理解指针变量增量

Question

While reading about pointers I found a pointer variable is used to indicate an array like this:

char* chrArray;
int* intArray;

After that I found charArray++ and intArray++ used in code to indicate the next element of charArray and intArray . But so far I know char in C is 1 byte and int in array is 4 byte. So I can not understand how the increment operator behave here. Can anyone please explain it.

Answer 1

这是由知道指针类型的编译器处理的，因此可以按相关大小增加它存储的地址，无论它是 char、int 还是任何其他类型。

Answer 2

As per the C11 standard document, chapter 6.5.2.5, Postfix increment and decrement operators

The result of the postfix ++ operator is the value of the operand. As a side effect, the value of the operand object is incremented (that is, the value 1 of the appropriate type is added to it).

So, whenever you're using a postfix increment operator, you're not adding any specific value , rather, you're addding value 1 of the type of the operand on which the operator is used.

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Now for your example,

• chrArray is of type char * . So, if we do chrArray++ , a value of the type char [ sizeof(char) , which is 1 ] will be added to chrArray as the result.

• OTOH, intArray is of type int * . So, if we do intArray++ , a value of the type int [ sizeof(int) , which is 4 on 32 bit platform, may vary] will be added to intArray as the result.

Basically, a Postfix increment operator on a pointer variable of any type points to the next element (provided, valid access) of that type.