What does the caret (‘^’) mean in C++/CLI?

This is C++/CLI and the caret is the managed equivalent of a * (pointer) which in C++/CLI terminology is called a 'handle' to a 'reference type' (since you can still have unmanaged pointers).

(Thanks to Aardvark for pointing out the better terminology.)

// here normal pointer
P* ptr = new P; // usual pointer allocated on heap
P& nat = *ptr; // object on heap bind to native object

//.. here CLI managed 
MO^ mngd = gcnew MO; // allocate on CLI heap
MO% rr = *mngd; // object on CLI heap reference to gc-lvalue

In general, the punctuator % is to ^ as the punctuator & is to *. In C++ the unary & operator is in C++/CLI the unary % operator.

While &ptr yields a P*, %mngd yields at MO^.

It means that this is a reference to a managed object vs. a regular C++ pointer. Objects behind such references are managed by the runtime and can be relocated in the memory. They are also garbage-collected automatically.

When you allocated managed memory, that memory can be moved around by the garbage collector. The ^ operator is a pointer for managed memory which continues to point to the correct place even if the garbage collector moves the object it points to.

From MSDN, it looks like the caret means you are getting a handle to the type being created.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150117095313/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/te3ecsc8%28VS.80%29.aspx