How to use an array from a different function? - c

Question

I have a function called readFile, which opens a file, reads the contents, and puts it to an array called 'str'. However, the file is entered by the user as a command line argument, so I can't use that file again in the other function, since it doesn't use a filename parameter. My first function is below:
char *readFile(char *filename) {
FILE *fptr;
long str_length;
char *str;
fptr = fopen(filename, "rb");
fseek(fptr, 0, SEEK_END);
str_length = ftell(fptr);
rewind(fptr);
str = calloc(str_length + 1, sizeof(char));
fread(str, 1, str_length, fptr);
str[str_length] = '\0';
fclose(fptr);
printf("%s", str);
return 0;
}
The second function:
int findValues(int syllables, int words, int sentences) {
char ch;
char ch2 = 'b';
int charcount;
int index;
sentences = 0;
words = 0;
charcount = 0;
syllables = 0;
if(str) {
while((ch = getc(str)) != EOF) {
if(ch != ' ' && ch != '\n') {
++charcount;
}
if(ch == ' ' || ch == '\n') {
++words;
}
if(ch == '\n' || ch =='.' || ch ==':' ||ch ==';' ||ch =='?'||ch =='!') {
++sentences;
}
if(ch == 'a' || ch == 'e' || ch == 'i'|| ch == 'o' || ch == 'u') {
if(ch2 != 'a' && ch2 != 'e' && ch2 != 'i' && ch2 != 'o' && ch2 != 'u') {
syllables++;
}
}
if(ch == ' ' && ch2 == 'e') {
syllables--;
}
ch2 = ch;
}
if(charcount > 0) {
++sentences;
++words;
}
}
else {
printf("Failed to open the file\n");
}
return(0);
}
So I'm trying to view the array in the second function and check each character to count the various items (words, syllables, etc). But the array 'str' is not within the second function. How do I reference and use the 'str' array that is in readFile, in the findValues function?

Answer 1

The str variable is local to the readFile function, so findValues can't reference it.
What you can do is return the allocated memory from readFile and pass that as an additional parameter to findValues.
char *readFile(char *filename) {
...
return str;
}
int findValues(char *str, int syllables, int words, int sentences) {
...