Can a pointer ever point to itself?

Question

My question is: If a pointer variable has the same address as its value, is it really pointing to itself?

For example - in the following piece of c

Answer 1

Just:

int *a = (int*)&a;
cout<<"checking: \n"<<&a<<"\n"<<a;

It points to itself.

Answer 2

Yes and no, because the pointer's type is almost as important as the pointer's value.

Yes, a pointer can contain the position of a pointer to itself; even a long can contain the position of a pointer to itself. (Ints usually can, but I don't know if that's guaranteed everywhere.)

However, there is no type to represent this relationship. If you have a pointer which points to itself, you actually have a different type when you dereference it. So:

void *p = &p;
// *p is illegal, even though you probably wanted it to equal 'p'
if( *p != p ) {
    printf("Something's wrong");
}

int *i = (int*)&i;
// The following statement is still illegal
if( *i == i ) {
    printf("The universe works!");
}

I would say the answer is 'no', because it won't work unless you're going to abuse the type system. I think it's an indication that you're doing something wrong (though sometimes it's certainly necessary).