how to return multi-value from a function

[shanfeng]

such as a function: f(double v[], int a)

could this function return both a integer and array?

Thank you very much. I have confused on this for a long time~

[jacob navia]

shanfeng wrote:

such as a function: f(double v[], int a)

could this function return both a integer and array?

Thank you very much. I have confused on this for a long time~

There many ways to do that:

typedef struct {
int a;
int array[21];
} RTYPE;

RTYPE f(double v[],int a);

Another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, double **pResult);

This function returns an integer and puts the
result array in *pResult.

Yet another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, int *pintResult,double **pResult);
This function returns an eror code. If the error code is
zero, pintResult will be filled with an integer and
*pResult will contain an array.
And last but not least:

int *f(double v[], int a);
This function returns a pointer to a counted array. The first
element is the length, followed by an array of that length

[Robert Gamble]

On Sep 27, 3:09 pm, shanfeng <[e-mail]:

such as a function: f(double v[], int a)

could this function return both a integer and array?

Thank you very much. I have confused on this for a long time~

A function can return at most a single value. That value may be a
pointer to an array of items or to a structure, it could also be a
structure itself. Other options for communicating multiple pieces of
information to the caller include modifying file-scope variables
(a.k.a. global variables, not usually preferable) or passing pointers
to variables to the function and modifying the values of the objects
to which those pointers point.

Robert Gamble

[shanfeng]

Thank you! You guys are so professional:)
All your replies are so helpful for me,
athough there are some terms I am not very familiar, I will work on
it .

[Pietro Cerutti]

jacob navia wrote:

shanfeng wrote:

>such as a function: f(double v[], int a)

could this function return both a integer and array?

Thank you very much. I have confused on this for a long time~

There many ways to do that:

typedef struct {
int a;
int array[21];
} RTYPE;

RTYPE f(double v[],int a);

I would add

int f(double v[], int a, *RTYPE r);

where f returns a status code (e.g., 0 on success, 1 otherwise) and
fills the r structure upon success.

>
Another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, double **pResult);

This function returns an integer and puts the
result array in *pResult.

Yet another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, int *pintResult,double **pResult);
This function returns an eror code. If the error code is
zero, pintResult will be filled with an integer and
*pResult will contain an array.
And last but not least:

int *f(double v[], int a);
This function returns a pointer to a counted array. The first
element is the length, followed by an array of that length

--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key:
http://gahr.ch/pgp

[David Thompson]

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:16:43 +0200, jacob navia
<ja***@jacob.remcomp.frwrote:

shanfeng wrote:

such as a function: f(double v[], int a)

could this function return both a integer and array?

Thank you very much. I have confused on this for a long time~

Note that arrays as such are never passed to a function in C, instead
a pointer to the first element of the array is passed and can be used
to access the elements of the array; the effect is the same as passing
the array itself by-reference in some other languages. In this case
f() can store data into the array passed by the caller, if it is large
enough and is not defined as 'const'. That is probably the most
commonly used method in C, and thus usually the one most easily
understood by others reviewing or working on your code.

There many ways to do that:

typedef struct {
int a;
int array[21];
} RTYPE;

RTYPE f(double v[],int a);

Another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, double **pResult);

This function returns an integer and puts the
result array in *pResult.

You can't put an array in *pResult. You can put a pointer 'to' an
array, or more precisely a pointer to the beginning of an array (of
double). But the space pointed to must be allocated somehow:
+ statically -- but not safely reusable, reentrant, or threadsafe;
+ dynamically -- but caller must take responsibility for free'ing it.

Yet another solution is:

int f(double v[], int a, int *pintResult,double **pResult);
This function returns an eror code. If the error code is
zero, pintResult will be filled with an integer and
*pResult will contain an array.

*pintResult get an int, and *pResult will _point to/at_ array.

>
And last but not least:

int *f(double v[], int a);
This function returns a pointer to a counted array. The first
element is the length, followed by an array of that length

Which again has to be allocated somehow, and only works if the desired
array element type is also int -- OP didn't say, and his only example
data was double.

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