how to define global variable in main()

[Davor]

How to define global variable in main()?
I'm asking because I have an array in main, whose size is determined by
input, so the definition has to be in main ( or in some other funcion ).
And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I want it to be
global. I tryed using extern keyword, but I gut some error, so I supose
that's not it.
thanks in advance
Davor :-)

[Jeff]

Davor wrote:

How to define global variable in main()?
I'm asking because I have an array in main, whose size is determined by
input, so the definition has to be in main ( or in some other funcion ).
And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I want it to be
global. I tryed using extern keyword, but I gut some error, so I supose
that's not it.
thanks in advance
Davor :-)

Is there a reason why you don't just past that array to every function
that needs to access it?

[Jeff]

Jeff wrote:

Davor wrote:

How to define global variable in main()?
I'm asking because I have an array in main, whose size is determined
by input, so the definition has to be in main ( or in some other
funcion ). And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I
want it to be global. I tryed using extern keyword, but I gut some
error, so I supose that's not it.

thanks in advance Davor :-)

Is there a reason why you don't just past that array to every function
that needs to access it?

s/past/pass/g

Ugh!

[Neil Cerutti]

In article <3F************ @yahoo.com>, Davor wrote:

How to define global variable in main()? I'm asking because I
have an array in main, whose size is determined by input, so
the definition has to be in main ( or in some other funcion ).
And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I want
it to be global. I tryed using extern keyword, but I gut some
error, so I supose that's not it.

#include <stdlib.h>

int *global_array;

int get_user_input( void);
void go(void);

int main(void)
{
int x = get_user_input( );
global_array = malloc(x * *global_array);
if (global_array != 0) {
go();
}
return 0;
}
/* etc... */

--
Neil Cerutti

[Richard Heathfield]

Neil Cerutti wrote:

<snip>

global_array = malloc(x * *global_array);

ITYM

global_array = malloc(x * sizeof *global_array);

<snip>

--
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

[Martin Ambuhl]

Davor <da*********@ya hoo.com> wrote (02 Jul 2003) in
news:3F******** ****@yahoo.com / comp.lang.c:

How to define global variable in main()?
main() is a function. Any variable declared in main will have block
scope. Variables with file scope and external linkage should be
declared *outside* of any function.
I'm asking because I have an array in main, whose size is determined
by input, so the definition has to be in main ( or in some other
funcion ).
Not true. A pointer can be declared outside a function, as can a
variable holding size information. The allocation occurs in a function,
but so what?
And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I want it to be
global.

If you have a good reason to avoid passing the array name as an
argument, then declare it as file scope. Try to avoid the word
"global", since it could have several meanings. Use the words for which
there is a clear meaning in C (scope, linkage, duration).

--
Martin Ambuhl
Returning soon to the
Fourth Largest City in America

[Neil Cerutti]

In article <bd**********@h ercules.btinter net.com>, Richard Heathfield wrote:

Neil Cerutti wrote:

<snip>

global_array = malloc(x * *global_array);

ITYM

global_array = malloc(x * sizeof *global_array);

Oops!

--
Neil Cerutti

[hercules]

The size of an array must be determined at compliled session!
it can't be determined at running session!

"Davor" <da*********@ya hoo.com> ??????:3F****** ******@yahoo.co m...

How to define global variable in main()?
I'm asking because I have an array in main, whose size is determined by
input, so the definition has to be in main ( or in some other funcion ).
And I need to use that array in my other functions, so I want it to be
global. I tryed using extern keyword, but I gut some error, so I supose
that's not it.
thanks in advance
Davor :-)

[Morris Dovey]

hercules wrote:

The size of an array must be determined at compliled session!
it can't be determined at running session!

Hercules...

Not true. See http://www.iedu.com/mrd/c/tokenize.c for an
example; then see http://www.iedu.com/mrd/c/tokfile.c for an
example (that uses the code from the first example) that
dynamically produces an array of pointers to dynamically produced
arrays.

Neither of these pieces of code know the size of the arrays being
produced until discovering that the final element has been
processed - at which time the memory for the entire array is
allocated and the element values stored.

Both sources contain a short test program with which you're
welcome to play to convince yourself that it really does work as
I describe. :)
--
Morris Dovey
West Des Moines, Iowa USA
C links at http://www.iedu.com/c

[Morris Dovey]

Martien Verbruggen wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 21:09:25 -0500,
Morris Dovey <mr*****@iedu.c om> wrote:

hercules wrote:

The size of an array must be determined at compliled session!
it can't be determined at running session!

Hercules...

Not true. See http://www.iedu.com/mrd/c/tokenize.c for an

\begin{pedantry }

There are no arrays in that program. There are pointers and
allocations with malloc, but that doesn't make an array.

\end{pedantry}

I suspect that hercules was talking about real arrays, and in c89 the
size of those does need to be known at compile time.

(more pedantic 8-)

C99: 7.20.3.1

"The order and contiguity of storage allocated by successive
calls to the calloc, malloc, and realloc functions is
unspecified. The pointer returned if the allocation succeeds is
suitably aligned so that it may be assigned to a pointer to any
type of object and then used to access such an object or an array
of such objects in the space allocated (until the space is
explicitly deallocated)." [remainder of paragraph dropped]

(less pedantic)

Looks like an array to me.
--
Morris Dovey
West Des Moines, Iowa USA
C links at http://www.iedu.com/c