How to determine the order of separate integers in C? - c

I'm trying to program an algorithm that uses the order of five separate integers to determine what to do. However I need to know in which order the integers come. I'm new on this site, so I'm sorry if this question is to vague or the info given is not enough. Here is the code:
{
#include <stdio.h>
int main ()
{
int a=1;
int b=0;
int c=0;
int d=1;
int e=1;
/* Program that determines the order. */
return 0
}
As you can see int a is created before int b. b before c ect. I need a program that can "call" (so to speak) the integer that came 1st, 2ed, ect. in sequence. How do I do that?

You must check adresses of int by using :
&a; &b...
then the order of int should appear by ascending order.
Care about adress of local var without pointers.
Adresses are only available on local function, if you pass them as arguments in other function, local variable will be duplicate so the adress will change !
Get adresses of your int (code):
int addr[5];
addr[0] = &a; // if &a == 0 {
addr[1] = &b; // &b = sizeof(int) * 1
addr[2] = &c; // &c = sizeof(int) * 2
addr[3] = &d; // &d = sizeof(int) * 3
addr[4] = &e; // &e = sizeof(int) * 4 }

Related

Accessing variable value without declaring it in function prototype

In the function read, I need to access the values of integer a and integer b from the main function without declaring them in the prototype of the function read, using pointers.
Pointer x should point to integer a, and pointer y should point to integer b.
#include <stdio.h>
void read(int zzz[], int n) {
int *arr = zzz, *x=a,*y=b;
}
int main() {
int a, b;
scanf("%d", &a);
scanf("%d", &b);
return 0;
}
How this could be implemented?
There are two ways that the read function can read the values or addresses of a and b:
Pass them as parameters
Make a and b global
So if you don't want to make them parameters, you need to move them outside of the main function and before the read function.
Also, read is the name of a system function, so you should name it something else so you don't conflict with it.
You have already received the more conventional answer. It is the most logical choice for your given restriction.
However ... Silly artificial restrictions sometimes deserve a silly contrived solution in kind.
A less conventional way would be to create an understanding with the function that the values will be passed in with the array pointer in some non-standard way.
For example, you can make two extra array members to represent a and b.
int array_for_my_read[array_size + 2];
/* instead of a and b, you use those extra array members */
...
int *x = zzz + n, *y = x + 1;
Alternatively, you could create a special structure that holds the array, and the pointers. Then the function recovers the pointer to the structure from the array pointer.
struct extra_parameters {
int *a;
int *b;
int zzz[zzz_size];
};
...
struct extra_parameters x;
int a, b;
x.a = &a;
x.b = &b;
read(x.zzz, zzz_size);
...
void *p = (char *)zzz - offsetof(struct extra_parameters, zzz);
struct extra_parameters *xp = p;
int *a = xp->a, *b = xp->b;

How to pass the 2D array point to the other functions?

