What is the difference between pointer vairableandsimple vairablewhat are the advantage of pointer vairable?

Answer 1

A simple variable is a variable that stores a value, while a pointer variable is a one that points to a location where a value can be stored (It stores the address of a variable).

For eg:

int a=2,b;

b=a;

a=3;

cout<

Here the output will be 3 2. It's simple and clear.

While, if you use a pointer,

int *a=2,*b;

b=a;

*a=3;

cout<<*a<<" "<<*b;

Here the output will be 3 3.

That's because a stores the address of a location in memory where 2 is stored and the statement b=aassigns the same address to b and now a and bboth point to the same location and when you change the value at a value at b is also changed because both are the same.

The advantage of using pointer variable is:

In functions, a function can return only one value, but when pointers are used as arguments the function works as if returning multiple values.