Parse Error Help

I'm getting the following error in my code and can't figure out why:

assign4.c: In function `int main()':
assign4.c:18: error: parse error before `{' token
assign4.c:50: error: parse error before `}' token

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int size;
int seed;
int row;
int col;
int cnum;
int rnum;
int space;
int x;
int y;


int main()
{
        int loop()
        {
                printf("Enter size and seed:  ");
                int n = scanf("%i $i", &size, &seed);
                if(n == 2)
                {
                        for(row = 1; row == size; row++)
                        {
                                printf("%i ", seed);
                                for(col = 1; col == size; col++)
                                {
                                        cnum = seed;
                                        if((x = cnum + col) <= 9)
                                        {
                                                printf("%i ", x);
                                        }
                                        else
                                        {
                                                y = x - 10;
                                                printf("%i ", y);
                                        }
                                }
                                printf("\n");
                                for(space = row; space == 0; space--)
                                {
                                        printf(" ");
                                }
                        }
                }
                else
                {
                        printf("Size and seed must both be between 1 and 9.");
                        loop()
                }
        }
        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

---

You should define your loop() function outside of the main() function and then call it from within the main() function. You also should use a more descriptive name than "loop". Oh, and turn those global variables into local variables.

Thanks. I just got rid of the loop() and just called the main. There was no reason to add that complication.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frterwil

Thanks. I just got rid of the loop() and just called the main. There was no reason to add that complication.

---

Oh well, the neat of doing this is by calling the loop from main and not calling the main recursively. Look bellow:

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int loop( void );
int main()
{
    loop();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
int loop( void )
{
    int size, seed, row, col;
    int cnum, rnum, space, x, y;
    printf("Enter size and seed:  ");
    int n = scanf("%i %i", &size, &seed);
               
    if(n == 2)
    {
        for(row = 1; row == size; row++)
        {
            printf("%i", seed);
            for(col = 1; col == size; col++)
            {
                  cnum = seed;
                  if((x = cnum + col) <= 9)
                      printf("%i ", x);
                  else
                  {
                      y = x - 10;
                      printf("%i ", y);
                  }
            }
            printf("\n");
            for(space = row; space == 0; space--)
                printf(" ");
        }
    }
    else
    {
      printf("Size and seed must both be between 1 and 9.");
      loop();
    }
}


---

I am not very sure about the recursive function here. That is gonna be in a infinite loop unless you put some condition some where in the function so that it could break and return to main.

Hope that help on how to follow it up.

-ssharish

Recursion to make a loop is a bad way to do loops UNLESS the problem itself is a recursive type problem (e.g factorial, binary tree search, etc).

This bit of code:

Code:

---

        for(row = 1; row == size; row++)
        {
            printf("%i", seed);
            for(col = 1; col == size; col++)

---

will most likely fail to do what you want it to do - unless you wish it to ONLY run the loop when size == 1.

--
Mats