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Path: utzoo!mnetor!yetti!geac!daveb
From: daveb@geac.UUCP (Dave Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: static char (*b)[6]; /* an unusual declaration */
Message-ID: <777@geac.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Jun-87 16:09:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: geac.777
Posted: Mon Jun 15 16:09:27 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Jun-87 01:08:41 EDT
References: <761@bsu-cs.UUCP> <2550018@hpisod2.HP.COM>
Reply-To: daveb@geac.UUCP (Dave Brown)
Organization: GEAC Computers, Toronto, CANADA
Lines: 20
Summary: Hint re declarations.

In article <2550018@hpisod2.HP.COM> decot@hpisod2.UUCP writes:
>> What is the meaning of the following declaration?
>> 
>>      static char (*b)[6];
>

An old-fashioned trick for reading C declarations is to read the 
implementation out in words, from the inside out:

	there is a word called b 
		which points to
		an array of 6
		characters,
		and is static.

Reading it left-to-right usually causes confusion:

	a static char star b of 6 ... uh... er... Huh?

 --dave