Messy function pointer : how to remove the warning?

Question

As I asked and answered in this post . I have the following example code.

#include <stdio.h>

char foo()    { return 'a'; }
char bar()    { return 'b'; }
char blurga() { return 'c'; }
char bletch() { return 'd'; }

char (*gfunclist[])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};

char (*(*x())[])()
{
  static char (*funclist[4])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist;
}

int main() 
{
  printf("%c\n",gfunclist[0]());

  char (**fs)();
  fs = x();
  printf("%c\n",fs[1]()); 
}

My questions are

• Why the

   return funclist (with "warning: return from incompatible pointer type")  

  and

   return &funclist  

  both works?
• I get warning at the line 21 (fs = x();) of

   warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type  

  . How to remove this warning?

ADDED

With AndreyT's help. I could get the following code that doesn't have the warnings.

#include <stdio.h>

char foo()    { return 'a'; }
char bar()    { return 'b'; }
char blurga() { return 'c'; }
char bletch() { return 'd'; }

char (*gfunclist[])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};

char (*(*x())[])()
{
  static char (*funclist[4])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return &funclist;
}

int main() 
{
  printf("%c\n",gfunclist[0]());

  char (*(*fs)[4])();
  fs = x();
  printf("%c\n",(*fs)[1]()); 
}

And this is less messy code with the help from peoro.

typedef char (*funptr)();

funptr gfunclist[] = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};

funptr* x()
{
  static funptr funclist[4] = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist;
}

int main() 
{
  printf("%c\n",gfunclist[0]());

  funptr *fs;
  fs = x();
  printf("%c\n",fs[1]()); 
}

Answer 1

You have to decide whether you are using C or C++. These languages are significantly different in their treatment of the situations like yours.

In C++ a "pointer to an [] array" (ie an array of unspecificed size) is a completely different type from a "pointer to an [N] array" (ie an array of specified size). This immediately means that your code has no chance to compile as C++ code. It is not a "warning", it is an error. If you want your code to compile as C++, you need to specfiy the exact array size in the function return type

char (*(*x())[4])() // <- see the explicit 4 here?
{
  static char (*funclist[4])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return &funclist;
}

And, of course, you have to return &funclist , since you are declaring your function as returning a pointer to an array .

In main declaring the receiving pointer as char (**fs)() makes no sense whatsoever. The function is returning a pointer to an array , not a pointer to a pointer . You need to declare your fs as

char (*(*fs)[4])(); // <- pointer to an array

ie as having pointer-to-array type (note the similarity to the function declaration). And in order to call the function through such a pointer you have to do

printf("%c\n", (*fs)[1]()); 

In C language the explicit array size in the pointer-to-array declarations can be omitted, since in C "pointer to an [] array" type is compatible with "pointer to an [N] array" type, but the other points still stand. However, even in C it might make more sense to specify that size explicitly.

---

Alternatively, you can stop using pointer-to-array type and instead use pointer-to-pointer type. In that case your function should be defined as follows

char (**x())()
{
  static char (*funclist[4])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist; // <- no `&` here
}

and in main you'll work with it as follows

char (**fs)();
fs = x();
printf("%c\n", fs[1]()); 

Note, that this main is the same as what you had in your original post. In other words, your original code is a bizarre fusion of two different absolutely incompatible techniques. You have to decide which one you want to use and stick to it.

Answer 2

I'd suggest you to typedef your function pointer, otherwise it's hard to see what's happening.

typedef char (*funptr)();

Anyway, x returns a pointer to char (*(*x())[]) , and funclist is not that thing.

Same for fs=x(); : char ( ( ())[]) != char (**)(); ...

If I'm not wrong there are also some errors with precedence between [] and *...

This is working fine:

typedef char (*funptr)();

funptr gfunclist[] = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};

funptr *x() {
  static funptr funclist[4] = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist;
}

funptr *fs;
fs = x();

Answer 3

For the first question,

cdecl> explain char (*(*x())[])()
declare x as function returning pointer to array of pointer to function returning char
cdecl> explain static char (*funclist[4])()
declare funclist as static array 4 of pointer to function returning char

So the expected return type of x is a pointer to an array of pointers to functions returning char, but what you're returning is just an array of pointers to functions returning char. By adding the &, you are now in fact returning a pointer to the array of pointers to functions returning char.

For the second, again the expected return type of x is a pointer to an array of pointers to functions returning char, but we see

cdecl> explain char (**fs)();
declare fs as pointer to pointer to function returning char

What you want instead is char (*(*fs)[])();

cdecl> explain char (*(*fs)[])();
declare fs as pointer to array of pointer to function returning char

Answer 4

在x的返回类型中选择额外的*或[] ，而不是两者。

Answer 5

When you do T a[] = { .. }; then a is declared as having type T[N] , but not as having type T[] .

So you need to put some number in the brackets.

char (*(*x())[sizeof(gfunclist)/sizeof(*gfunclist)])()
{
  return &gfunclist;
}

It will limit what you can return to a specific size. This is where C++ differs from C, which will allow you to assign a T(*)[N] to an T(*)[] . C++ has no such so-called "type compatibility" rules. If you want to get rid of the need for the & , you need to return the decay-type of the array. The element type of your array is char(*)()

char (**x())()
{
  static char (*funclist[4])() = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist;
}

Using an identity template you can make your declaration look much more readable

template<typename T> struct identity { typedef T type; };
identity<char()>::type **x()
{
  static identity<char()>::type *funclist[] = {foo, bar, blurga, bletch};
  return funclist;
}