What is ->

[NOMADMAN]

i've seen -> between say varibles and functions, what does it do?

NOMAD!

[Zaei]

When you use a struct or class, and use its members, you usually use the . operator. But, when you use a pointer to a struct of class, you use the -> operator instead.

Z.

[NOMADMAN]

Wow, thats simple. Thanks Zaei!

NOMAD

[HarryW]

Basically,

object->method();

is equivalent to

(*object).method();


it gets very handy when you're chaining pointers to things together like this:

object->subobject1->subobject2->subobject3->method()

which would otherwise be

(*(*(*(*object).subobject1).subobject2).subobject3).method()

[HarryW]

Oh yes, and if you want to know their proper names:

. is the 'direct member access operator'

and

-> is the 'indirect member access operator'.