Is it possible to return a string in a function?

[buggerboy_3]

Hello! I'm new to C and i have a very little understanding of C and i'm absolutely confused about strings and functions since i've been taught Java first.
In java, you can make a method return a string, but:

It is possible to make a function in C return a string?
If so, what is the return type? Would it look like:

eg.

 char  nameoffuction()               since type string doesn't exit in C
      {   char[15] word = "imsoconfused";
           ...more coding in between...
           return word;
       }

can you return the string word? or would i have to use a pointer to that string?
I know this is silly and your probably wondering why am i trying to do this in a function but is it possible?

[Dave_Sinkula]

You don't want to return a pointer to a local object, and you can't assign arrays. A better example would help, because to me it somewhat looks like you are trying to reinvent strcpy.

[MacGyver]

Java hides a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff from you. Every object is really a pointer or a reference to the actual object. In C, you don't have objects (at least not in the traditional sense, although you can fake them with function pointers).

All strings are in C are just arrays of chars with a trailing '\0' char. A string can also be represented by a pointer to the first char of such a sequence.

As already mentioned, in C you can't return local arrays because they get destroyed. I believe you can do it in Java because Java arrays are actually objects. The array you would have in a Java function is actually a pointer to that array object (which is dynamically allocated).

The way to allocate objects in Java is through the new keyword. In C, dynamic memory is allocated through the malloc() function. Also of importance, you have to manually deallocate all allocated memory in C. You do this with the free() function.

An example of how to return a string from a function would be something like this:

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

char *getString(void);

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	char *szString;
	
	printf("Enter a string: ");
	fflush(stdout);
	
	szString = getString();
	
	if(szString != NULL)
	{
		printf("You entered: &#37;s\n",szString);
		free(szString);
	}
	else puts("Error!");
	
	return 0;
}

char *getString(void)
{
	int len;
	char *s;
	size_t ssize = BUFSIZ*(sizeof(*s));
	
	s = (char *)malloc(ssize);
	if(!s)
	{
		return NULL;
	}
	if(fgets(s,ssize,stdin))
	{
		len = strlen(s) - 1;
		if(s[len] == '\n') /* *Corrected* Thanks to Mr. Sinkula for finding this error. :) */
		{
			s[len] = '\0';
		}
	}
	return s;
}

[King Mir]

Also, in general, it is good style to malloc() and free() in the same function. This makes it easier to keep track of what you allocate, so that you remember to deallocate it afterwards. Remember, in C you have to free all heap memory after you use it*.

*technically you don't have to free it if the program is about to terminate, but it is good style to anyway.

[MacGyver]

I agree. It's best to malloc() and free() in the same function, but if you're returning a string from a function, you have no choice but to deallocate it elsewhere.

Even though any modern O/S is supposed to clean up all memory allocated by your program after your program terminates, I don't believe that is guarenteed to always happen. Again, most modern O/S's will indeed do it, but I believe it's good practice to manually free() all memory that your program specifically *alloc()s.

[Dave_Sinkula]

	if(fgets(s,ssize,stdin))
	{
		len = strlen(s) - 1;
		if(s[len] = '\n')
		{
			s[len] = '\0';
		}
	}

You might want to edit that.

[MacGyver]

Apologies and thanks. Error fixed.

[King Mir]

I agree. It's best to malloc() and free() in the same function, but if you're returning a string from a function, you have no choice but to deallocate it elsewhere.

I general I agree. Sometimes though, it is still possible to pass the result string as an argument, if it is possible to know the required buffer size before the function is called. Strcat() and fgets() are examples of this.

Even though any modern O/S is supposed to clean up all memory allocated by your program after your program terminates, I don't believe that is guarenteed to always happen. Again, most modern O/S's will indeed do it, but I believe it's good practice to manually free() all memory that your program specifically *alloc()s.

What about a terminal error? C does not have exceptions, and for many functions it is hard make them return error code. If a terminal error is encountered in a deeply nested function call, it can be worthwhile to simply close the program rather then create a complicated system of error codes that trickle down to main, deallocating along the way.