Pointer to pointer in C Language, passing pointer to function in C Language, Return pointer from function
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. 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, the following declaration declares 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 the following result:
alue of var = 3000
Value available at *ptr = 3000
Value available at **pptr = 3000
Passing Pointers to Functions
C programming allows passing a pointer to a function. To do so, simply declare the function parameter as a pointer type.Following is a simple example where we pass an unsigned long pointer to afunction 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 the 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 the following result:
Average value is: 214.40000
Return Pointer from Functions
We have seen in the last chapter how C programming allows to return an array from a function. Similarly, C also allows 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 a good idea to return the address of a local variable outside 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, i.e., 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 the following result:
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
Note:- above information taken from tutorial point book.