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arraysc

How to iterate through an array of pointer in c

I have a function called int* abc() which returns a pointer array and I called it int* num = abc();

Everything is fine until I want to loop through the array, which the sizeof(num) returns 8 all the time.

my question is how am I supposed to loop through it?

Solution

  • Everything is fine until I want to loop through the array, which the sizeof(num) returns 8 all the time.

    In your code, num is a pointer. Its size never changes. You cannot derive the number of elements from the pointer. You need to provide the number via another variable.

    Either by adding a parameter like size_t *number_of_results that is set to the correct number before the function returns. Or by adding a sentinel value to the array. E.g. if you do not allow negative values in your array, you could mark the last entry with -1. Or 0 as it is done for strings in C.