Can I use if (pointer) instead of if (pointer != NULL)?

by

You can; the null pointer is implicitly converted into boolean false while non-null pointers are converted into true. From the C++11 standard, section on Boolean Conversions:

A prvalue of arithmetic, unscoped enumeration, pointer, or pointer to member type can be converted to a
prvalue of type
bool. A zero value, null pointer value, or null member pointer value is converted to
false;
any other value is converted to
true
. A prvalue of type
std::nullptr_t
can be converted to a prvalue of
type
bool
; the resulting value is
false
.

More Related Contents:

  1. Is it safe to delete a NULL pointer?
  2. determine size of array if passed to function
  3. Is it good practice to NULL a pointer after deleting it?
  4. Testing pointers for validity (C/C++)
  5. NULL vs nullptr (Why was it replaced?) [duplicate]
  6. Accessing class members on a NULL pointer
  7. C++ standard: dereferencing NULL pointer to get a reference? [duplicate]
  8. Checking if this is null
  9. Checking for NULL pointer in C/C++ [closed]
  10. Is there any reason to check for a NULL pointer before deleting?
  11. dereferencing the null pointer
  12. Why are NULL pointers defined differently in C and C++?
  13. Uninitialized pointers in code
  14. What is a void pointer and what is a null pointer?
  15. Is it legal/well-defined C++ to call a non-static method that doesn’t access members through a null pointer?
  16. What are the barriers to understanding pointers and what can be done to overcome them? [closed]
  17. What is a dangling pointer?
  18. Do you use NULL or 0 (zero) for pointers in C++?
  19. Differences between unique_ptr and shared_ptr [duplicate]
  20. How do you construct a std::string with an embedded null?
  21. How are references implemented internally?
  22. conversion of 2D array to pointer-to-pointer
  23. C/C++ int[] vs int* (pointers vs. array notation). What is the difference?
  24. Is it still safe to delete nullptr in c++0x?
  25. Dereferencing an invalid pointer, then taking the address of the result
  26. What is the use of intptr_t?
  27. “IF” argument evaluation order?
  28. Performance cost of passing by value vs. by reference or by pointer?
  29. What is value of EOF and ‘\0’ in C
  30. Increment void pointer by one byte? by two?

Leave a Comment