What is the difference between the dot (.) operator and -> in C++? [duplicate]

Answer 1

For a pointer, we could just use

*pointervariable.foo

But the . operator has greater precedence than the * operator, so . is evaluated first. So we need to force this with parenthesis:

(*pointervariable).foo

But typing the ()'s all the time is hard, so they developed -> as a shortcut to say the same thing. If you are accessing a property of an object or object reference, use . If you are accessing a property of an object through a pointer, use ->