Declaring pointers; asterisk on the left or right of the space between the type and name?
It doesn't matter. Someone will now come along and close the question as a dupe, and someone else will show how the int* a
way breaks if you declare multiple variables in the same declarations while int *a
better reflects the syntactical structure of the code, and another one will show that Stroustrup prefers the int* a
way and keeps the type together on the left side.
Many opinions, but no "right" way here.
It's a matter of preference, and somewhat of a holy war, just like brace style.
The style
someType* somePtr;
is emphasizing the type of the pointer variable. It is saying, essentially, "the type of somePtr
is pointer-to-someType
".
The style
someType *somePtr
is emphasizing the type of the pointed-to data. It is saying, essentially, "the type of data pointed to by somePtr
is someType
".
They both mean the same thing, but it depends on if a given programmer's mental model when creating a pointer is "focused", so to speak, on the pointed-to data or the pointer variable.
Putting it in the middle (as someType * somePtr
) is trying to avoid committing to either one.
It doesn't matter, it is personal preference.
Some people like to keep the type together:
int* p;
Other people say that it should go next to the variable because of the following:
int *p, x;//declare 1 int pointer and 1 int
int *p, *x;//declare 2 int pointers.
Over time you will just overlook this and accept both variations.