Need advice

hi,
I need some help on the following issue.

how should I declare a C/C++ function to return
"char *temp[] "

I tried to use char **, unfortunately it does not work.

basically, I want to achieve this. suppose temp = {"abc", "de","2"}

I want a function to be able to return a pointer so that I could
achieve "abc", "de", "2" one by one.

thanks

as you can see when you debug, Temp has every thing.
but test_output is unable to do the job, I can only call this
function once.

thanks for the help

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

const int LIST_LENGTH = 10;
const int STRING_LENGTH = 100;
char CHAR_ARRAY[STRING_LENGTH];
char *Temp[LIST_LENGTH];

char ** OutStr (char * In_Str, char delim);

int ParsePairs(char * str, char Left_Char, char Right_Char);
//return strlength if successful, 0 otherwise

int Parse(char *str, char delim); //normal strings

void main()
{
char *Test_Str = "\"asf,def\",<a,2>,3,{4,5}";
char **test_output;

test_output = OutStr(Test_Str, ',');
cout << "done\n";
return;
}

char **OutStr (char * In_Str, char delim)
{
//char *Temp[LIST_LENGTH];
char In_Str_Copy[STRING_LENGTH];
char Temp_Str[STRING_LENGTH];
char * Str_Ptr;
int i, j;

//first make a copy of the ctring
strcpy(In_Str_Copy, In_Str);
//strcpy(Temp_Str, In_Str);
Str_Ptr = In_Str_Copy;

//allocate memory
for (i=0; i<LIST_LENGTH; i++)
{
Temp[i] = new char[STRING_LENGTH];
Temp[i][0] = 0;
}

//parsing string

// null string
if(!In_Str)
return 0;

// string without delimiters
if(!strchr(In_Str_Copy, delim))

{
strcpy(Temp[0], In_Str_Copy);
return Temp;
}

j = 0;
int Normal_Flag = 0;
while(1) //process string
{
switch (In_Str_Copy[0])
{
case '(':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '(',')');
break;

case '<':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '<','>');
break;

case '{':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '{','}');
break;

case '[':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '[',']');
break;

case '"':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '"','"');
break;

default:
i = Parse(In_Str_Copy, delim);
Normal_Flag = 1;

}

//check In_Str_Copy[i], should be delim
//to be added
if(!Normal_Flag)
strncpy(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i+1);
else
strncpy(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i);

Normal_Flag = 0;

j++;

//check if this is the last character

i++;

//check delim
if(!In_Str_Copy[i])
return Temp;

if(In_Str_Copy[i] == delim)
{
i++;
}



if(In_Str_Copy[i])
{
strcpy(Temp_Str, Str_Ptr + i);
strcpy(In_Str_Copy, Temp_Str);
Str_Ptr = In_Str_Copy;
}
else
break;

}

return Temp;
}

int Parse(char *str, char delim)
{
int i = 0 ;

while (str[i] && (str[i] != delim))
i++;
return i;


}

int ParsePairs(char * str, char Left_Char, char Right_Char) //parse strings within pairs
{

if(str[0] != Left_Char)
return -1;

// search right_char
if(!strchr(str, Right_Char))
return -1;

int i = 1;

while(str[i] != Right_Char)
i++;

//str[i] = 0;

return i;
}

Just create a class that carries that info in a variable, and then return a variable of that type. I don't know if this is exactly what you want, but here's an example:

Code:

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>

class str
{
char temp[1024];
int len;

public:

str(char a[]="")
	{
	strcpy(temp,a);
	len=strlen(temp);
	}

str operator+(str s1)
	{
	char b[1024];
	strcpy(b,temp);
	b[len]='\0';
	strcat(b,s1);
	str retval(b);
	return retval;
	}

operator char*()
	{
	char retval[1024];
	strcpy(retval,temp);
	retval[len]='\0';
	return retval;
	}

void display()
	{
	cout<<temp;
	}

void addspace()
	{
	temp[len]=' ';
	len++;
	temp[len]='\0';
	}

int operator==(str s1);
	
char* strreverse();


