Linux System Programming in C

Question

I am wondering what the following code means ...

...
{
    const char *etc; = SYSCONF_DIR; 
...

I am sorry for not able to address this kind of problem properly,

I really have no idea what to call this ...thanks in advance.

@Kirilenko: most likely a macro. Although yes, there's a syntax error. — netcoder, Sep 12 '12 at 17:19
Ignoring the syntax error, it might be related to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9038089/portable-access-to-sysconfdir-via-config-h — André Oriani, Sep 12 '12 at 17:22
nope, I am asking about this programming construct... but I got the answer, thanks still :) — shanwu, Sep 12 '12 at 17:59

Florin Stingaciu · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-12T17:31:07.573

The above code assings a macro a pointer named etc. Your code has a syntax error as of now. Instead of

const char *etc; = SYSCONF_DIR;

It should be

const char *etc = SYSCONF_DIR;

I understand that this might not be a very revealing answer, but the level of the depth of an answer is deemed by the quality of the question. You basically took one line of code and asked us what it does. It's like taking a book, pulling out a sentence, showing it to a friend and asking him what book is this from...

EDIT:

A quick search on google of your snipet reavels that its taken from here. I know that as a fact because the syntax error appears in this book as well. A quick look reveals that the MACRO SYSCONF_DIR equates to the string "/etc/". Also the book explains quite extensively what that function does...

haha, thanks. I thought it was some kind of program construct that I never saw. thanks. — shanwu, Sep 12 '12 at 17:57

Linux System Programming in C

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