Changing values pointed to by pointers

Question

I have the following code:

class Person {
    public:
      int age;
      string name;
};

int main() {
  Person ben;
  ben.age = 30;
  ben.name = "Ben";
  Person * ptrBen = &ben;

return 0;
}

If i want to change the value stored in the age variable of the ben object to 35 for example, I can write in main():

ptrBen->age = 35;

Is there a difference between this and the following?:

(*ptrBen).age = 35;

`prtBen`, really? Also, you're missing parentheses: `(*ptrBen).age`. — LogicStuff, Nov 16 '19 at 16:33
Possible duplicate of [What does -> mean in C++?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4113365/what-does-mean-in-c) — Nikhil Badyal, Nov 16 '19 at 16:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 16 '19 at 16:48

2

There is no difference whatsoever between ptrBen->age = 35; and (*ptrBen).age = 35; when ptrBen is a pointer. They do the exact same thing.

answered Nov 16 '19 at 16:48

Remy Lebeau

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 16 '19 at 16:51

1

No, there is no difference. ptrBen->age = 35; might be more readable though.

answered Nov 16 '19 at 16:51

Galan Lucian

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Changing values pointed to by pointers

2 Answers2