C++ Pointer to Void

In this tutorial, we will learn about void pointers and how to use them with the help of examples.

Before you proceed with this tutorial, be sure to check C++ pointers.

In C++, we cannot assign the address of a variable of one data type to a pointer of another data type. Consider this example:

// pointer is of int type
int *ptr;

// variable is of double type
double d = 9.0;

// Error
// can't assign double* to int*
ptr = &d;

Here, the error occurred because the address is a double type variable. However, the pointer is of int type.

In such situations, we can use the pointer to void (void pointers) in C++. For example,

// void pointer
void *ptr;

double d = 9.0;

// valid code
ptr = &d;

The void pointer is a generic pointer that is used when we don't know the data type of the variable that the pointer points to.


Example 1: C++ Void Pointer

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    void* ptr;
    float f = 2.3f;

    // assign float address to void
    ptr = &f;

    cout << &f << endl;
    cout << ptr << endl;

    return 0;
}

Output

0xffd117ac
0xffd117ac

Here, the pointer ptr is given the value of &f.

The output shows that the void pointer ptr stores the address of a float variable f.


As void is an empty type, void pointers cannot be dereferenced.

void* ptr;
float* fptr;
float f = 2.3;

// assign float address to void pointer
ptr = &f;
cout << *ptr << endl;  // Error

// assign float address to float pointer
fptr = &f;
cout << *fptr << endl;   // Valid

Example 2: Printing the Content of Void Pointer

To print the content of a void pointer, we use the static_cast operator. It converts the pointer from void* type to the respective data type of the address the pointer is storing:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
  void* ptr;
  float f = 2.3f;

  // assign float address to void pointer
  ptr = &f;

  cout << "The content of pointer is ";
  // use type casting to print pointer content
  cout << *(static_cast<float*>(ptr));

  return 0;
}

Output

The content of pointer is 2.3

This program prints the value of the address pointed to by the void pointer ptr.

Since we cannot dereference a void pointer, we cannot use *ptr.

However, if we convert the void* pointer type to the float* type, we can use the value pointed to by the void pointer.

In this example, we have used the static_cast operator to convert the data type of the pointer from void* to float*.


C-style casting

We can also use C-style casting to print the value.

// valid
cout << *((float*)ptr);

However, static_cast is preferred to C-style casting.


Note: void pointers cannot be used to store addresses of variables with const or volatile qualifiers.

void *ptr;
const double d = 9.0;

// Error: invalid conversion from const void* to void*
ptr = &d;
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