CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cpointerstypedef
user3812169
user3812169

Reputation: 23

Using a pointer variable typedef

I define a typedef

typedef char* charP;

Then I declare a few variables

charP dog, cat, fish;

Are all the variables of type char* or is dog the only char* while cat and fish are of type char?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 197

Answers (3)

PU.
PU.

Reputation: 148

All of them are char pointers as you are using typedef and not macro.

so it will not behave like char *dog, cat, fish;

Upvotes: 0

sampathsris
sampathsris

Reputation: 22280

All of them are char *. Do not confuse it with this case: char *dog, cat, fish;. Here, dog is a char *, and rest are just chars.

Upvotes: 1

unwind
unwind

Reputation: 399813

All of them are of type charP, which is an alias for char *, so yes, they're all pointers.

That said, some people (me included) consider it a bad idea to "hide" the pointer asterisk, since it breaks the symmetry between declaring the variable and accessing it.

You're going to have:

charP a;

*a = '1';  /* What?! It didn't look like a pointer, above?! */

... which causes confusion. Generally, pointers in C are important to keep track of, so hiding what is a pointer and what isn't can lead to trouble.

Upvotes: 10

Related Questions