In Delphi/Free Pascal: is ^
an operator or does it simply denote a pointer type?
program Project1;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
var
P: ^Integer;
begin
New(P);
P^ := 20;
writeln(P^); // How do I read this statement aloud? P is a pointer?
Dispose(P);
readln;
end.
When ^
is used as part of a type (typically in a type or variable declaration) it means "pointer to".
Example:
type
PInteger = ^Integer;
When ^
is used as a unary postfix operator, it means "dereference that pointer". So in this case it means "Print what P
points to" or "Print the target of P
".
Example:
var
i: integer;
a: integer;
Pi: PInteger;
begin
i:= 100;
Pi:= @i; <<--- Fill pointer to i with the address of i
a:= Pi^; <<--- Complicated way of writing (a:= i)
<<--- Read: Let A be what the pointer_to_i points to
Pi^:= 200;<<--- Complicated way of writing (i:= 200)
writeln('i = '+IntToStr(i)+' and a = '+IntToStr(a));