var
   s : String; // long
   p : PChar;
 begin
   // Typecast as pchar 
   // Typecasting a string to a PChar returns the address of the first char
   // or if the string was empty it returns the address of a null. 
   // Result p is guaranteed to be non-nil!
   p := PChar(s);
   
   // Take address of the first character
   // this forces a call to UniqueString() to ensure that the pchar returned
   // points to a unique string only referenced by s and not by another string:
   p:=@s[1];
 
 
   // Typecast the string to an untyped pointer
   // The simplest and fastest solution; no hidden function call is generated.
   p := pointer(s);
 end.