Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ico!ism780c!haddock!karl
From: karl@haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: extern char *foo vs. extern char foo[]
Message-ID: <16821@haddock.ima.isc.com>
Date: 8 Jun 90 01:26:09 GMT
References: <1990May30.001219.23564@uunet!unhd> <586@isi.UUCP>
Reply-To: karl@haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer)
Organization: Interactive Systems, Cambridge, MA 02138-5302
Lines: 17

In article <586@isi.UUCP> mark@isi.UUCP (Mark Bailey) writes:
>It is the declarations:
>     char     foo[];  and
>     char     *foo;
>which are identical.  (K&R 1, p. 95)

This is true *only* for the declaration of a pointer as a formal parameter,
as the K&R quote says.

>The reference manual appears to allow such a declaration which is not
>used as a formal parameter (K&R 1, p. 194).

Yes, but then they're no longer identical.  In this context `char foo[];'
declares an array (and it had better be an extern if you're leaving out the
size), while `char *foo' declares a pointer.  See the FAQ list.

Karl W. Z. Heuer (karl@ima.ima.isc.com or harvard!ima!karl), The Walking Lint