What is objc's ->?

Question

What does objc's -> stand for ?
Is there any difference from just dot chain?
e.g. self.delegate , self->delegate

Answer 1

-> in Objective-C is the same as -> in C. It is a field access operator that lets you dereference a pointer (as opposed to dot . operator, which requires a struct).

What's confusing about it in Objective-C is the dot syntax on pointers for accessing properties. So the rules for choosing a dot vs. -> become a little confusing:

• Use dot . for accessing Objective-C properties on Objective-C objects, which are always accessed through pointers
• Use arrow -> for accessing Objective-C instance variables on Objective-C objects, and for accessing fields on C structures through pointers
• Use dot . for accessing fields on C structures.