Delphi Basics : PAnsiChar command

DelphiBasics

PAnsiChar
Type

A pointer to an AnsiChar value

System unit

type PAnsiChar = ^AnsiChar;

Description

The PAnsiChar type is a pointer to an AnsiChar value.

It can also be used to point to characters within an AnsiString, as in the example code.

As with other pointers, integer arithmetic, such as Inc and Dec can be performed on a PAnsiChar variable, also shown in the example.

Notes

PAnsiChar is principally used when processing null-terminated (C-like) strings.

Related commands

$ExtendedSyntax		Controls some Pascal extension handling
AnsiChar		A character type guaranteed to be 8 bits in size
AnsiString		A data type that holds a string of AnsiChars
Dec		Decrement an ordinal variable
Inc		Increment an ordinal variable
PChar		A pointer to an Char value
PWideChar		Pointer to a WideChar

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Example code : Display all characters in an AnsiString

var
  myString  : AnsiString;
  myCharPtr : PAnsiChar;
  i : Integer;

begin
  // Create a string of AnsiChar's
  myString  := 'Hello World';

  // Point to the first character in the string
  i := 1;
  myCharPtr := Addr(myString[i]);

  // Display all characters in the string
  while i <= Length(myString) do
  begin
    ShowMessage(myCharPtr^);
    Inc(i);
    Inc(myCharPtr);
  end;
end;

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