Understanding c function pointers

Question

Statement:

"array of N pointers to functions, returning pointers to functions and returning pointer to integer"

Can anyone help me with understanding the function prototype for above statement ?

Given answer- int *(*(*a[N])()) ();

Please can anyone explain me how we arrive at the above answer ?

Answer 1

*a[N]

is the array of N pointers, calling it x

*(x)()

returning function pointer, calling it y

int *(y) ()

is function pointer returning integer

Answer 2

int *(*(*a[500])()) ();

Translates to:

declare a as array 500 of pointer to function returning pointer to function returning pointer to int

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Note:Next time, use this site to understand complex pointer statements http://cdecl.org/