C++ Pointers The pointer in C++ language is a variable, it is also known as locator or indicator that points to an address of a value. Advantage of pointer 1) Pointer reduces the code and improves the performance, it is used to retrieving strings,  trees etc. and used with arrays, structures and functions. 2) We can return multiple values from function using pointer. 3) It makes you able to access any memory location in the computer's memory. Usage of pointer There are many usage of pointers in C++ language. 1) Dynamic memory allocation In c language, we can dynamically allocate memory using malloc() and calloc() functions where pointer is used. 2) Arrays, Functions and Structures Pointers in c language are widely used in arrays, functions and structures. It reduces the code and improves the performance. C++ pointers are easy and fun to learn. Some C++ tasks are performed more  easily with pointers, and other C++ tasks, such as dynamic memory allocation,  cannot be performed without them. As you know every variable is a memory location and every memory location  has its address defined which can be accessed using ampersand (&) operator  which denotes an address in memory. Consider the following which will print  the address of the variables defined − #include <iostream> using namespace std; int main () { int var1; char var2[10]; cout << "Address of var1 variable: "; cout << &var1 << endl; cout << "Address of var2 variable: "; cout << &var2 << endl; return 0; } When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result − Address of var1 variable: 0xbfebd5c0 Address of var2 variable: 0xbfebd5b6 What are Pointers? A pointer is a variable whose value is the address of another variable. Like any  variable or constant, you must declare a pointer before you can work with it.  The general form of a pointer variable declaration is − type *var-name; Here, type is the pointer's base type; it must be a valid C++ type and var-name  is the name of the pointer variable. The asterisk you used to declare a pointer is  the same asterisk that you use for multiplication. However, in this statement  the asterisk is being used to designate a variable as a pointer. Following are the  valid pointer declaration − int *ip; // pointer to an integer double *dp; // pointer to a double float *fp; // pointer to a float char *ch // pointer to character The actual data type of the value of all pointers, whether integer, float, character,  or otherwise, is the same, a long hexadecimal number that represents a memory  address. The only difference between pointers of different data types is the data  type of the variable or constant that the pointer points to. Using Pointers in C++ There are few important operations, which we will do with the pointers very  frequently. (a) We define a pointer variable. (b) Assign the address of a variable  to a pointer. (c) Finally access the value at the address available in the pointer  variable. This is done by using unary operator * that returns the value of the  variable located at the address specified by its operand. Following example  makes use of these operations − #include <iostream> using namespace std; int main () { int var = 20; // actual variable declaration. int *ip; // pointer variable ip = &var; // store address of var in pointer variable cout << "Value of var variable: "; cout << var << endl; // print the address stored in ip pointer variable cout << "Address stored in ip variable: "; cout << ip << endl; // access the value at the address available in pointer cout << "Value of *ip variable: "; cout << *ip << endl; return 0; } When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces result something as  follows − Value of var variable: 20 Address stored in ip variable: 0xbfc601ac Value of *ip variable: 20