I have a question. I wanna pass my own 2D array to pass function.And in that function,i will change my own array.So,there is a return.What i exactly know is that the code blow can be accepted by the compiler.But, i don't why it is.When i take the int (* aaa)[3]; out of the main function,it works well.But , when it is inside the main,there will throw an exception that unable to use the uninitialized aaa.I wonder why could this happan.
int* pass(int (*a)[3]) {
a=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int*)*2);
a[0][1] = 1;
a[0][2] = 2;
return a;
}
int (* aaa)[3];
int main() {
aaa = pass(aaa);
printf("%d", aaa[0][2]);
}
this could work.
int* pass(int (*a)[3]) {
a=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int*)*2);
a[0][1] = 1;
a[0][2] = 2;
return a;
}
int main() {
int (* aaa)[3];
aaa = pass(aaa);
printf("%d", aaa[0][2]);
}
but,this can't work.
When int (* aaa)[3]; appears outside of any function, it aaa is automatically initialized to a null pointer. When it appears inside a function, it is not initialized.
The code aaa = pass(aaa); passes aaa to the routine named pass. This is a use of the value of aaa. When aaa has been initialized, that is fine. But, when aaa is not initialized and you attempt to pass its value, the behavior is not defined by the C standard. This is what the compiler is warning you about.
Next, let’s examine this code:
int* pass(int (*a)[3]) {
a=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int*)*2);
a[0][1] = 1;
a[0][2] = 2;
return a;
}
This code never uses the value of a that is passed to it. When a function is called, its parameter, a in this case, is given a value (which comes from the argument the caller passed). This parameter is a separate variable from the argument. Assigning a a value with a=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int*)*2); does not change the value of aaa in the calling routine. So this code assigns a new value to a without using the old value.
Because of that, the routine does not need a parameter passed to it. It could be written to use a local variable instead, like this:
int (*pass(void))[3] {
int (*a)[3] = malloc(2 * sizeof *a);
a[0][1] = 1;
a[0][2] = 2;
return a;
}
The void in this means pass does not take any arguments.
Note that I changed malloc(sizeof(int*)*2 to malloc(2 * sizeof *a). sizeof(int*)*2 is wrong because it requests space for two pointers to int. But a points to arrays of three int, so, to get two of those, you need space for two arrays of three int. That is 2 * sizeof(int [3]). However, it is easier to write this as malloc(2 * sizeof *a), which means “two of whatever a points to”. This is also better because it reduces the frequency with which errors are made: Even if the declaration of a is changed, this sizeof *a will automatically adjust without needing to be edited. With sizeof(int [3]), any edit to the declaration of a would require another edit to the sizeof.
Also, I removed the (int*) to cast the result of malloc. In C, a void *, which is the type malloc returns, will automatically be converted to whatever object pointer type it is assigned to. There is no need for an explicit cast, and using an explicit cast can mask certain errors. (However, if you compile the program with a C++ compiler, it will complain about the lack of a cast, because the rules are different in C++.)
Since the function is returning a pointer to an array of three int, not an pointer to an int, I changed its declaration to int (*pass(void))[3].
With these changes, the program could be:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int (*pass(void))[3]
{
int (*a)[3] = malloc(2 * sizeof *a);
a[0][1] = 1;
a[0][2] = 2;
return a;
}
int main(void)
{
int (*aaa)[3] = pass();
printf("%d\n", aaa[0][2]);
}
maybe this helps you a bit to see that C is 'flexible' when it comes to arrays.Because in the first part the assumed array declaration is given by datalen in malloc of the initAAA function and returns the pointer to the memory that is allocated. And still in the for loop we can access the data with index.
The second part of main declares just same data 'bbb' as the first 'aaa' but this time not as pointer and the initiation of the data fields with zeros (0) is done with the curly parenthesis. {}. A boring for loop thru all the indexes and set each data field with int 0 would just do it also. But who wants more code than needed.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int *initAAA(int *p, uint entrys) {
size_t datalen = entrys * sizeof *p;
p = malloc(datalen); // p is a pointer here.
// copy character '0' starting at address of p up to datalen addresses
// easier then writing a for loop to initiate safely.
memset(p, 0, datalen); // defined in string.h
return p;
}
int main(void) {
const uint maxAssets = 3;
const uint entrysPerAsset = 2;
int *aaa = NULL; // always a good idea, to set pointers to NULL before allocating memory for it. Because you can check if (aaa==NULL) initAAA(...
uint entrys = maxAssets * entrysPerAsset;
aaa = initAAA(aaa,entrys);
printf("address:%p items:%d \n",aaa, entrys);
for (uint i = 0; i < entrys; i++) {
printf("%d ", aaa[i]);
}
free(aaa); // malloc without free, bad idea!
printf("\n---\n");
int bbb[maxAssets][entrysPerAsset] = {0,0,0,0,0,0};
for (uint a = 0; a < maxAssets; a++) {
for (uint e = 0; e < entrysPerAsset; e++) {
printf("%d ", bbb[a][e]);
}
}
// bbb does not need free(bbb); because it is released with the function end.
// and yep, there was no malloc for bbb. so we are done.
}
and by the way. welcome to C.

