Is the use of "new" necessary when creating a pointer in C++?

Asked Apr 15 '16 at 13:38

Active Apr 15 '16 at 13:38

Viewed 44 times

I did exactly this on a different computer and got a segmentation fault error:

int * ptr_to_int;
*ptr_to_int = 34;
cout << *ptr_to_int << endl;

However, I'm doing it now on my computer and it works just fine. What could be the reason for this?

My main question is: is it strictly necessary to use the "new" operator to reserve memory for this pointer? As in:

int * ptr_to_int = new int;
*ptr_to_int = 34;
cout << *ptr_to_int << endl;

I know "new" must be used when using pointers to structures. Is it also necessary with basic types?

asked Apr 15 '16 at 13:38

Forset1

1

You may also do `int my_var; int* ptr = &my_var;` without `new`. – Jarod42 Apr 15 '16 at 13:42
This is a combined duplicate of the linked Question and [C++ stack vs heap allocation](http://stackoverflow.com/q/36646493/514235). – iammilind Apr 15 '16 at 13:45
1

@iammilind, what a woderful dupe you've found! – SergeyA Apr 15 '16 at 13:47

0 Answers0