How Can I Return and Access an Array from a C Function?

Returning an Array in a Function

In C , it's often necessary to return arrays from functions. The question below explores this topic:

Question:

Consider an array int arr[5] passed to the function fillarr(int arr[]).:

int fillarr(int arr[])
{
    for(...);
    return arr;
}

a) How can we return the array?
b) If we return a pointer, how do we access it?

Answer:

a) The array variable arr can be treated as a pointer to the beginning of its memory block. The following syntax:

int fillarr(int arr[])

is equivalent to:

int fillarr(int* arr)

Therefore, we can return a pointer to the first array element:

int* fillarr(int arr[])

b) To access the returned pointer, we can use it like a normal array in the calling function:

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

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