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From: karl@haddock.UUCP (Karl Heuer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: static char (*b)[6]; /* an unusual declaration */
Message-ID: <561@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Jun-87 16:17:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: haddock.561
Posted: Mon Jun 15 16:17:01 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jun-87 02:48:20 EDT
References: <761@bsu-cs.UUCP> <535@whuxm.UUCP>
Reply-To: karl@haddock.ISC.COM.UUCP (Karl Heuer)
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston
Lines: 18
Summary: &a != &a[0] in ANSI C

>In article <761@bsu-cs.UUCP>, dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>>[after declaring char (*b)[6]; char **d;]
>>      b = d;			/* So b == d ... Watch. */

In article <535@whuxm.UUCP> davew@whuxm.UUCP (WONNACOTT) writes:
>[explains why this is a type mismatch, then says]
>	b = &a;
>would be better in some sense, but most C compilers assume that you
>really meant &a[0] if you write &a, and ignore the & ...

Fortunately, X3J11 has recognized this translation as bogus.  In ANSI C, "&a"
means what it says: the address of "a" (with type "pointer to one or more
arrays", not "pointer to first element of array").

(A side effect of the bogus translation is that, given char a[M][N], "&a[i]"
doesn't work in most pre-ANSI compilers -- you must instead write "a+i".)

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