Null pointer sqlite3 handle after passed to function call - c++

Question

When i use a function in c++ to init sqlite3, when it comes out of the function the handle is Null. Any idea what might cause this? I simply hand the pointer over as a parameter. If I move the open to the main function it works fine. What happens that causes this? Is something hidden and going out of scope?
#include <iostream>
#include "sqlite3.h"
using namespace std;
int init_table(sqlite3 *dbH, string db_name)
{
if (sqlite3_open(db_name.c_str(), &dbH) != SQLITE_OK)
{
cout << "Failed to open DB : " << sqlite3_errmsg(dbH) << endl;
abort();
}
else
{
cout << "Opened database: " << db_name << endl;
}
if (sqlite3_exec(dbH, "PRAGMA synchronous = OFF", NULL, NULL, NULL) != SQLITE_OK)
{
cout << "Failed to set synchronous: " << sqlite3_errmsg(dbH) << endl;
}
if (sqlite3_exec(dbH, "PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL", NULL, NULL, NULL) != SQLITE_OK)
{
cout << "Failed to set journal mode: " << sqlite3_errmsg(dbH) << endl;
}
cout << "dbH 2: " << dbH << endl;
}
int main()
{
sqlite3 * dbH;
dbH = NULL;
cout << "dbH 1: " << dbH << endl;
string dbName = "foo1.db";
init_table(dbH, dbName);
cout << "dbH 3: " << dbH << endl;
}
And when Run
$ ./a.out
dbH 1: 0
Opened database: foo1.db
dbH 2: 0x5baa048
dbH 3: 0

Answer 1

Should it be
int init_table(sqlite3 **dbH, string db_name)
And pass pointer to pointer?
May be it has no problem with sqliter handling. It is either you pass pointer as reference or as pointer to pointer.
Ofcourse, while passing, You need to pass &dbH to the init_table after modification.