Go by Example: Pointers

Go by Example : Pointers

Go supports pointers , allowing you to pass references to values and records within your program.
	`package main`
	`import "fmt"`
We’ll show how pointers work in contrast to values with 2 functions: `zeroval`and `zeroptr`. `zeroval`has an `int`parameter, so arguments will be passed to it by value. `zeroval`will get a copy of `ival`distinct from the one in the calling function.	`func zeroval(ival int) { ival = 0 }`
`zeroptr`in contrast has an `int`parameter, meaning that it takes an `int`pointer. The `iptr`code in the function body then dereferences the pointer from its memory address to the current value at that address. Assigning a value to a dereferenced pointer changes the value at the referenced address.	`func zeroptr(iptr int) { iptr = 0 }`
	`func main() { i := 1 fmt.Println("initial:", i)`
	`zeroval(i) fmt.Println("zeroval:", i)`
The `&i`syntax gives the memory address of `i`, i.e. a pointer to `i`.	`zeroptr(&i) fmt.Println("zeroptr:", i)`
Pointers can be printed too.	`fmt.Println("pointer:", &i) }`

zerovaldoesn’t change the iin main, but zeroptrdoes because it has a reference to the memory address for that variable.

$ go run pointers.go
initial: 1
zeroval: 1
zeroptr: 0
pointer: 0x42131100