As others have pointed out, || is short circuit. I'm chiming in not to pile on, but to point out this is a canonical code pattern in C and C++. Check the point

As others have pointed out, || is short circuit. I'm chiming in not to pile on, but to point out this is a canonical code pattern in C and C++. Check the pointer, then deference it, all in the same if expression. if (ptr && ptr->foo... or if (!ptr || !ptr->foo...