I have used double pointers today while I was programming something for work, so I can answer why we had to use them (it's the first time I actually had to use double pointers). We had to deal with real time encoding of frames contained in buffers which are members of some structures. In the encoder we had to use a pointer to one of those structures. The problem was that our pointer was being changed to point to other structures from another thread. In order to use the current structure in the encoder, I had to use a double pointer, in order to point to the pointer that was being modified in another thread. It wasn't obvious at first, at least for us, that we had to take this approach. A lot of address were printed in the process :)).

当你处理在应用程序其他地方被更改的指针时，你应该使用双指针。在处理返回和寻址给您的硬件时，您可能还会发现双指针是必须的。

比较变量的修改值和指针的修改值:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

void changeA(int (*a))
{
  (*a) = 10;
}

void changeP(int *(*P))
{
  (*P) = malloc(sizeof((*P)));
}

int main(void)
{
  int A = 0;

  printf("orig. A = %d\n", A);
  changeA(&A);
  printf("modi. A = %d\n", A);

  /*************************/

  int *P = NULL;

  printf("orig. P = %p\n", P);
  changeP(&P);
  printf("modi. P = %p\n", P);

  free(P);

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

这帮助我避免指针被调用函数修改时返回指针的值(用于单链表)。

古老的(坏的):

int *func(int *P)
{
  ...
  return P;
}

int main(void)
{
  int *pointer;
  pointer = func(pointer);
  ...
}    

新(更好的):

void func(int **pointer)
{
  ...
}

int main(void)
{
  int *pointer;
  func(&pointer);
  ...
}    

例如，如果您想随机访问不连续的数据。

p -> [p0, p1, p2, ...]  
p0 -> data1
p1 -> data2

——用C

T ** p = (T **) malloc(sizeof(T*) * n);
p[0] = (T*) malloc(sizeof(T));
p[1] = (T*) malloc(sizeof(T));

存储一个指针p，它指向一个指针数组。每个指针指向一段数据。

如果sizeof(T)很大，则可能无法分配sizeof(T) * n字节的连续块(即使用malloc)。

Pointers to pointers also come in handy as "handles" to memory where you want to pass around a "handle" between functions to re-locatable memory. That basically means that the function can change the memory that is being pointed to by the pointer inside the handle variable, and every function or object that is using the handle will properly point to the newly relocated (or allocated) memory. Libraries like to-do this with "opaque" data-types, that is data-types were you don't have to worry about what they're doing with the memory being pointed do, you simply pass around the "handle" between the functions of the library to perform some operations on that memory ... the library functions can be allocating and de-allocating the memory under-the-hood without you having to explicitly worry about the process of memory management or where the handle is pointing.

例如:

#include <stdlib.h>

typedef unsigned char** handle_type;

//some data_structure that the library functions would work with
typedef struct 
{
    int data_a;
    int data_b;
    int data_c;
} LIB_OBJECT;

handle_type lib_create_handle()
{
    //initialize the handle with some memory that points to and array of 10 LIB_OBJECTs
    handle_type handle = malloc(sizeof(handle_type));
    *handle = malloc(sizeof(LIB_OBJECT) * 10);

    return handle;
}

void lib_func_a(handle_type handle) { /*does something with array of LIB_OBJECTs*/ }

void lib_func_b(handle_type handle)
{
    //does something that takes input LIB_OBJECTs and makes more of them, so has to
    //reallocate memory for the new objects that will be created

    //first re-allocate the memory somewhere else with more slots, but don't destroy the
    //currently allocated slots
    *handle = realloc(*handle, sizeof(LIB_OBJECT) * 20);

    //...do some operation on the new memory and return
}

void lib_func_c(handle_type handle) { /*does something else to array of LIB_OBJECTs*/ }

void lib_free_handle(handle_type handle) 
{
    free(*handle);
    free(handle); 
}


int main()
{
    //create a "handle" to some memory that the library functions can use
    handle_type my_handle = lib_create_handle();

    //do something with that memory
    lib_func_a(my_handle);

    //do something else with the handle that will make it point somewhere else
    //but that's invisible to us from the standpoint of the calling the function and
    //working with the handle
    lib_func_b(my_handle); 

    //do something with new memory chunk, but you don't have to think about the fact
    //that the memory has moved under the hood ... it's still pointed to by the "handle"
    lib_func_c(my_handle);

    //deallocate the handle
    lib_free_handle(my_handle);

    return 0;
}

希望这能有所帮助，

杰森

简单的例子，你可能已经见过很多次了

int main(int argc, char **argv)

在第二个参数中有它:指向char的指针的指针。

注意，指针表示法(char* c)和数组表示法(char c[])在函数参数中是可互换的。所以你也可以写char *argv[]。换句话说，char *argv[]和char **argv是可互换的。

上面所代表的实际上是一个字符序列数组(在启动时给予程序的命令行参数)。

有关上述函数签名的更多详细信息，请参见此回答。

如果你想要一个字符列表(一个单词)，你可以使用char *word

如果你想要一个单词列表(一个句子)，你可以使用char **句子

如果你想要一个句子列表(独白)，你可以使用char ***monologue

如果你想要一个独白列表(传记)，你可以使用char ****传记

如果你想要一个传记列表(一个生物图书馆)，你可以使用char *****biolibrary

如果你想要一个生物库列表(a ??lol)，你可以使用char ******lol

……

是的，我知道这些可能不是最好的数据结构

一个非常非常非常无聊的lol的用法例子

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int wordsinsentence(char **x) {
    int w = 0;
    while (*x) {
        w += 1;
        x++;
    }
    return w;
}

int wordsinmono(char ***x) {
    int w = 0;
    while (*x) {
        w += wordsinsentence(*x);
        x++;
    }
    return w;
}

int wordsinbio(char ****x) {
    int w = 0;
    while (*x) {
        w += wordsinmono(*x);
        x++;
    }
    return w;
}

int wordsinlib(char *****x) {
    int w = 0;
    while (*x) {
        w += wordsinbio(*x);
        x++;
    }
    return w;
}

int wordsinlol(char ******x) {
    int w = 0;
    while (*x) {
        w += wordsinlib(*x);
        x++;
    }
    return w;
}

int main(void) {
    char *word;
    char **sentence;
    char ***monologue;
    char ****biography;
    char *****biolibrary;
    char ******lol;

    //fill data structure
    word = malloc(4 * sizeof *word); // assume it worked
    strcpy(word, "foo");

    sentence = malloc(4 * sizeof *sentence); // assume it worked
    sentence[0] = word;
    sentence[1] = word;
    sentence[2] = word;
    sentence[3] = NULL;

    monologue = malloc(4 * sizeof *monologue); // assume it worked
    monologue[0] = sentence;
    monologue[1] = sentence;
    monologue[2] = sentence;
    monologue[3] = NULL;

    biography = malloc(4 * sizeof *biography); // assume it worked
    biography[0] = monologue;
    biography[1] = monologue;
    biography[2] = monologue;
    biography[3] = NULL;

    biolibrary = malloc(4 * sizeof *biolibrary); // assume it worked
    biolibrary[0] = biography;
    biolibrary[1] = biography;
    biolibrary[2] = biography;
    biolibrary[3] = NULL;

    lol = malloc(4 * sizeof *lol); // assume it worked
    lol[0] = biolibrary;
    lol[1] = biolibrary;
    lol[2] = biolibrary;
    lol[3] = NULL;

    printf("total words in my lol: %d\n", wordsinlol(lol));

    free(lol);
    free(biolibrary);
    free(biography);
    free(monologue);
    free(sentence);
    free(word);
}

输出:

total words in my lol: 243