C Function Pointer

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Function Pointer in C
Like normal variable, pointer variable can be passed as function argument and function can
return pointeras well.
There are two approaches to passing argument to a function:

Call by Value
Call by Reference / Address
Call by Value
In this approach, the values are passed as function argument to the definition of function.

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Example
#include<stdio.h>
void fun(int,int);
void main()
{
int A=10,B=20;
printf("\nValues before calling %d, %d",A,B);
fun(A,B);

//Statement

printf("\nValues after calling %d, %d",A,B);

}
void fun(int X,int Y)
{
X=11;
Y=22;
}

//Statement

Output :
Values before calling 10, 20
Values after calling 10, 20

In the above example, statement 1 is passing the values of A and B to the calling function fun
(). fun() will recieve the value of A and B and put it into X and Y respectively. X and Y are
value type variables and are local to fun(). Any changes made by value type variables X and
Y will not effect the values of A and B.

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Call by Reference
In this approach, the references/addresses are passed as function argument to the definition
of function.

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Example:
#include<stdio.h>
void fun(int*,int*);
void main()
{
int A=10,B=20;
printf("\nValues before calling %d, %d",A,B);
fun(&A,&B);

//Statement

printf("\nValues after calling %d, %d",A,B);

}
void fun(int *X,int *Y)
{
*X=11;
*Y=22;
}

//Statement

Output :
Values before calling 10, 20
Values after calling 11, 22

In the above example, statement 1 is passing the reference of A and B to the calling function
fun(). fun() must have pointer formal arguments to recieve the reference of A and B. In
statement 2 *X and *Y is recieving the reference A and B. *X and *Y are reference type
variables and are local to fun(). Any changes made by reference type variables *X and *Y will
change the values of A and B respectively.

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Difference b/w Call by Value and Call by Reference

Call by Value

The actual arguments can be variable or

constant.

Call by Reference

The actual arguments can only be variable.

The values of actual argument are sent to

The reference of actual argument are sent to

formal argument which are normal variables.

formal argument which are pointer variables.

Any changes made by formal arguments will

Any changes made by formal arguments will

not reflect to actual arguments.

reflect to actual arguments.

Function Returning a Pointer

Like normal variable, a function can also return reference or address. When function returns
reference or address, the return type of function must be pointer type.

Syntax for function returning pointer:

return-type *function-name(argument list)
{
---------body of function
---------}

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Example for function returning pointer:

#include<stdio.h>
int *reference(int);
void main()
{
int A=10;
int *ptr;
printf("\nAddress of %d in main() is %u",A,&A);
ptr = reference(A);
printf("\nAddress of %d in reference() was %u",A,ptr);
}
int *reference(int n)
{
return &n;
}
Output :
Address of 10 in main() is 8736
Address of 10 in reference() was 8730

Pointer to Function
Like normal variable, Every function has reference or address, and if we know the reference
or address of function, we can access the function using its reference or address. This is the
another way of accessing function using pointer.

Syntax for declaring a Pointer to function:

return-type (*ptr-function)(argument list);

return-type : type of value function will return.

argument list : represents the type and number of value function will take, values are sent by
the calling statement.

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(*ptr-function) : The parentheses around *ptr-function tells the compiler that it is pointer to
function.
If we write *ptr-function without parentheses then it tells the compiler that ptr-function is a
function that will return a pointer.
The pointer to function will be accessed as:
(*ptr-function)(val1,val2...n);

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Example : Sum of two numbers using pointer to function.

#include<stdio.h>
int Sum(int,int);
int (*ptr)(int,int);
void main()
{
int a,b,rs;
printf("\nEnter 1st number : ");
scanf("%d",&a);
printf("\nEnter 2nd number : ");
scanf("%d",&b);
ptr = Sum;
rs = (*ptr)(a,b);

//Statement 1
//Statement 2

printf("\nThe sum is : %d",rs);

}
int Sum(int x,int y)
{
return x + y;
}
Output :
Enter 1st number : 78
Enter 2nd number : 45
The sum is : 123

In the above program, Statement 1 is assigning the address of Sum() to pointer ptr. Statement
2 is calling and passing two values to Sum().

Related topics

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- C storage classes, Local variable, Global variable, External variable, Register variable. (14C-Storage-Classes.aspx)
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- What is Structure in C? (21-C-Structure.aspx)
- Passing & Returning Structure from Function? (22-C-Structure-Function.aspx)
- Explain bit field in c with example? (25-C-Bit-Field.aspx)
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