difference between * and ^ in c++\c?

Question

I have this code:

DispatcherTimer^ CalenderClock();

When I use * instead of ^ visual studio tells me:

an ordinary pointer to C++\CX mapping ref class or inteface class is not allowed

what is the difference between ^ and * pointers?

Possible duplicate of [What does the caret (‘^’) mean in C++/CLI?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/202463/what-does-the-caret-mean-in-c-cli) — Mikhail, Apr 29 '17 at 07:22
These are CLI handles, the duplicate question has some explanation as to the difference between the two. — Mikhail, Apr 29 '17 at 07:22
I suspect that ^ is a Visual C++ extension to the standard C++ language. — Code-Apprentice, Apr 29 '17 at 07:24
These comments are drastically inaccurate, C++/CX generates pure native code. Consider using the [visual-c++] tag to ask questions about the Microsoft compiler in the future, better odds you'll find someone that knows what you are talking about. — Hans Passant, Apr 29 '17 at 07:51

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 29 '17 at 07:30

The handle-to-object operator ^ is known as a "hat" and is fundamentally a C++ smart pointer. The memory it points to is automatically destroyed when the last hat goes out of scope or is explicitly set to nullptr.

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cppcx/ref-classes-and-structs-c-cx (Found by googling your error message.)

Note that this syntax is non-standard. It is a Microsoft extension to the C++ language.

difference between * and ^ in c++\c?

1 Answers1