Go enables you to use pointers. Similar as in other languages like C.

• A pointer holds the memory address of a value
• *Tis a pointer to a Tvalue

i := 42

// Create a pointer that is not assigned to anything. It's nil
var p *int

// Assign the address of i to the pointer
p = &i

fmt.Println(p) // prints the memory address 

The *operator itself denotes the pointer's underlying value.
Therefore, while pin the example is the memory address, *preturns the value "behind" the memory address.

When to use pointers

There are mainly two use cases for pointers:

• If you need direct access to the value
• If copying a value to a function or method is too expensive, e. g. for huge strings. Then, using a pointer for passing the value will make the function much faster

More extensible example

func main() {
	var num int = 42;

	fmt.Println(&num) // Memory address 

	ref := &num
	fmt.Println(*ref) // Deferencing "42"
}

Next Chapter: Structs