I'm new to C and trying to change the return type of a function. The problem is that, for example, these work:
float fct(int)
float *fct(float)
But when I try to change the return type to:
float (*)[n]fct(int *n)
The compiler issues an error:
error: expected identifier or ‘(’ before ‘)’ token
Even if it tells me to change the return type to float (*)[n].
It would be awesome if someone could explain what the issue is.
What you are looking for is:
float (*fct(int *n))[SIZE];
I should note that the compiler won't like it if SIZE is not a constant value.
The pointer must have an identifier which in this case is fct(int *n),
it's as if you had something like (*ptr)[SIZE] only ptr is fct(int *n).
The compiler message omits the pointer identifier, as usual. It just tells you what the type should be and that is float (*)[n]. If, for example, the return type was to be pointer to int it would tell you the return type should be int*.
Now, on a different note, n size doesn't make much sense because you use in the function as a parameter, as a pointer to int.
You must also be careful not to return a pointer to a locally (in the function) declared array, you will need to allocate memory for it if you want it to outlive the function.