In Delphi/Free Pascal: is ^ an operator or does it simply denote a pointer type?

Question

In Delphi/Free Pascal: is ^ an operator or does it simply denote a pointer type?

Sample code

program Project1;  {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}  var     P: ^Integer;  begin     New(P);      P^ := 20;     writeln(P^); // How do I read this statement aloud? P is a pointer?      Dispose(P);      readln; end 

Answer 1

When ^ is used as part of a type (typically in a type or variable declaration) it means "pointer to".

Example:

type   PInteger = ^Integer; 

When ^ is used as a unary postfix operator, it means "dereference that pointer". So in this case it means "Print what P points to" or "Print the target of P".

Example:

var   i: integer;    a: integer;        Pi: PInteger; begin   i:= 100;   Pi:= @i;  <<--- Fill pointer to i with the address of i   a:= Pi^;  <<--- Complicated way of writing (a:= i)             <<--- Read: Let A be what the pointer_to_i points to   Pi^:= 200;<<--- Complicated way of writing (i:= 200)   writeln('i = '+IntToStr(i)+' and a = '+IntToStr(a));