This example shows what happens when the same memory location is accessed using pointers of different types. The way data is read or modified depends on the pointer type used for dereferencing.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int num = 0x12345678;

    int *ptr = &num;
    char *cptr = (char *)&num;

    int int_val;
    char char_val;

    int_val = *ptr;
    char_val = *cptr;

    printf("*ptr = %x, int_val = %x\n", *ptr, int_val);
    printf("*cptr = %x, char_val = %x\n", *cptr & 0xFF, char_val & 0xFF);

    *cptr = 0x55;

    printf("*cptr = %x\n", *cptr & 0xFF);
    printf("*ptr = %x\n", *ptr);

    return 0;
}

Output:
*ptr = 12345678, int_val = 12345678
*cptr = 78, char_val = 78
*cptr = 55
*ptr = 12345655

ptr is an int *, so dereferencing reads 4 bytes (on most systems).
cptr is a char *, so dereferencing reads only 1 byte.

Both pointers refer to the same memory location (num), but interpret it differently.

char_val = *cptr reads the lowest byte of num. The exact byte accessed depends on system endianness.

Modifying *cptr updates only one byte of the integer.
After *cptr = 0x55, the least significant byte of num changes.

Accessing the same memory using different pointer types leads to different views of the same data.