Operator * (Value Of)
 
Dereferences a pointer

Syntax
Usage

result = * rhs

Parameters

rhs
The address to dereference.
T
Any standard, user-defined or procedure type.

Return Value

Returns a reference to the value stored at the address rhs.

Description

Operator * (Value of) returns a reference to the value stored at an address, and is often called the dereference operator. The operand is not modified in any way.

As a reference, the result of this operator can be used on the left-hand side of assignments.

This operator can be overloaded for user-defined types.

Example

'This program demonstrates the use of * to utilize the value a pointer points to.
Dim a As Integer
Dim pa As Integer Ptr

pa=@a 'Here, we use the @ operator to point our integer ptr at 'a'.
' 'a' is, in this case, a standard integer variable.

a=9     'Here we give 'a' a value of 9.

Print "The value of 'a' is";*pa 'Here, we display the value of 'a' using a pointer. 

*pa = 1 'Here we use our pointer to change the value of 'a'
Print "The new value of 'a' is";a 'Here we display the new value of 'a'.

Output:
The value of 'a' is 9
The new value of 'a' is 1

Dialect Differences

  • In the -lang qb dialect, this operator cannot be overloaded.

Differences from QB

  • New to FreeBASIC

See also