Overview

It is also possible to create a pointer to a pointer in go

a := 2
b := &a
c := &b

c is a pointer to a pointer here. It stores the address of b which in turn stores the address of a. Double dereferencing using the * operator the can be used to print the value at pointer to pointer. Hence**c will print the value at which 2

Below diagram depicits  pointer to pointer.

• b contains the address of a

• c contains the address of b

Program

Let’s see a program depicting pointer to pointer

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
	a := 2
	b := &a
	c := &b

	fmt.Printf("a: %d\n", a)
	fmt.Printf("b: %x\n", b)
	fmt.Printf("c: %x\n", c)

	fmt.Println()
	fmt.Printf("a: %d\n", a)
	fmt.Printf("*&a: %d\n", *&a)
	fmt.Printf("*b: %d\n", *b)
	fmt.Printf("**c: %d\n", **c)

	fmt.Println()
	fmt.Printf("&a: %d\n", &a)
	fmt.Printf("b: %d\n", b)
	fmt.Printf("&*b: %d\n", &*b)
	fmt.Printf("*&b: %d\n", *b)
	fmt.Printf("*c: %d\n", *c)

	fmt.Println()
	fmt.Printf("b: %d\n", &b)
	fmt.Printf("*c: %d\n", c)
}

Output

a: 2
b: c000018078
c: c00000e028

a: 2
*&a: 2
*b: 2
**c: 2

&a: 824633819256
b: 824633819256
&*b: 824633819256
*&b: 824633819256
*c: 824633819256

b: 824633778216
*c: 824633778216

From output is clear that

Below are equivalent and equal to value of variable a which is 2

• a
• *&a
• *b
• **c

Below are equivalent and equal to value of variable b which is address of a

• &a
• b
• &*b
• *&b
• *c

Below are equivalent and equal to value of variable c which is address of b

• b
• *c