The comments suggesting declaring one variable per line as the better/ultimate solution are spot on, I've made this video covering the advantages of this style:

I've always considered this to be a failure of the language definition. An int is clearly a different data type than a pointer to an int, so the * should be part of the type, not the variable name. Therefore, I always use int* i;, and never do multiple variable decls on the same line.

I have always preferred int* p, because when I first learned C, I would get confused between declaring a pointer to an integer and dereferencing a pointer. It was easier in my head to remember that int* is a pointer to an integer and *p is dereferencing a pointer. Nevertheless, I understand your point-of-view and neither notation bothers me anymore.

Whitespace is ignored by the C compiler as anyone who's taken the time to read K&R knows only too well. So "int

C does not care about whitespace. Put as many spaces or as few as you want or none at all.

Declaring multiple variable in a single statement is less clear and readable than simply using a single statement to declare each variable. I personally would not recommend doing that.

The code must be readable and clear. int* ftw.

Seems like another faulty standard behaviour

p2 is the clearest because it explains the type. the reasoning for p1 is bullshit

int *p1; should be read as "dereferenced p1 is an int" .then confusion goes away . and also * remains just the dereference operator and not a separate spacial pointer declaration use case .

The compiler (gcc) only applies the '*' to the variable name immediately following it in the declaration. The solution to this is: Only declare one variable at a time - anything else is sloppy, which programmers should avoid like the plague.

As old (or, excuse me, mature) as C is, there's still no end of the mayhem you can create! Or, as my friend says: C is happy to let you put it into reverse at 60 MPH. Thanks for this clear and concise video.

I've been using C for 40 years. I pretty much always use int *p.

I’m a C++ programmer and it’s not a regular thing for me to need to define more than two raw pointers or references on the same line, so I always stick to int* and int&.

I'm seeing a lot of comments in favor of "int* p" and I use to be in that camp because I thought that p was a variable of type pointer to an integer. The videos in this channel are great, but this particular video doesn't fully explain the why "int *p" is actually the "correct" way to write a pointer and why it's written that way. I, like most of the folks here in the comment section came from a higher level language first while you have to understand that C was created in a time when many people were still writing assembly and C was considered a high level language! Modern languages today have sophisticated type systems while C's "trust me bro" type system with all it's casting magic (a feature, not a bug) really just specifies width. You are expecting more from the type system than you really should.

Just a small remark on the use of printf("%d ", sizeof(some_type)): In most environments the type of sizeof() is not int so the %d conversion specifier raises an error or at least a warning. The correct conversion specifier is %zu. z for the type of sizeof() which is defined as size_t and u as we are dealing with an unsigned value.

Thanks for this. As a beginner I would be tempted to use int* p1, p2 thinking that both p1 and p2 would be declared as pointers. Really appreciate this video. Oh, I have also done void main so I am watching that video next.

Ive been doing embedded work for more than two decades. Some of it has been in safety critical systems. I've always used "int * p1" (space on either side of *). And I never declare multiple variables on one line. (C++ too.) I personally find the other two annoying to read.

Thanks for this quick video, I remember wondering this exact thing while learning.

I’ve rationalised it like this when I was learning: