Array intialization

[Evan Bigall]

In article <3420 at ihuxv.ATT.COM> bareta at ihuxv.ATT.COM (Benyukhis) writes:
>The following declaration is illegal.  Why??????
>
>char *a = "string1";
>char *b = "string2";
>char *c = "string3";
>
>char *g[] = { a, b, c };

The above declarations will fail if they are placed outside of a function
(static) because statics must be initialized with constants.  The value
of the pointer char *a is not constant.  You can make it constant by 
declaring it char a[] = "string1";  Which allocates 8 char's in memory and
effectivly gives you a constant pointer "a" to them.  Note: you will NOT be
able to change the value of "a" (you WILL be able to change the contents
of the 8 chars it points to). 

The above declarations will fail if they are placed inside a function (auto)
because you can not initialize auto arrays.  

The following:

	static char *g[] = {"string1", "string2", "string3"}; 

Will always compile, but may or may not do what you want.  

Evan

>What if the compiler was 3 pass one?  


-- 
Evan Bigall, Plexus Computers, San Jose, CA (408)943-2283 ...!sun!plx!evan
"I barely have the authority to speak for myself, certainly not anybody else"