pnPtr: 0x23fde4	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 10
pnPtr: 0x23fde8	&pnPtr: 0x23fdc8	*pnPtr: 20

[dhayden]

cout << (pointer_to_almost_anything) produces a hex number that represents the pointer value. The exception is cout << pointer_to_char which assumes the pointer is to a null-terminated string and prints the string.

Now, pnPtr is a pointer. And &pnPtr is also a pointer, so those two print the hex strings that you see.

[naraku9333]

cout << pnPtr prints the address of the value the pointer points to while cout << &pnPtr prints the address of the pointer itself.