How to print array element which is returned from function as a pointer?

Question

I want to print month name which is an array element (return from function as a pointer..)

This is my function:

/*I have taken this from book by Dennis Ritchie*/
/* month name : return name of n-th month */
char *month_name(int n){
     static char *name[] = {
     "illegal month","January","February","March","April","May","June","July",
     "August","September","October","November","December"};
return (n < 1 || n > 12) ? name[0] : name[n];
}

Now I am unable to collect this pointer in my main() function. I have tried this way

void main(void)
{
 int k = 0, i = 0;
 char *s;
 printf("Enter month number\n");
 scanf("%d",&k);

 s = month_name(k);
 for(i = 0; *(s+i) != '/0'; i++)
      printf("%c",*(s+i));
 getch();
}

I'm surprised your compiler didn't warn you about that. GCC says warning: multi-character character constant — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Jul 31, 2015 at 7:51
sorry frnds.... I got the output.. @Barmar & Dmitri .... it was typing mistake.. — Jack13
– Jack13, Commented Jul 31, 2015 at 7:55

ezFreak · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-31 07:59:47Z

2

The reason why it is not working is because the following is incorrect

for ( i = 0; *(s+i) != '/0'; i++)

What you are trying to achieve in reality is to stop at null terminator. However! The null terminator in your code is incorrect.

Please change to the following:

for ( i = 0; *(s+i) != '\0'; i++)

Null terminator = '\0'. You wrote '/0'.

answered Jul 31, 2015 at 7:59

ezFreak

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Sourav Ghosh · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-31 08:03:35Z

1

You can correct the null-typo, as others already suggested.

However, if you don't mind an alternate approach, as your function is returning a string, you can use the %s format specifier to print that directly, like

 printf("Month is %s\n", month_name(k));

Alternatively, as you're going to print a string directly, you can also write

  puts(month_name(k)));

Please note, void main(void) is not a valid signature for main(), as mandated by the standard. You should be using int main(void) instead.

edited Jul 31, 2015 at 8:03

answered Jul 31, 2015 at 7:48

Sourav Ghosh

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LPs · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-31 08:27:25Z

0

You can simply use:

int main(void)
{
   int k = 0, i = 0;
   char *s;
   printf("Enter month number\n");
   scanf("%d",&k);

   printf("%s\n", month_name(k));

   return 0;
}

If you simply want to correct your code:

 for(i = 0; *(s+i) != '\0'; i++)
      printf("%c",*(s+i));

As you can see null termination is '\0' not '/0'

edited Jul 31, 2015 at 8:27

answered Jul 31, 2015 at 7:48

LPs

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