invalid initializer

[Marty M]

The following causes the "invalid initializer" message during gcc
compile time...
char firstword[] = word(question,1 );

the "word" function is...
char * word(char *phrase, int what)
{...body here...}

I'm fairly new to C. What is wrong with the above?
PS: All I'm trying to do is to get the first word on a question, so
I'm tryin to roll my own code, should I use something else? Thanks!
--Marty

[Ben Pfaff]

ma***********@c omcast.net (Marty M) writes:

The following causes the "invalid initializer" message during gcc
compile time...
char firstword[] = word(question,1 );

the "word" function is...
char * word(char *phrase, int what)
{...body here...}

I'm fairly new to C. What is wrong with the above?

If the declaration above is at file scope (declared outside any
function), then the problem is that its initializer is not a
compile-time constant. An expression that depends on the result
of a function call is never a compile-time constant, even if its
return value can be determined at compile time.
--
"We put [the best] Assembler programmers in a little glass case in the hallway
near the Exit sign. The sign on the case says, `In case of optimization
problem, break glass.' Meanwhile, the problem solvers are busy doing their
work in languages most appropriate to the job at hand." --Richard Riehle

[Russell Hanneken]

Ben Pfaff wrote:

ma***********@c omcast.net (Marty M) writes:

The following causes the "invalid initializer" message during gcc
compile time...
char firstword[] = word(question,1 );

the "word" function is...
char * word(char *phrase, int what)
{...body here...}

What is wrong with the above?

If the declaration above is at file scope (declared outside any
function), then the problem is that its initializer is not a
compile-time constant. An expression that depends on the result
of a function call is never a compile-time constant, even if its
return value can be determined at compile time.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong:

Even if the declaration is not at file scope, it would be illegal in both
C90 and C99. C90 demands compile-time constant initializers for automatic
and register arrays. And both C90 and C99 require a character array to be
initialized with a) a string literal, or b) a brace-enclosed initializer
list. The expression "foo()" doesn't qualify as either.

Is that all correct?

--
Russell Hanneken
rg********@pobo x.com
Remove the 'g' from my address to send me mail.

[Ben Pfaff]

"Russell Hanneken" <rg********@pob ox.com> writes:

Ben Pfaff wrote:

ma***********@c omcast.net (Marty M) writes:

The following causes the "invalid initializer" message during gcc
compile time...
char firstword[] = word(question,1 );

the "word" function is...
char * word(char *phrase, int what)
{...body here...}

What is wrong with the above?

If the declaration above is at file scope (declared outside any
function), then the problem is that its initializer is not a
compile-time constant. An expression that depends on the result
of a function call is never a compile-time constant, even if its
return value can be determined at compile time.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong:

Even if the declaration is not at file scope, it would be illegal in both
C90 and C99. C90 demands compile-time constant initializers for automatic
and register arrays. And both C90 and C99 require a character array to be
initialized with a) a string literal, or b) a brace-enclosed initializer
list. The expression "foo()" doesn't qualify as either.

Oops, you are correct.
--
"In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be indented six
feet downward and covered with dirt." -- Blair P. Houghton

[Richard Heathfield]

Russell Hanneken wrote:

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong:

Even if the declaration is not at file scope, it would be illegal in both
C90 and C99. C90 demands compile-time constant initializers for automatic
and register arrays. And both C90 and C99 require a character array to be
initialized with a) a string literal, or b) a brace-enclosed initializer
list. The expression "foo()" doesn't qualify as either.

Is that all correct?

Um, the expression "foo()" /is/ a string literal.

<g,d&rlh>

--
Richard Heathfield : bi****@eton.pow ernet.co.uk
"Usenet is a strange place." - Dennis M Ritchie, 29 July 1999.
C FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
K&R answers, C books, etc: http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton

[Robert Stankowic]

"Richard Heathfield" <do******@addre ss.co.uk.invali d> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:bs******** **@sparta.btint ernet.com...

Russell Hanneken wrote:

[....]

The expression "foo()" doesn't qualify as either.

Um, the expression "foo()" /is/ a string literal.

<g,d&rlh>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Um, why?
AFAICS you are perfectly right.

Happy new year to you all.
Robert

[Barry Schwarz]

On 30 Dec 2003 21:18:45 -0800, ma***********@c omcast.net (Marty M)
wrote:

The following causes the "invalid initializer" message during gcc
compile time...
char firstword[] = word(question,1 );

the "word" function is...
char * word(char *phrase, int what)
{...body here...}

I'm fairly new to C. What is wrong with the above?
PS: All I'm trying to do is to get the first word on a question, so
I'm tryin to roll my own code, should I use something else? Thanks!
--Marty

Aside from all the other problems, a pointer to char is never an
acceptable initializer for an array of char.

Consider the following, with the same prototype for word():

char *p = word(question,1 );
char firstword[] = p;

Unless you initialize it with a string literal or an initializer list,
you cannot expect to define an array or char with no value in the
brackets.
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