what is the difference between *p[5] and (*p)[5]? - c

Question

While going through an example of pointers I came across a line which was *p[5] declares p as an array of 5 pointers while (*p)[5] declares p as a pointer to an array of five elements. I didn't understand the difference between them.
Could anyone explain it with an example?

Answer 1

1. int (*p)[5]
is called a Pointer to an Array(Array Pointer). We can declare a pointer that can point to whole array instead of only one element of the array.This pointer is useful when talking about multidimensional arrays.
In this example p is pointer that can point to an array of 5 integers.
/*Pointer to an array*/
#include<stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
int *ptr; /*can point to an integer*/
int (*p)[5];/*can point to an array of 5 integers*/
int arr[5];
ptr=arr;/*points to 0th element of arr*/
p=&arr;/*points to the whole array arr*/
printf("ptr=%p,p=%p\n",ptr,p);
ptr++;
p++;
printf("ptr=%p,p=%p\n",ptr,p);
return 0;
}
Output:
ptr=0012FEAC,p=0012FEAC
ptr=0012FEB0,P=0012FEC0
Here ptr is pointer that points to 0th element of array arr,while p is pointer that points to the whole array arr.The base type of ptr is int while base type of p is ‘an array of 5 integers’.
We know that pointer arithmetic is performed relative to the base size,so if we write p++ then the pointer will be shifted forward by 20 bytes.
2. Now coming to *p[5]:
This is called Array of Pointers(Pointer Array)
Correct syntax is datatype *arrayname[size];
We can declare an array that contains pointers as its elements.Every element of this array is a pointer variable that can hold address of any variable of appropriate type.
/*Array of pointers*/
#include<stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
int *p[5];
int i,a=5,b=10,c=15;
p[0]=&a;
p[1]=&b;
p[2]=&c;
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
{
printf("p[%d]=%p\t",i,p[i]);
printf("*p[%d]=%d\n",i,*p[i]);
}
return 0;
}
Output:
p[0]=0012FEB4 *p[0]=5
p[1]=0012FEA8 *p[1]=10
p[2]=0012FE9C *p[2]=15
I hope this explanation along with examples will clear your concepts.
Hope this is helpful :)

Answer 2

The order of evaluation differs. *p[3] resolves to *(p[3]) but not (*p)[3]. Also note that *p is equivalent to p[0]. Therefore, ...
*p[3] ⇔ *(p[3]) ⇔ (p[3])[0] ⇔ p[3][0]
(*p)[3] ⇔ (p[0])[3] ⇔ p[0][3]
Assuming you have an array of arrays, the difference is shown below:

Answer 3

A pointer is like a sticky note; you write on it where you put the actual object.
An array is a box with equal compartments. It can store objects of the same type.
You have three balls.
An array of three pointers is a box that contains three stickers. Each sticker tells where each ball is located (they might not be all in the same place).
A pointer to an array of three elements is a sticky note that tells where to find the box. The box contains all tree balls.

Answer 4

Let us see if this helps ,in short, assuming int
1) int *p[3]
int *p1 = &i;
int *p2 = &j;
int *p3 = &k;
Instead of the above 3 separate pointers, I can have an array of pointers as int *p[3]. Each element in the array can point to i,j, and k, all are ints
2) int (*p)[3]
int array[3];
If I want a pointer which points to this array which have 3 elements, the pointer declaration will be int (*p)[3]. This is a pointer pointing to array