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c++arrayspointersfunctionreturn

Return array in a function

I have an array int arr[5] that is passed to a function fillarr(int arr[]):

int fillarr(int arr[])
{
    for(...);
    return arr;
}
  1. How can I return that array?
  2. How will I use it, say I returned a pointer how am I going to access it?
Solution

  • In this case, your array variable arr can actually also be treated as a pointer to the beginning of your array's block in memory, by an implicit conversion. This syntax that you're using:

    int fillarr(int arr[])

    Is kind of just syntactic sugar. You could really replace it with this and it would still work:

    int fillarr(int* arr)

    So in the same sense, what you want to return from your function is actually a pointer to the first element in the array:

    int* fillarr(int arr[])

    And you'll still be able to use it just like you would a normal array:

    int main()
{
  int y[10];
  int *a = fillarr(y);
  cout << a[0] << endl;
}