Return pointer from functions in C

As we have seen in last chapter how C programming language allows to return an array from a function, similar way C allows you to return a pointer from a function. To do so, you would have to declare a function returning a pointer as in the following example:

int * myFunction()
{
.
.
.
}

Second point to remember is that, it is not good idea to return the address of a local variable to outside of the function so you would have to define the local variable as static variable.

Now consider the following function which will generate 10 random numbers and return them using an array name which represents a pointer ie address of first array element.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
 
/* function to generate and retrun random numbers. */
int * getRandom( )
{
   static int  r[10];
   int i;
 
   /* set the seed */
   srand( (unsigned)time( NULL ) );
   for ( i = 0; i < 10; ++i)
   {
      r[i] = rand();
      printf("%d\n", r[i] );
   }
 
   return r;
}
 
/* main function to call above defined function */
int main ()
{
   /* a pointer to an int */
   int *p;
   int i;

   p = getRandom();
   for ( i = 0; i < 10; i++ )
   {
       printf("*(p + [%d]) : %d\n", i, *(p + i) );
   }
 
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled together and executed, it produces result something as follows:

1523198053
1187214107
1108300978
430494959
1421301276
930971084
123250484
106932140
1604461820
149169022
*(p + [0]) : 1523198053
*(p + [1]) : 1187214107
*(p + [2]) : 1108300978
*(p + [3]) : 430494959
*(p + [4]) : 1421301276
*(p + [5]) : 930971084
*(p + [6]) : 123250484
*(p + [7]) : 106932140
*(p + [8]) : 1604461820
*(p + [9]) : 149169022

Passing pointers to functions in C

C programming language allows you to pass a pointer to a function. To do so, simply declare the function parameter as a pointer type.

Following a simple example where we pass an unsigned long pointer to a function and change the value inside the function which reflects back in the calling function:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
 
void getSeconds(unsigned long *par);

int main ()
{
   unsigned long sec;


   getSeconds( &sec );

   /* print the actual value */
   printf("Number of seconds: %ld\n", sec );

   return 0;
}

void getSeconds(unsigned long *par)
{
   /* get the current number of seconds */
   *par = time( NULL );
   return;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

Number of seconds :1294450468

The function which can accept a pointer, can also accept an array as shown in the following example:

#include <stdio.h>
 
/* function declaration */
double getAverage(int *arr, int size);
 
int main ()
{
   /* an int array with 5 elements */
   int balance[5] = {1000, 2, 3, 17, 50};
   double avg;
 
   /* pass pointer to the array as an argument */
   avg = getAverage( balance, 5 ) ;
 
   /* output the returned value  */
   printf("Average value is: %f\n", avg );
    
   return 0;
}

double getAverage(int *arr, int size)
{
  int    i, sum = 0;       
  double avg;          
 
  for (i = 0; i < size; ++i)
  {
    sum += arr[i];
  }
 
  avg = (double)sum / size;
 
  return avg;
}

When the above code is compiled together and executed, it produces following result:

Average value is: 214.40000

C - Pointer to Pointer

A pointer to a pointer is a form of multiple indirection, or a chain of pointers. Normally, a pointer contains the address of a variable. When we define a pointer to a pointer, the first pointer contains the address of the second pointer, which points to the location that contains the actual value as shown below.

A variable that is a pointer to a pointer must be declared as such. This is done by placing an additional asterisk in front of its name. For example, following is the declaration to declare a pointer to a pointer of type int:

int **var;

When a target value is indirectly pointed to by a pointer to a pointer, accessing that value requires that the asterisk operator be applied twice, as is shown below in the example:

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main ()
{
   int  var;
   int  *ptr;
   int  **pptr;

   var = 3000;

   /* take the address of var */
   ptr = &var;

   /* take the address of ptr using address of operator & */
   pptr = &ptr;

   /* take the value using pptr */
   printf("Value of var = %d\n", var );
   printf("Value available at *ptr = %d\n", *ptr );
   printf("Value available at **pptr = %d\n", **pptr);

   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

Value of var = 3000
Value available at *ptr = 3000
Value available at **pptr = 3000

C - Array of pointers

Before we understand the concept of arrays of pointers, let us consider the following example which makes use of an array of 3 integers:

#include <stdio.h>
 
const int MAX = 3;
 
int main ()
{
   int  var[] = {10, 100, 200};
   int i;
 
   for (i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
   {
      printf("Value of var[%d] = %d\n", i, var[i] );
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

Value of var[0] = 10
Value of var[1] = 100
Value of var[2] = 200

There may be a situation when we want to maintain an array which can store pointers to an int or char or any other data type available. Following is the declaration of an array of pointers to an integer:

int *ptr[MAX];

