{{fbdoc item="title" value="Operator * (Value of)"}}----
Dereferences a pointer

{{fbdoc item="syntax"}}##
	[[KeyPgDeclare declare]] [[KeyPgOperator operator]] ***** ( [[KeyPgByref byref]] //rhs// [[KeyPgAs as]] //T// [[KeyPgPointer pointer]] ) [[KeyPgByrefFunction byref]] [[KeyPgAs as]] //T//
##

{{fbdoc item="usage"}}##
	//result// = * //rhs//
##
{{fbdoc item="param"}}
	##//rhs//##
		The address to dereference.
	##//T//##
		Any [[CatPgStdDataTypes standard]], [[CatPgUserDefTypes user-defined]] or procedure type.

{{fbdoc item="ret"}}
	Returns a reference to the value stored at the address ##//rhs//##.

{{fbdoc item="desc"}}
	**##Operator *## (Value of)** returns a reference to the value stored at an address, and is often called the dereference operator. The operand is not modified in any way.

	As a reference, the result of this operator can be used on the left-hand side of assignments.

	This operator can be overloaded for user-defined types.

{{fbdoc item="ex"}}
{{fbdoc item="filename" value="examples/manual/operator/valueof.bas"}}%%(freebasic)
'This program demonstrates the use of * to utilize the value a pointer points to.
Dim a As Integer
Dim pa As Integer Ptr

pa=@a 'Here, we use the @ operator to point our integer ptr at 'a'.
' 'a' is, in this case, a standard integer variable.

a=9     'Here we give 'a' a value of 9.

Print "The value of 'a' is";*pa 'Here, we display the value of 'a' using a pointer. 

*pa = 1 'Here we use our pointer to change the value of 'a'
Print "The new value of 'a' is";a 'Here we display the new value of 'a'.
%%
Output:
%%
The value of 'a' is 9
The new value of 'a' is 1
%%

{{fbdoc item="lang"}}
	- In the //[[CompilerOptlang -lang qb]]// dialect, this operator cannot be overloaded.

{{fbdoc item="diff"}}
	- New to ""FreeBASIC""

{{fbdoc item="see"}}
	- ##[[KeyPgOpAt Operator @ (Address of)]]##
	- ##{{fbdoc item="keyword" value="KeyPgOpPtrIndex|Operator [] (Pointer index)"}}##
	- [[ProPgPointers Pointers]]
	
{{fbdoc item="back" value="CatPgOpPoint|Pointer Operators"}}{{fbdoc item="back" value="CatPgOperators|Operators"}}