C array with "[ ]) (char **)"

Question

I found the following declaration in the lsh source:

int (*builtin_func[]) (char **) = {
  &lsh_cd,
  &lsh_help,
  &lsh_exit
};

I'm relatively new to C, but the (*builtin_func[]) (char **) looks very odd. What does it mean?

(I'm more interested in the declaration, not the purpose of the code.)

array of pointers to function returning `int` and taking pointer to pointer to `char` as argument — mangusta, Mar 14 '19 at 03:41
Paste the declaration into cdecl.org, it will translate it to English. — Barmar, Mar 14 '19 at 03:43
explanation from [cdecl.org](https://cdecl.org/?q=int+%28*builtin_func%5B%5D%29+%28char+**%29) — phuclv, Mar 14 '19 at 03:59
Possible duplicate of [What is a jump table?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48017/what-is-a-jump-table) — BitShift, Mar 14 '19 at 06:13

alinsoar · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-15T08:15:27.310

3

int (*builtin_func[]) (char **)

It means that the variable builtin_func is defined as

Incomplete array of pointers to functions that take pointer to pointer to char and return integers.

Next,

= { &lsh_cd, &lsh_help, &lsh_exit };

the list of initializers will complete the array , making it of 3 such pointers -- supposing that all 3 functions follow a similar signature.

edited Mar 15 '19 at 08:15

answered Mar 14 '19 at 04:14

alinsoar

The `&` on these function names are redundant too. – chqrlie Mar 14 '19 at 06:17
Compound literal? I don't see any compound literal in here. – machine_1 Mar 14 '19 at 23:12

1 Answers1