ANSI C grammar "pointer" production

Every ANSI-C grammar I've found on the net has a production like this
as part of declaring a variable or function:


pointer
: '*'
| '*' type_specifier_list
| '*' pointer
| '*' type_specifier_list pointer
;


The second and fourth alternatives confuse me. They appear to allow
token strings like:


* int
* double *
* float * int


and so on.


What C construct are these productions supposed to be parsing? I
can't think of a situation where it would be legal to have an
asterisk followed by a type name.


And more generally: is there a publication somewhere with an
annotated version of the ANSI C grammar -- something that would
explain the purpose of each production?


Steven Gollery
sgollery@tuba.aix.calpoly.edu
--

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