What is the diffrence between '.' operator and '->' operator in c++?

Answer 1

. if you are using an object directly or a reference to it.

-> if you are using a pointer to the object.

Answer 2

In simple human readable words,

speech.sayHi().
speech->sayHi()

Here "." accesses method of 'speech'.

"->" accesses method of dereferenced "speech" or *speech.

Therefore,

'.' = speech.sayHi()
'->' = (*speech).sayHi()

You do not necessarily have to use the arrow oprator instead you can deference the class and use the normal dot operator.

Also if you are wondering when will I have to dereference a class.

This a example:

Speech* sp1 = new Speech();

Have a good day,
Ćheyat