Can change an array with a function w/o pointers?

Started by rhino2876 April 13, 2002 05:34 AM

4 comments, last by rhino2876 22 years, 8 months ago

Author

122

April 13, 2002 05:34 AM

I posted this in another thread, sorry if you are offended by double posts, but I wanted to see others input besides the people involved in the earlier thread. I thought that local variables within functions could not change values in main unless you use pointers. Here is something interesting that I experimented with. A function could change an array without pointers.

  
#include <stdio.h>

int test(char i[]);

int main()
{	
     char c[5] = "    ";	        
     printf("\n\n%d\n\n", test(c));	        
     printf("\n\n%s\n\n", c);	        
     return 0;
}

int test(char i[])
{    i[0] = ''H''; 
     i[1] = ''i'';	        
     return 1; 
}

CONSOLE OUTPUT: 1 Hi Press any key to continue Notice that I actually changed the first 2 elements of c[] with the i[] array that is local to the function test. I thought that local variable do not change values in main unless if you use pointers. Strange.

Rhino2876

WildWest

184

April 13, 2002 05:48 AM

When you pass something like

char i[]

to a function, you actually pass the pointer of the first element to that function.

The Wild Wild West - Desperado!

The Wild Wild West - Desperado!