Can anyone please provide an example of how to return an array of
integers from a function in ANSI C?

I'll assume you use a pointer to memory and that you would also use
malloc to dynamically allocate memory so that you won't be pointing to a
variable of limited scope and duration.  I'm a little fuzzy on exactly
how this should look...

I would appreciate your help and insight.

 - Ken

Hi Ken, try this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define SIZE 10
int *make_array(size_t size);
int main(void)
{
        int count;
        int *ip = make_array(SIZE);
        if (!ip)
        {
                puts("Error: couldn't make array");
                return EXIT_FAILURE;
        }
        for (count = 0; count < SIZE; ++count)
        {
                printf("array[%d]=%d\n", count, ip[count]);
        }
        return EXIT_SUCCESS;

Jack,

Thanks for the help!  You gave me just what I needed -- a concrete
example.  One thing I did notice on my implementation is that I got a
compiler warning on the  malloc  statement complaining of not having a
cast (although the program ran fine).  After modifying to   (int
*)malloc  , the warning vanished.

Again, thank you for your help!
 - Ken

Kurt Wall

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1. malloc() hasn't been correctly declared. Make sure the code you compiled
   really does have #include <stdlib.h>.

2. You are using a very old compiler/library which doesn't declare malloc
   properly or declares it as returning char * instead of the correct ANSI
   void * return. In that case you really should consider getting a better
   compiler. Trying to learn C on an old compiler is going to cause more
   problems than it is worth.

3. You aren't using a C compiler. C++ compilers would complain about the
   conversion. Always be clear what language you are writing in. If it is
   C make sure your compiler is configured as a C compiler, if C++ you
   would be better off using C++ constructs like new.

While ANSI C compilers could warn about an implicit conversion from void *
to int * (they can warn about anything they like) it is extremely unlikely
that one would, at leastnot without some bizarre command line options.

--
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Might you be using your compiler as a C++ compiler ? But it should
be an error in this case. No, it is more likely that you are using
an old style K&R C compiler, right ? This is a compiler that predates
the ANSI-C standard. In ANSI-C the "void*" that "malloc()" returns
converts *automatically* to any other data object pointer type.

Indeed it is considered good programming style (in ANSI-C) *not*
to cast the return value of "malloc()", because this can hide the
error of forgetting to include <stdlib.h>.

Stephan
(initiator of the campaign against grumpiness in c.l.c)