Data Structures Using C, 2nd Edition by Pearson

Pointers 203

unpredictable. The ‘C’ compiler does not consider it as an error, though some compilers may give a

warning.

Therefore, following steps must be followed if pointers are being used:

Steps:

(1) Allocate the pointer.

(2) Allocate the variable or entity to which the pointer is to be pointed.

(3) Point the pointer to the entity.

Let us assume that it is desired that the pointer ptr should point to a variable val of type int. The

correct code in that case would be as given below:

int * ptr;

int val;

ptr = &val;

*ptr = 50;

The result of the above program segment is shown in

Figure 5.12.

5.3 POINTERS AND ARRAYS

Pointers and arrays are