Passing an array as an argument to a function in C

Question

I wrote a function containing array as argument, and call it by passing value of array as follows.

void arraytest(int a[])
{
    // changed the array a
    a         


        

Answer 1

Arrays in C are converted, in most of the cases, to a pointer to the first element of the array itself. And more in detail arrays passed into functions are always converted into pointers.

Here a quote from K&R2nd:

When an array name is passed to a function, what is passed is the location of the initial element. Within the called function, this argument is a local variable, and so an array name parameter is a pointer, that is, a variable containing an address.

Writing:

void arraytest(int a[])

has the same meaning as writing:

void arraytest(int *a)

So despite you are not writing it explicitly it is as you are passing a pointer and so you are modifying the values in the main.

For more I really suggest reading this.

Moreover, you can find other answers on SO here