I am trying this:

int test(int **a){

  return **a;

}

int main(){

  int p[2]={1,2};

  int *a=&p[0];

  int **d=&a[0];

  //for (int i=0;i<2;i++)
     // printf("\na=%d\n",a[i]);   //ok this works


  for (int i=0;i<2;i++)
  printf("\n%d \n",test(&a[i]));




return 0;
}

I want this printf("\n%d \n",test(&a[i])); to work.
I want to use a pointer.

Thanks

I want this printf("\n%d \n",test(&a[i])); to work.

What do you think line 13 is doing? Or what do you hope to achieve with it?

Then check what you passing to the test function.

I want to be able to pass in test function a pointer with "&".

With line 13 ,the d pointer points to a pointer which points to p.

Hi glao,

With line 13 ,the d pointer points to a pointer which points to p.

That is what you intended doing. But that is not what you are doing with int **d = &a[0]
So, instead of int **d = &a[0] like you did, what you wanted is int **d = &a. Look at it for a while and see why that is different.

I want to be able to pass in test function a pointer with "&".

Then you could do like so:
printf("\n%d \n", test(&a)); not printf("\n%d \n",test(&a[i]));

Turn up -Wall when compling your programs and you will pick some of these warnings.

Moreso, in Line 20 of the original post, why are you not using the variable d?

This int **d = &a isn't the same with thisint **d = &a[0] ?
Because the last points to the first element of a and this is the way we initialize pointers,right?

Also, doing printf("\n%d \n", test(&a)); ,prints only "1" , the first element of p.

Can you explain me? :)

Thanks

..prints only "1" , the first element of p.

Yes! What about if you do like so:

  for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++, a++)
       printf("\n%d \n",test(&a));

OR

  for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++){
      printf("\n%d \n",test(&a));
      a++;
  } 

You got the point?!!!

Since, we know that a pointer is that that has an address as a value, so a pointer of pointer, should have the address of a pointer as a value. That shows the difference.

Hopes that helps

Ok!I will study that.

But ,I can't understand why int **d=&a[0]; is wrong and int **d=&a; is right?

(although I still get the right result but it shows

warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type
)

warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type

That is when you use int **d = &a[0];

Ok!I will study that.

May be the following could help:
Try comparing the addresses like so, and see:

  printf("&p[0] has %p, %d\n", &p[0], p[0]);  
  printf("&p[1] has %p, %d\n", &p[1], p[1]); 
  printf("&a    has %p, %d\n", &a, *a);  
  printf("&a[0] has %p, %d\n", &a[0], a[0]);  
  printf("&a[1] has %p, %d\n",  &a[1], a[1]);  
  int **d = &a;  
  printf("**d   has %p, %d\n", d, **d); 

Ok, thanks I understand this ,I can't understand why int **d=&a[0]; is wrong.

Anyway ,thanks for the help.

In int **d=&a[0]; d has type int** and a has type int*.

The question is if a has type int* what is the type of the expression &a[0]? This isn't to hard to determine because using the array index operator gets rid of a level of indirection so if a has type int* then a[0] has type int. Then, since & adds a level of indirection (i.e. takes the address of), if a[0] has type int then &a[0] has type int*.

So you are assigning an int* to an int** and that is wrong assignments should always be between variables of the same type (or at least between variables with a well defined implicit conversion).

Another way to think of this is that a[0] can be directly replaced by *a they both return the thing a points to. Subsituting that into &a[0] gives &*a the &* cancel, you dereference then take the address of, ending up where you start so &*a is the same as a and therefore int **d=&a[0]; is the same as int **d=a; which is not what I think you want.

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