C# Language Pointers & Unsafe Code Introduction to unsafe code
Example
C# allows using pointer variables in a function of code block when it is marked by the unsafe modifier. The unsafe code or the unmanaged code is a code block that uses a pointer variable.
A pointer is a variable whose value is the address of another variable i.e., the direct address of the memory location. similar to any variable or constant, you must declare a pointer before you can use it to store any variable address.
The general form of a pointer declaration is:
type *var-name;
Following are valid pointer declarations:
int *ip; /* pointer to an integer */
double *dp; /* pointer to a double */
float *fp; /* pointer to a float */
char *ch /* pointer to a character */
The following example illustrates use of pointers in C#, using the unsafe modifier:
using System;
namespace UnsafeCodeApplication
{
class Program
{
static unsafe void Main(string[] args)
{
int var = 20;
int* p = &var;
Console.WriteLine("Data is: {0} ", var);
Console.WriteLine("Address is: {0}", (int)p);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
When the above code wass compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
Data is: 20
Address is: 99215364
Instead of declaring an entire method as unsafe, you can also declare a part of the code as unsafe:
// safe code
unsafe
{
// you can use pointers here
}
// safe code
