Compact pointer notation for opening files

Question

I'm writing a program to open up multiple files given at the command line. I first did it with array notation. That seems to work. Now I am trying to use compact pointer notation for practice and getting used to pointers, but I am not doing it right. Anyone want to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

#include <cstdlib>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

ifstream *OpenFiles(char * const fileNames[], size_t count)
{   
    ifstream *fileObj = new ifstream[count];

    if (fileObj == NULL) {
        cerr << "Failed to create space for files";
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE); 
    }

//  working loop with array notation
//  for (int loopCount = 0; loopCount < (int) count; loopCount++) {
//      fileObj[loopCount].open(fileNames[loopCount], ios::out);
//      if (fileObj[loopCount].is_open()) {
//          cout << "Opened " << fileNames[loopCount] << "\n";  
//      }
//
//  }

// start compact pointer notation that doesn't work
    ifstream *start, *end;

    for (start = fileObj; start < end; start++) {
        start.open(fileNames, ios::out);
        if (start.is_open()) {
            cout << "Opened " << start << "\n";
        }
    }
    return fileObj;
}

Answer 1

end is not initialized so whether start < end is true/false is up to what random data was left on the stack. You should initialize end with:

end = fileObj + count;

Answer 2

You must dereference your pointers, or use arrow instead of dot. Additionally, you have to select the filename you want to open:

ifstream *end = fileObj + count;
for (ifstream *start = fileObj; start < end; start++) {
    start->open(fileNames[start-fileObj], ios::out);
    if (start->is_open()) {
        cout << "Opened " << fileNames[start-fileObj] << "\n";
    }
}
return fileObj;

In my opinion, it is better to use the array notation in this case.