};

char* str::strreverse()
	{
	char n[1024];
	int cpos=len-1;
	int npos=0;

	for( ; cpos>=0 ; cpos--)
		{
		n[npos]=temp[cpos];
		npos++;
		}

	n[npos]='\0';
	str retval(n);
	return retval;
	}


int str::operator==(str s1)
	{
	int eq=0;
	int slen=strlen(s1);

	if (len>slen)
		{
		int t=0;
		t=slen;
		slen=len;
		len=t;
		}

	if (len==slen)
		{
		eq=1;
		slen--;
		for ( ; slen>=0 ; slen--)
			{
			if (s1[slen]!=temp[slen])
				{
				eq=0;
				break;
				}

			}
		}

	return eq;
	}

Probably the easiest way is just to pass the array as a parameter as the code below shows. If you want it as the return instead, you need to make it a **char and dynamically allocate both dimensions. I can post how to do that also. I also changed you strncpy()'s to strncat()'s. Seems to work better on my computer. Also, I freed up the memory in main().

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

const int LIST_LENGTH = 10;
const int STRING_LENGTH = 100;
char CHAR_ARRAY[STRING_LENGTH];

void OutStr(char * In_Str, char delim, char *Temp[]);

int ParsePairs(char * str, char Left_Char, char Right_Char);
//return strlength if successful, 0 otherwise

int Parse(char *str, char delim); //normal strings

int main()
{
char *Test_Str = "\"asf,def\",<a,2>,3,{4,5}";
char *test_output[LIST_LENGTH];

OutStr(Test_Str, ',', test_output);
cout << test_output[0] << endl;
cout << test_output[1] << endl;
cout << test_output[2] << endl;
cout << test_output[3] << endl;
cout << test_output[4] << endl;
cout << "done\n";
for (int i=0; i<LIST_LENGTH; i++)
{
delete []test_output[i];
}
return 0;
}

void OutStr(char * In_Str, char delim, char *Temp[])
{
char In_Str_Copy[STRING_LENGTH];
char Temp_Str[STRING_LENGTH];
char * Str_Ptr;
int i, j;

//first make a copy of the ctring
strcpy(In_Str_Copy, In_Str);
//strcpy(Temp_Str, In_Str);
Str_Ptr = In_Str_Copy;

//allocate memory
for (i=0; i<LIST_LENGTH; i++)
{
Temp[i] = new char[STRING_LENGTH];
Temp[i][0] = 0;
}

//parsing string

// null string
if(!In_Str)
return;

// string without delimiters
if(!strchr(In_Str_Copy, delim))

{
strcpy(Temp[0], In_Str_Copy);
return;
}

j = 0;
int Normal_Flag = 0;
while(1) //process string
{
switch (In_Str_Copy[0])
{
case '(':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '(',')');
break;

case '<':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '<','>');
break;

case '{':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '{','}');
break;

case '[':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '[',']');
break;

case '"':
i = ParsePairs(In_Str_Copy, '"','"');
break;

default:
i = Parse(In_Str_Copy, delim);
Normal_Flag = 1;

}

//check In_Str_Copy[i], should be delim
//to be added
//strcpy(Temp[j],"");
if(!Normal_Flag)
//strncpy(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i+1);
strncat(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i+1);
else
//strncpy(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i);
strncat(Temp[j], In_Str_Copy, i);

Normal_Flag = 0;

j++;

//check if this is the last character

i++;

//check delim
if(!In_Str_Copy[i])
return;

if(In_Str_Copy[i] == delim)
{
i++;
}



if(In_Str_Copy[i])
{
strcpy(Temp_Str, Str_Ptr + i);
strcpy(In_Str_Copy, Temp_Str);
Str_Ptr = In_Str_Copy;
}
else
break;

}

return;
}