What does “static” mean in C?

Question

I\'ve seen the word static used in different places in C code; is this like a static function/class in C# (where the implementation is shared across objects)?

Answer 1

In C programming, static is a reserved keyword which controls both lifetime as well as visibility. If we declare a variable as static inside a function then it will only visible throughout that function. In this usage, this static variable's lifetime will start when a function call and it will destroy after the execution of that function. you can see the following example:

#include<stdio.h> 
int counterFunction() 
{ 
  static int count = 0; 
  count++; 
  return count; 
} 

int main() 
{ 
  printf("First Counter Output = %d\n", counterFunction()); 
  printf("Second Counter Output = %d ", counterFunction()); 
  return 0; 
}

Above program will give us this Output:

First Counter Output = 1 
Second Counter Output = 1 

Because as soon as we call the function it will initialize the count = 0. And while we execute the counterFunction it will destroy the count variable.