Pointers to Pointers in C/C++

See complete series on pointers in C / C++ here:

In this lesson, we have described how we can create pointers to pointers and use them in our code.

[meenakshisundaram]

7 years and till I couldn't find a better tutorial than this.

[ayaan]

Few days back i learned pointers in my c++ institute and i was confused about the concept, and now after watching this tutorial i can say i know what pointers are and how they are stored in a memory.
Thank you very much!!!!

[rupeshaggrawal]

4 years after I completed my Graduate and watching it to revise my pointers concept and believe me, still can't find any better video than this.

[Nnowledge]

although i m in a reputed institution of engineering but your channel is above all educators ...
with no buttering and humbly praising that u are awesome educator and u have god gifted talent of teaching which is not possessed by many teachers ..
may u be blessed ..

[mycodeschool]

Thanks Samir, for noticing. Yes, it should be 205. . I have added a note as correction.

[MohitK]

your diagrams are the only cause that pointer to pointer entered my brain properly :)

[mycodeschool]

Sometimes, pointer variables may be holding an important information. If you know of linked list, there is a head pointer that stores the address of the first node. Now, lets say we declared this head as a local variable in main method and want to modify it in some other function. So, we can pass head by reference. Called function will receive a pointer to pointer. Let's say method reverses list. Signature will be void Reverse(Node** head);. *head will give access to "head" in main method.

[ThePaullam]

This is an excellent video. Ironically it explains the concept 100 times better than my university profs

[mycodeschool]

Thanks Vaibhav ! Valid suggestion. I thought of doing so initially, but video was getting long and i thought of doing it in another lesson. Stay tuned and keep interacting. :)

[mycodeschool]

Hi Magdy,
Structures were used in 'C' to create user defined complex data types with multiple fields. We cannot declare functions within structures in C. As we moved to C++, struct was kept as a keyword and can be used in an object oriented manner just like class. So struct in 'C' are different from struct in 'C++'. in C++, struct are just like classes. They can have functions inside them as well as other object oriented features like inheritance. contd to part 2...

[atanatirosgiliat]

Pointers are quite confusing to me but you are making them seem easy. Great teacher.

[robl]

dear mr mycodeschool-
another well done tutorial. thanks for all of these!!!
- C student

[mycodeschool]

contd... Here head in Reverse function is local and of type Node**, while head is main is local and of type Node*. Now, when main calls Reverse, it will call like Reverse(&head); So, Reverse will receive the address of head in a pointer to pointer and access head in main as *head. So, if it writes *head = something, it modifies the head in main method. Let me know if you still do not get it.

[marinalance]

Excellent video, clear and full explanation of the details. Pointers are one of the most important topics in C++ so it's a hassle when they don't explain properly in class. Thank you!

[oddeven]

Got an exam tomorrow, been binge watching the playlist. So far so good.

[thatmehdude]

This is series has been really good so far. Pointers have been kicking my ass and I hope my confusion would be gone or greatly reduced by the time I'm done with this series

[rohan]

At 5:40, shouldn't r have the value 205 instead of 215 at memory address 230? My reasoning is that since int*** r = &q; then r will have the value as the memory address of q which is 205.

[HarpreetKaur-wtkl]

My professor taught me about pointers but I couldn’t understand his topic at all. I watched many of the videos but nothing helped me . Fortunately, I found your video and it clears all my doubts and I understand the pointers. Thanks very much 😊

[DharmaTruthDuty]

You are wrong in part where you mentioned the content of 'r'
r should hold the address of 'q' which is 205.

The diagram should be changed.

[ishaqaminu]

Thank you very much for the clarity of your explanations May God bless you.Please keep on helping people like us with clear explanations like this..