What does the following piece of C code do

Question

int (*ptr)[10];

I know what int *ptr[10]; its a 10 member array where each element is a pointer to an integer.

But what does the above piece code create ?

People there're zillion dupes for this, marking this dupe is more prudent than answering for rep. — legends2k, Jan 28 '14 at 08:34
BTW, parentheses modify precedence. Read the declarator precedence rules of C. Obviously, if `int *ptr[10]` is an array of pointers, then `int (*ptr)[10]` must be a pointer to array. — , Jan 28 '14 at 08:34
@H2CO3: Exactly, just because someone sees this for the first time, they upvote it, instead of knowing about (such old concepts) from searching or reading related material, thereby increasing the fake-value of dupes. — legends2k, Jan 28 '14 at 08:37

Ansh David · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-28T08:43:24.913

3

int *ptr[10]

is an array of 10 int pointers,

int (*ptr)[10]

is a pointer to an array of 10 ints

edited Jan 28 '14 at 08:43

answered Jan 28 '14 at 08:31

Ansh David

... and I think what matters is the result of ptr++ in each case. – GreenAsJade Jan 28 '14 at 08:33
1

re-read my question. You and I said the same thing about int *ptr[10] :| – Aditya Jan 28 '14 at 08:34
-1 There's no need for answering this duplicate question yet another time. – Jan 28 '14 at 08:35
@GreenAsJade : yes it does. `*(ptr++)`, `(*++p)` ... to add to it – Ansh David Jan 28 '14 at 08:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 28 '14 at 08:33

1

declare p as pointer to array 10 of int

That is: ptr is a pointer to an array, which is rarely useful. See http://c-faq.com/aryptr/ptrtoarray.html

answered Jan 28 '14 at 08:33

Magnus Reftel

2 Answers2