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Placement of the asterisk in pointer declarations

Asked 2008-10-07T21:02:43.300
148

I've recently decided that I just have to finally learn C/C++, and there is one thing I do not really understand about pointers or more precisely, their definition.

How about these examples:

  1. int* test;
  2. int *test;
  3. int * test;
  4. int* test,test2;
  5. int *test,test2;
  6. int * test,test2;

Now, to my understanding, the first three cases are all doing the same: Test is not an int, but a pointer to one.

The second set of examples is a bit more tricky. In case 4, both test and test2 will be pointers to an int, whereas in case 5, only test is a pointer, whereas test2 is a "real" int. What about case 6? Same as case 5?

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1 Answer

15

As others mentioned, 4, 5, and 6 are the same. Often, people use these examples to make the argument that the * belongs with the variable instead of the type. While it's an issue of style, there is some debate as to whether you should think of and write it this way:

int* x; // "x is a pointer to int"

or this way:

int *x; // "*x is an int"

FWIW I'm in the first camp, but the reason others make the argument for the second form is that it (mostly) solves this particular problem:

int* x,y; // "x is a pointer to int, y is an int"

which is potentially misleading; instead you would write either

int *x,y; // it's a little clearer what is going on here

or if you really want two pointers,

int *x, *y; // two pointers

Personally, I say keep it to one variable per line, then it doesn't matter which style you prefer.

answered 2011-12-31T00:46:38.210

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