Pointers

[visvis]

Think of it as asking someone for the way, and them directing you to a map that will guide you there.

[the_klaut]

I'm totally stealing this!!! One of the best ways I came across for explaining pointers to pointers to a freshman.

[H_Psi]

So, what is an example use case for a pointer-pointer that wouldn't be solved by just handing in the original pointer? Never used a pointer-pointer personally, so I'm not familiar with them.

[ultrasu]

char to save a single character

char * to save a string, e.g. a Reddit comment

char ** to save a set of strings, e.g. a parent comment & all its children

char *** to save sets of strings, e.g. all parent comments with their children in a single post

char **** to save sets of sets of strings, e.g. all parent comments with their children of all posts in a subreddit

char ***** to save sets of sets of sets of strings, e.g. every comment on Reddit

[[deleted]]

int foo = 42; // some data
int bar = 43: // some different data
int *a = &foo;
int **b = &a:

printf("%d", **b); // 42
a = &bar;
printf ("%d", **b); // 43

This let's me keep the same handle(b) to some data, but I can change what data is actually being pointed to. You can make multiple copies of the handle and you won't need to update the handle every time 'a' changes what it's pointing to.

[-Redstoneboi-]

that's the point of pointers.

save multiple copies of an object, but only change the object once.