Pointer swizzling

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In computer science, pointer swizzling is the conversion of references based on name or position into direct pointer references (memory addresses). It is typically performed during deserialization or loading of a relocatable object from a disk file, such as an executable file or pointer-based data structure.

The reverse operation, replacing memory pointers with position-independent symbols or positions, is sometimes referred to as unswizzling, and is performed during serialization (saving). Alternatively, both operations can also be referred to as swizzling.