This declares ptr as an array of MAX integer pointers. Thus, each element in ptr, now holds a pointer to an int value. Following example makes use of three integers which will be stored in an array of pointers as follows:

#include <stdio.h>
 
const int MAX = 3;
 
int main ()
{
   int  var[] = {10, 100, 200};
   int i, *ptr[MAX];
 
   for ( i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
   {
      ptr[i] = &var[i]; /* assign the address of integer. */
   }
   for ( i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
   {
      printf("Value of var[%d] = %d\n", i, *ptr[i] );
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

Value of var[0] = 10
Value of var[1] = 100
Value of var[2] = 200

You can also use an array of pointers to character to store a list of strings as follows:

#include <stdio.h>
 
const int MAX = 4;
 
int main ()
{
   char *names[] = {
                   "Zara Ali",
                   "Hina Ali",
                   "Nuha Ali",
                   "Sara Ali",
   };
   int i = 0;

   for ( i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
   {
      printf("Value of names[%d] = %s\n", i, names[i] );
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

Value of names[0] = Zara Ali
Value of names[1] = Hina Ali
Value of names[2] = Nuha Ali
Value of names[3] = Sara Ali

C - Pointer arithmetic

As explained in main chapter, C pointer is an address which is a numeric value. Therefore, you can perform arithmetic operations on a pointer just as you can a numeric value. There are four arithmetic operators that can be used on pointers: ++, --, +, and -

To understand pointer arithmetic, let us consider that ptr is an integer pointer which points to the address 1000. Assuming 32-bit integers, let us perform the following arithmetic operation on the pointer:

ptr++

Now after the above operation, the ptr will point to the location 1004 because each time ptr is incremented, it will point to the next integer location which is 4 bytes next to the current location. This operation will move the pointer to next memory location without impacting actual value at the memory location. If ptr points to a character whose address is 1000, then above operation will point to the location 1001 because next character will be available at 1001.

Incrementing a Pointer

We prefer using a pointer in our program instead of an array because the variable pointer can be incremented, unlike the array name which cannot be incremented because it is a constant pointer. The following program increments the variable pointer to access each succeeding element of the array:

#include <stdio.h>

const int MAX = 3;

int main ()
{
   int  var[] = {10, 100, 200};
   int  i, *ptr;

   /* let us have array address in pointer */
   ptr = var;
   for ( i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
   {

      printf("Address of var[%d] = %x\n", i, ptr );
      printf("Value of var[%d] = %d\n", i, *ptr );

      /* move to the next location */
      ptr++;
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces result something as follows:

Address of var[0] = bf882b30
Value of var[0] = 10
Address of var[1] = bf882b34
Value of var[1] = 100
Address of var[2] = bf882b38
Value of var[2] = 200

Decrementing a Pointer

The same considerations apply to decrementing a pointer, which decreases its value by the number of bytes of its data type as shown below:

#include <stdio.h>

const int MAX = 3;

int main ()
{
   int  var[] = {10, 100, 200};
   int  i, *ptr;

   /* let us have array address in pointer */
   ptr = &var[MAX-1];
   for ( i = MAX; i > 0; i--)
   {

      printf("Address of var[%d] = %x\n", i, ptr );
      printf("Value of var[%d] = %d\n", i, *ptr );

      /* move to the previous location */
      ptr--;
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces result something as follows:

Address of var[3] = bfedbcd8
Value of var[3] = 200
Address of var[2] = bfedbcd4
Value of var[2] = 100
Address of var[1] = bfedbcd0
Value of var[1] = 10

Pointer Comparisons

Pointers may be compared by using relational operators, such as ==, <, and >. If p1 and p2 point to variables that are related to each other, such as elements of the same array, then p1 and p2 can be meaningfully compared.

The following program modifies the previous example one by incrementing the variable pointer so long as the address to which it points is either less than or equal to the address of the last element of the array, which is &var[MAX - 1]:

#include <stdio.h>

const int MAX = 3;

int main ()
{
   int  var[] = {10, 100, 200};
   int  i, *ptr;

   /* let us have address of the first element in pointer */
   ptr = var;
   i = 0;
   while ( ptr <= &var[MAX - 1] )
   {

      printf("Address of var[%d] = %x\n", i, ptr );
      printf("Value of var[%d] = %d\n", i, *ptr );

      /* point to the previous location */
      ptr++;
      i++;
   }
   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces result something as follows:

Address of var[0] = bfdbcb20
Value of var[0] = 10
Address of var[1] = bfdbcb24
Value of var[1] = 100
Address of var[2] = bfdbcb28
Value of var[2] = 200