funny characters output for a sum function (Φw ÅΩw) [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
printf() no format string printing character and integer arrays --> garbage
(3 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I am having a crazy output with funny characters (Φw    ÅΩw) can i know what's wrong in the code?
probably the int main is wrong
i am obliged with int sumArray (int * a, int len , int * sum )format
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int sumArray(int *a, int len, int *sum) {
int sum1 = 0;
if (a == NULL || sum == NULL)
return -1;
int i;
(*sum) = 0;
for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
(*sum) += a[i];
}
return 0;
}
int main() {
int *a = {1, 2, 3, 4};
int *b;
sumArray(&a, 4, &b);
printf(b);
return 0;
}
Can you try these changes ?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int sumArray(int *a, int len, int *sum) {
// int sum1 = 0; // i removed this variable because you are not using it
if (a == NULL || sum == NULL)
return -1;
int i;
(*sum) = 0;
for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
(*sum) += a[i];
}
return 0;
}
int main() {
// int *a = {1, 2, 3, 4};
int a[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};
int b;
// i rather declare an integer instead of a pointer to an integer
// when you declared int * b , this was a pointer, and your printf(b) was
// printing an address, not the value calculated by sumArray that is why you
// were printing funny characters
sumArray(a, 4, &b);
// a is already a pointer
printf("%d", b);
return 0;
}
You are using your pointers uninitialized. When you create a pointer, you don't know where the pointer points to. It either will be pointing to some garbage data, or in worse case, it will be pointing to a memory region which is already being used by some other program in your computer or maybe by OS itself.
If you really want to use pointers like this, you should dynamically allocate memory for them.
int* a = malloc( 4 * sizeof(int) );
int* b = malloc( sizeof(int) );
This makes sure that you can assign four integers to the memory region to which a points to. And one for b.
You then can wander in that memory using loops to assign, read or write data.
for ( int i=0; i < 4; i++ )
{
*(a + i) = i + 1;
}
Here we have a for loop which will run 4 times. Each time we are moving one block in the memory and putting the number we want there.
Remember, a is a pointer, it points to the beginning of a 4 int sized memory region. So in order to get to the next block, we are offsetting our scope with i. Each time the loop runs, a + i points to the "ith element of an array". We are dereferencing that region and assigning the value we want there.
for ( int i=0; i < 4; i++ )
{
printf("%d\n", *(a + i) );
}
And here we are using the same logic but to read data we just write.
Remember, you need to use format specifiers with printf function in order to make it work properly. printf() just reads the whatever data you happened to give it, and format specifier helps interpret that data in given format.
If you have a variable like int c = 65; when you use %d format specifier in the printf you will read the number 65. If you have %c specifier in the printf, you will read letter A, whose ASCII code happens to be 65. The data is the same, but you interpret it differently with format specifiers.
Now, your function int sumArray(int *a, int len, int *sum) accepts int pointer for the first argument. In the main function you do have an int pointer named a. But you are passing the address of a, which results in double indirection, you are passing the address of a pointer which holds address of an int array. This is not what you want, so & operator in the function call is excess. Same with b.
Call to the sumArray should look like
sumArray( a, 4, b );
And lastly, we should fix printf as well. Remember what I said about format specifiers.
And remember that b is not an int, it's int*, so if you want to get the value which b points to, you need to dereference it.
In the end, call to printf should look like
printf( "%d", *b );
Also, you should remember to free the memory that you dynamically allocated with malloc. When you use regular arrays or variables, your compiler deals with these stuff itself. But if you dynamically allocate memory, you must deallocate that memory using free whenever you are done with those pointers.
You can free a after the call to sumArray and b before terminating the main function like
free(a); and free(b);
In these kind of small projects freeing memory is probably won't cause any unwanted results, but this is a very very important subject about pointers and should be implemented properly in order to settle the better understanding of pointers and better programming practice.
In that form, your code should work as you intended.
BUT... And this is a big but
As you can see, to make such a simple task, we spent way more effort than optimal. Unless your goal is learning pointers, there is no reason to use pointers and dynamic allocation here. You could have used regular arrays as #Hayfa demonstrated above, and free yourself from a lot of trouble.
Using pointers and dynamic memory is a powerful tool, but it comes with dangers. You are playing with actual physical memory of your computer. Compilers nowadays won't let you to screw your OS while you are trying to add two numbers together but it still can result in hard to detect crashes especially in complex programs.
(Sorry if it's hard to read, I am not necessarily confident with text editor of Stack Overflow.)

Why does this pointer subtraction output this?

