Return Array in C?

Question

I cant return array in c,i am quite new to C so i probably do some kind of funny mistake, here is the code:

#define MAXSIZE 100
int recievedNumbers[MAXSI         


        

Answer 1

The compiler is complaining about the line

recievedNumbers = getACOfNumber(256);

You cannot use the = operator to assign the contents of an array; an array expression may not be the target of an assignment operation. Also, the result of getACOfNumber is an int *, which is not the same type as int [100].

This could work if you declared receivedNumbers as

int *recievedNumbers;

In that case you're assigning a pointer to a pointer, which should work.

But, you have another problem:

int* getACOfNumber(int theNumber) {
  bool done = false;
  int i = 0;
  int theArray[100];
  ...
  return theArray;
}

This will not do what you expect. Once the getACOfNumber function exits, theArray no longer exists - the pointer you return is no longer valid.

IMO, your best bet is to pass the array as a parameter to getACOfNumber and update it directly in the function:

getACOfNumber( 256, receivedNumbers, MAXSIZE );
...
void getACOfNumber( int number, int *theArray, size_t max )
{
  bool done = false;
  size_t i = 0;
  while ( i < max && !done )
  {
    ... // use existing code
  }
}