From: "John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: - HELP! - a little mixed up in C/C++ pointers
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 19:38:18 +0000
Organization: Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
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Gal wrote:
> 
> Okay here I start:

With a basic C/C++ question that really belongs in other fora. 
comp.lang.c or comp.lang.c.moderated would be better places to ask this
sort of thing.  However, I'll take a shot at answering it.  :)

> // defining types variables
> struct IndexFileName {
>   char FileName[12];
> }
> 
> int IndexFileName;

This definition means nothing; you are declaring a variable of type int
named IndexFileName, not a structure.  Assuming you want to declare a
global structure of type 'struct IndexFileName', then you do it like
this:

struct IndexFileName Index;

> // our function
> int compare (char *FileName)
> {
>   return strcmp(Index.FileName, FileName);
> }

This comparison will then become valid, as will the rest of your code.

> //main
> void main ()
> {
>   printf("%d\n", compare("TEST.TST"));
>   return 0;
> }

You are declaring main() as void, but you have it returning a value. 
This is an error; you must always declare main() as returning an
integer.

>    The question is, what do I have to put in front of "Index.FileName"
> in order to have it become a pointer so I can do a compare?  I'm a bit
> mixed up in C :)

Any array label in C is automatically a pointer.  The problem is that
you never defined the variable named 'Index'.

Please try to find a good C reference book, or take a course.  Based on
the difficulty you're having, it would seem that you're jumping into
shark-infested waters without a life raft.  :)

hth

-- 
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|      John M. Aldrich       | "A generation which ignores history  |
|       aka Fighteer I       | has no past--and no future."         |
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