---
id: c-memory-address
title: "C Memory Address"
category: "Programming_Language"
status: "draft"
verification_status: "conceptual"
canonical_id: ""
aliases: ["reference operator", "%p specifier", "C 메모리 주소"]
duplicate_of: ""
source_trust_level: "B"
confidence_score: 0.86
created_at: 2026-07-04
updated_at: 2026-07-04
review_reason: ""
merge_history: []
tags: ["c", "programming-language", "w3schools", "memory", "pointers"]
raw_sources: ["https://www.w3schools.com/c/c_memory_address.php"]
applied_in: []
github_commit: ""
---

# [[C Memory Address]]

## 🎯 한 줄 통찰 (One-line insight)
`&myAge` isn't just a debugging curiosity for printing hex addresses — the source explicitly identifies it as a "pointer" in its own right, meaning the concept of "getting a memory address" and "creating a pointer value" are the SAME operation viewed from two angles, setting up the entire next chapter's pointer syntax as a direct extension of this one operator (`&`). [S1]

## 🧠 핵심 개념 (Core concepts)
- **Memory address** — the physical location where a variable's value is actually stored on the computer. [S1]
- **`&` (reference/address-of operator)** — retrieves a variable's memory address. [S1]
- **`%p` format specifier** — the correct printf specifier for printing a memory address/pointer value (not `%d`). [S1]
- **Hexadecimal representation** — memory addresses print in `0x...` form; the exact value varies by machine/run and isn't meant to be predicted. [S1]
- **Why pointers matter** — they let a program manipulate memory directly, reducing code size and improving performance — described as one of the things that distinguishes C from languages like Python and Java. [S1]

## 📖 세부 내용 (Details)
- Getting and printing a variable's address: `int myAge = 43; printf("%p", &myAge); // Outputs 0x7ffe5367e044`. [S1]

## ⚖️ 모순 및 업데이트 (Contradictions & updates)
- 현재까지 발견된 모순 사항 없음 (No contradictions found in available sources).

## 🛠️ 적용 사례 (Applied in summary)
현재 발견된 실제 적용 사례가 없습니다 — 이 챕터의 & 연산자 개념이 다음 챕터(Pointers)에서 실제 포인터 변수 선언의 기초로 그대로 이어진다. [S1]

## 💻 코드 패턴 (Code patterns)
Getting a variable's memory address with the reference operator (C):
```c
int myAge = 43;
printf("%p", &myAge); // Outputs 0x7ffe5367e044
```

## ✅ 검증 상태 및 신뢰도
- **상태:** draft
- **검증 단계:** conceptual
- **출처 신뢰도:** B (W3Schools — widely used educational reference, not a primary standards body)
- **신뢰 점수:** 0.86
- **중복 검사 결과:** 신규 생성 (New discovery)

## 🔗 지식 그래프 (Knowledge Graph)
- **상위/루트:** [[C Tutorial]]
- **관련 개념:** [[C Typedef]], [[C Pointers]]
- **참조 맥락:** 포인터/메모리 섹션 첫 챕터 — 포인터(Pointers) 챕터로 이어짐.

## 📚 출처 (Sources)
- [S1] W3Schools — C Memory Address — https://www.w3schools.com/c/c_memory_address.php

## 📝 변경 이력 (Change history)
- 2026-07-04: Initial draft synthesized from the W3Schools "C Memory Address" page (Astra wiki-curation, P-Reinforce v3.1 format).