Delphi Basics : PChar command

DelphiBasics

PChar
Type

A pointer to an Char value

System unit

type PChar = ^Char;

Description

The PChar type is a pointer to an Char value.

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

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

Notes

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

At the current time, Char variables are identical to AnsiChar variables, being 8 bits in size.

Related commands

$ExtendedSyntax		Controls some Pascal extension handling
Char		Variable type holding a single character
Dec		Decrement an ordinal variable
Inc		Increment an ordinal variable
PAnsiChar		A pointer to an AnsiChar value
PString		Pointer to a String value
PWideChar		Pointer to a WideChar

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Example code : Display all characters in a string

var
  myString  : string;
  myCharPtr : PChar;
  i : Integer;

begin
  // Create a string of Char'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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