Difference between "char* buf "and "char *buf"

Hi everyone,

I am working with someone else's code that uses a struct defined as ...

Code:

---


typedef struct RawFrame{
unsigned char* buf;
} RawFrame;

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If it were ...

Code:

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typedef struct RawFrame{
unsigned char *buf;
} RawFrame;

---

then I would simply read this as a pointer called buf that points to char objects.

How does the dereference (*) symbol being on the "char" instead of the pointer name (buf) change the meaning?

Many thanks.

It doesn't change it. It's a style preference.

Something to keep in mind about one style vs. the other:

Code:

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char* x, y, z;

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Some people consider the above style to be a bad idea as it is tempting to read the declaration as three char pointers, when in fact there is one char pointer and two regular chars, like so:

Code:

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char *x, y, z;

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Of course if one was to declare three char pointers in the same line, it would look more like this:

Code:

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char *p, *q, *r;

---

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