In computer programming, indirection is the ability to reference something using a name, reference, or container instead of the value itself.

One type of indirection is the act of manipulating a value through its address. For example, accessing a Variable through the use of a Pointer to it is a type of indirection (often called dereference).

In the C programming language/C plus plus/D programming language programming languages, the asterisk (*) is the dereference operator. When placed before a pointer, it refers to the value pointed to.

A stored pointer that exists to provide a reference to an object by double indirection is called an indirection node.

In some older computer architectures, indirect words supported a variety of more-or-less complicated addressing modes, q.v.

Other examples of indirection are proxy pattern and proxy server.

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