Modify class variable via pointer to reference

Question

I have this class declaration that should set hour, minute and second variables within my Time class:

class Time
{
public:
     int hour; //0-23
     int minute; //0-59
     int second; //0-59
};

Now, This next code should work for that class definition:

Time clock;
Time *clockPtr = &clock;

clock.hour=8;
clock.minute=12;
*clockPtr.second=0;

Will this work? I think that because the pointer is pointing to the value of the address &clock it should work. Correct me if I am wrong please.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:27:17Z

3

As mentioned in comments you'll need to take care about the precedence of the * and . dereferenccing operators. Just change that line

 *clockPtr.second=0;

to

 (*clockPtr).second=0;

or as @Thomas Matthews pointed out

 clockPtr->second=0;

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answered Nov 4, 2014 at 20:31

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1 Comment

The precedence issue can be eliminated by using the -> operator: clockPtr->second = 0;