The Reasons to Put Asterisk Next to Type Name Instead of Variable Name in C/C++

These variable declarations are both syntactically correct in C/C++:

// First way
char* my_var;

// Second way
char *my_var;

However, the first way should be preferred, for these reasons:

• **my_var** is a pointer, it’s not a regular variable
• **char*** is a type: char pointer, a type is not a part of the variable name, for example:
  • char* my_var in which my_var is a variable, asterisk is a part of type
  • int my_var without space will be intmy_var and this is wrong
• ***my_var** as a whole is understood as a regular variable, my_var pointed to.
• Things will look less confusing when a pointer is a parameter to a function, and it is passed by reference:
  • **function f(char* &my_param)**, where:
    • **char*** is a type
    • **my_param** is a parameter to function
    • **&** symbol indicates that my_param is reusing address in stack instead of creating new entry in stack
  • **function f(char *&my_param)**:
    • ***&my_param** is very unclear to read it out
• **vector<char*>** is a very clear template name, a vector of char pointers
• **vector<char *>** is unclear, why space in between
• Assignment confusion (box is example class):
  • box* My_Box = new Box(); looks OK because ‘new‘ will return a pointer and My_Box is a pointer
  • box *My_Box = new Box(); doesn’t look OK because ***My_Box** as a whole is a regular variable and assigned with a pointer; this is wrong.
• Return type problem:
  • **char* my_func(){}** is a function returning a pointer to char
  • **char *my_func(){}** is confusing to look on the left side of space
    • It seems returning char
    • It seems wrong since function name can only start with letter