CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c
IMX
IMX

Reputation: 3652

Implementing a string-find method

I am trying to implement a function, that searches for the first occurrence of a passed string in a global variable. When found, I want it to return the matching char as a pointer.

This however, doesn't work:

warning: return makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]

char *find(const char *s)
{
    int i = 0;
    const char *ptr = s;

    while(ptr[i])
    {
        //wordList is a global struct with a string
        if(ptr[i] == wordList->search[0])
        {
            return ptr[i];
        }
        else i+=1;
    }

    return NULL;
}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 135

Answers (2)

Oliver Matthews
Oliver Matthews

Reputation: 7833

You want to return &ptr[i] - your code is returning the value of the character found cast to a pointer.

Also, you are taking in a const char* and returning a char * - you should probably fix that - either change the return type or s and ptr. Also, you don't need ptr - you can do the whole thing dereferencing s directly.

oh, and if you stick with the consts and we are being picky, then it should probably be const char* const s

Upvotes: 3

haccks
haccks

Reputation: 106032

ptr[i] is of type char. You need to return a char pointer from your function as its return type is char *. Use 

return &ptr[i];

As Bit Fiddling Code Monkey pointed in his comment, better to change the return type of your function 

const char *find(const char *s) { ... }

Upvotes: 1

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