pointers...

[kpdp]

Hey.
Can anyone tell me why we need pointers when swapping varibles such as:
void swap (int *x, int *y)
{
int temp;
temp = *x;
*x =*y;
*y = temp;
}

int x=12, y=4
swap (&x,&y);

why would they swap values, as opposed to using...

void swap (int x, int y)
{
int temp;
temp = x;
x =y;
y = temp;
}

...where the x and y value won't swap?

[oler1s]

Because: swap(a,b) doesn't mean use the variables a and b directly in the function swap.

The variables values are copied over to the variables in the function argument. swap(int x, int y) has its own x and y. So you'll swap the two variables in the function, but it won't change anything else. If you use pointers, you'll get a copy of the pointers yes. But you can then change the pointed to values.

[kpdp]

ohhhhh,,,,okay! that makes sense. thx!