Pointers (Delphi and PHP Cross Reference Guide)

Although pointer data types in Delphi coding are less important and not required for most general coding, Delphi fully supports developer defined pointers. Use a carrot (^) to declare a pointer data type. Use the @ operator or Addr function to return the current address of a variable.

Delphi provides typed pointer types such as PChar and PExtended as well as a generic point to anything Pointer type.

Nil is a special pointer value that you can assign to any type of pointer. Nil never points to any valid memory and indicates an unassigned or empty pointer.

//Declare a pointer of type integer.

PCounter : ^Integer;

//Assign a value to the location of a pointer.

//Also known as dereferencing.

PCounter^ := 8;

//Assign address of A to B.

PointerB := @PointerA;  //or...PointerB := Addr(PointerA);

PHP supports references which allow you to refer to the value of a variable but PHP does not support true developer defined pointers. You cannot get and use the address of a variable.

However, you can still do inexpensive assignments by assigning by reference.