This is in C. I am learning C and this is an example in a slide from class.
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int a = 5, b = 10, c;
int *p = &a, *q = &b;
c = p - q;
printf("%d", c);
return 0;
}
The output when I run it is 3 and I don't understand why. It seems like since it is using & it would subtract to memory addresses and the output would be a memory address to -5.
You are subtracting the address of the pointers not what they are pointing to and you'll get whatever the difference is between the two memory addresses is which is not guaranteed to be anything specific. If you run it on a different machine or compiler it will most likely be totally different values as a and b can be assigned a variety of addresses. For example on my machine it is 1. A phenomenons like this are called undefined behavior for a reason as you cannot guarantee the same result across all compilers and machines.
If you instead dereferenced p and q like this c = *p - *q; you would get -5 as c as the difference between the two set vales. Also if you assigned p and q as int *p = a, *q = b; then you would also get c as -5 because then you are literally setting the pointers to different address and trying to access after doing something like that will in all cases be a terrible idea.
Subtracting 2 pointers that are not of the same array is undefined behavior.
When two pointers are subtracted, both shall point to elements of the same array object, or one past the last element of the array object; the result is the difference of the subscripts of the two array elements. C11 §6.5.6 9
Instead, to get some numeric difference, convert values to intptr_t.
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int a = 5, b = 10, c;
int *p = &a, *q = &b;
intptr_t ip = (intptr_t) p;
intptr_t iq = (intptr_t) q;
intptr_t diff = ip -iq;
printf("%lld", (long long) diff);
return 0;
}
Of course the value you print may not be 5. The locations of the int vary from compile to compile.

What does (*ptr)[10] mean?

void main()
{
int (*d)[10];
d[0] = 7;
d[1]=10;
printf("%d\n",*d);
}
It should print 10 but compiler is showing error such as follows:
test.c:4:7: error: incompatible types when assigning to type ‘int[10]’ from type ‘int’
Note that I have included some errors , not all.
As noted by chris, d is a pointer to an array. This means you use the variable improperly when you access it, but also that you will access random memory unless you assign d to point to a valid array.
Change your program as follows:
int main(void)
{
int (*d)[10]; /* A pointer to an array */
int a[10]; /* The actual array */
d = &a; /* Make `d` point to `a` */
/* Use the pointer dereference operator (unary prefix `*`)
to access the actual array `d` points to */
(*d)[0] = 7;
(*d)[1] = 10;
/* Double dereference is okay to access the first element of the
arrat `d` points to */
printf("%d\n", **d);
return 0;
}
In C, [] is the same as *, the pointer syntax. Thus the following lines are the same:
int** array2d1;
int* array2d2[];
int array2d3[][];
To relate to a closer example, the main function has the following popular forms:
int main(int argc, char** argv){ ... }
or
int main(int argc, char* argv[]){ ... }
Thus
int (*d)[10]
is the same as
int* d[10]
which is the same as
int** d;
int firstArray[10];
d = &firstArray;
Effectively, you are creating a pointer to a pointer (which is a pointer to an array) and allocating the first pointer to an array that 10 elements. Therefore, when you run the following lines:
d[0] = 7;
d[1] = 10;
You are assigning the 1st array's address to 7 and the second array's address to 10. So as Joachim has mentioned, to assign values, you need to deference twice:
(*d)[0] = 7
(*d)[1] = 10
Which says "Assign 7 to the 0th index at the value pointed by d". I hope that makes sense?
d is a pointer to an array of 10 ints.
int (*d)[10] is the declaration for a point to an array of 10 ints.
vs.
int *d[10], which is an array of 10 int pointers.
For more complex syntax like this (usually involving pointers), I use cdecl to help me decode it.
It's used in this form
int d[10]
I guess you are mistaken that d must be a "kind of pointer" and therfor you put an * before the d.
But that's not what you want. You wan to name an array of integer and the notation for that is seen above.
Concept of pointer can get confusing sometimes in C.
Consider an array int d[6] = {0,1,2,3,4,5}
Then, *d is equivalent to d[0]. d is itself an pointer to an array and *d dereferences that pointer and gives us the value.
Hence, following code would print the same values:
int main()
{
int (d)[10];
*d = 7;
*(d + 1)=10;
printf("%d\n",*d);
printf("%d\n",d[0]);
return 0;
}
result:
7
7
Please see http://codepad.org/LYY9ig1i.
If you change your code as follows:
#include<malloc.h>
int main()
{
int *d[10]; //not (*d)[10]
d[0] = (int *)malloc(sizeof(int *) * 10);
d[0][0] = 7;
printf("%d\n",d[0][0]);
return 0;
}
Hope this helps you!

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