Overview

* operator can be used to:

• Dereference a pointer which means getting the value at the address stored in the pointer.

• Change the value at that pointer location as well

Program

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
a := 2
b := &a
fmt.Println(a)
fmt.Println(*b)
*b = 3
fmt.Println(a)
fmt.Println(*b)
a = 4
fmt.Println(a)
fmt.Println(*b)
}

Output

2
2
3
3
4
4

Both a and *b refer to the same variable internally.  Hence the changing the value of one reflects in another. Also, * and & can be used together as well. But they will cancel out each other.

Hence below two are equivalent and will print 2

• a
• *&a

Also below three are equivalent and will print the address of variable a which is stored in b variable

• b
• *&b
• &*b

Note:  *a is not a valid operation as a is not a pointer