pointers to constant characters and constant pointers to characters

[sam_cit]

Hi Everyone,

I understand the meaning and usage of pointers to constant characters
and constant pointers to characters, however i often get confused with
the syntax of expressing them, can anyone help me out with few examples?

[Richard Heathfield]

sa*****@yahoo.co.in said:

Hi Everyone,

I understand the meaning and usage of pointers to constant characters
and constant pointers to characters, however i often get confused with
the syntax of expressing them, can anyone help me out with few examples?

char *p - p is a pointer to a char
const char *q - q is a pointer to a const char
char const *r - r is a pointer to a const char (don't ask!)
char * const s - s is a const pointer to a char
const char * const t - t is a const pointer to a const char
char const * const u - u is a const pointer to a const char

--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at the above domain, - www.

[=?utf-8?B?SGFyYWxkIHZhbiBExLNr?=]

sa*****@yahoo.co.in wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I understand the meaning and usage of pointers to constant characters
and constant pointers to characters, however i often get confused with
the syntax of expressing them, can anyone help me out with few examples?

For the simple cases, when no parentheses are involved, you can read
declarations from right to left:

const char *p;
/* 1: p is a pointer to char which is const */

char const *p;
/* 2: p is a pointer to const char (same as 1) */

char *const p;
/* 3: p is a const pointer to char */

char const *const p[4];
/* 4: p is an array of 4 const pointers to const char */

When parentheses are involved it gets a bit more complicated, but it
would probably be better to getting to understand the simple cases
first.

[Randy Howard]

Richard Heathfield wrote
(in article <xJ*********************@bt.com>):

sa*****@yahoo.co.in said:

>Hi Everyone,

I understand the meaning and usage of pointers to constant characters
and constant pointers to characters, however i often get confused with
the syntax of expressing them, can anyone help me out with few examples?

char *p - p is a pointer to a char
const char *q - q is a pointer to a const char
char const *r - r is a pointer to a const char (don't ask!)
char * const s - s is a const pointer to a char
const char * const t - t is a const pointer to a const char
char const * const u - u is a const pointer to a const char

.... and people keep claiming that C is hard to grasp for the
beginner...

lol

--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

[Keith Thompson]

sa*****@yahoo.co.in writes:

I understand the meaning and usage of pointers to constant characters
and constant pointers to characters, however i often get confused with
the syntax of expressing them, can anyone help me out with few examples?

See if you can find a program called "cdecl".

% cdecl
Type `help' or `?' for help
cdecldeclare a as pointer to char
char *a
cdecldeclare b as const pointer to char
char * const b
cdecldeclare c as pointer to const char
const char *c
cdecldeclare d as const pointer to const char
const char * const d

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) ks***@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <* <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.