# Allocation of Pointer Targets

When a pointer is allocated, the pointer is associated with a target and can be used to reference or define the target. The target can be an array or a scalar, depending on how the pointer was declared.

Other pointers can become associated with the pointer target (or part of the pointer target) by pointer assignment.

In contrast to allocatable arrays, a pointer can be allocated a new target even if it is currently associated with a target. The previous association is broken and the pointer is then associated with the new target.

If the previous target was created by allocation, it becomes inaccessible unless it can still be referred to by other pointers that are currently associated with it.

The intrinsic function ASSOCIATED can be used to determine whether a pointer is currently associated with a target. The association status of the pointer must be defined. For example:

      REAL, TARGET  :: TAR(0:50)
      REAL, POINTER :: PTR(:)
      PTR => TAR
      ...
      IF (ASSOCIATED(PTR,TAR))...

Parent topic: Effects of Allocation

## See Also

POINTER statement and attribute
Pointer assignments
ASSOCIATED intrinsic function