Subj : Re: Creating an array in a function
To   : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp
From : waking
Date : Sun Jul 25 2004 09:18 am

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 20:56:29 -0400, user@domain.invalid wrote:

>I have an application that creates an array in main() using a const
>arraySize. I want to pass the array and arraySize to a function that
>will create a two-subscripted array using the arraySize passed to the
>function. Every method I've tried results in a message saying a constant
>must be used in the array declaration.

For any compiler which is topical in this newsgroup (BC++ up to 5.02)
a static (automatic) array in the function must be given a constant value
which is known at compile-time. Of course, you can always use the
passed size to create the array dynamically using malloc or new.

Some compilers currently support a language extension which will allow
local automatic arrays to be given a run-time size. Apparently the C99 
Standard allows this as well, so as C compilers implement that feature
it will become more widely available.

See the C FAQ at http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html

especially

6.15: How can I declare local arrays of a size matching a passed-in array?

6.16: How can I dynamically allocate a multidimensional array?


--
Wayne A. King 
(waking@idirect.com, Wayne_A_King@compuserve.com)

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