📍📚Intermediate

Return a Pointer from a Function

Function returning pointer

A function can return a pointer to dynamically allocated memory or to static/global variables. Be careful not to return pointers to local variables!

C Program Returning a Pointer

return_pointer.c

1#include <stdio.h>
2#include <stdlib.h>
3
4// Function returning pointer to dynamic array
5int* createArray(int n) {
6    int *arr = (int*)malloc(n * sizeof(int));
7    
8    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
9        arr[i] = (i + 1) * 10;  // 10, 20, 30...
10    }
11    
12    return arr;  // Return pointer
13}
14
15int main() {
16    int n = 5;
17    int *myArray = createArray(n);
18    
19    printf("Array elements: ");
20    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
21        printf("%d ", myArray[i]);
22    }
23    printf("\n");
24    
25    free(myArray);  // Don't forget to free!
26    
27    return 0;
28}