dangling pointer

English

Examples

A wild pointer, which may be used interchangeably with dangling pointer (sense 1):

char* dp;  // dp is immediately dangling as it is uninitialized

A pointer to memory that has gone out of scope (sense 2):

{
    char* dp = NULL;
    {
        char c;
        dp = &c;
    } 
    // c falls out of scope,
    // so dp is now a dangling pointer
}

dangling pointer (plural dangling pointers)

(programming, loosely) A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object.
Synonym: wild pointer
(programming, strictly) A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated.

pointer that does not reference a valid object