dereference.
To access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
Meaning & usage
To access the value or object located in a memory location addressed by a pointer or another value interpreted as such; to access a value being referenced by something else.
Attempting to dereference a null pointer often results in a crash.
To operate on the file or directory pointed to by a symbolic link, rather than on the link itself.
With the find command, any symbolic links appearing after -follow will be dereferenced.
To dissolve a symbolic link by replacing it with a copy of its target.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- English reference English dereference From de- + reference.
The act by which something is dereferenced.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- English reference English dereference From de- + reference.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.