Problem

can someone tell me what is wrong:

Code:

void input(char& *first,char& *last,double& winning_amount)
{

   cout <<"What is your name( first last): " ;
   cin >>first;
   cin >> last;
   cout <<"How much won in contest: ";
   cin >> winning_amount;
   center("Press Any Key To Continue...",13);

   getch();
   clrscr();
}

int main(void)
{

   char *first, *last;
   char name[80];
   double winning_amount;



   input(first,last,winning_amount);
   strcpy(name, first);
   strcat(name," ");
   strcat(name,last);

   cout << winning_amount << endl;
   cout <<name;
   getch();

}

I have not idea why this isnt working. All help is greatly appreciated. Oh ya, im using Borland C++ 5.02

>char& *first
this is saying you want a pointer to a char reference
what you need is 'char *&first'.

Also, you are not allocating memory for char *first in your main and you try store info in it in your input function (cin >> first)

could you post the editted code please, i'm a beginner so a really need to see what the code looks like

allocating memory for char *first in your main

how would i do this

>void input(char& *first,char& *last,double& winning_amount)
void input (char* &first, char* &last, double &winning_amount)

>char *first, *last;
char first[80], char last[80];

or

first = new char[80];
last = new char[80];

in this case, you dont even need to pass first and last by reference to input

Code:

void input(char * first, char * last, double  & winningNumber);

int main()
{
   char first[80];
   char last[80];
   double winningNumber;
 
   input(first, second, winningNumber);

  //etc.

This should work just fine. Passing by reference can be done either by using a reference as a paramenter or by using a pointer as a parameter. An arrays name is (for intents and purposes) a pointer, so it works just fine in the above. You could also do this:

Code:

void input(char * first, char * last, double  & winningNumber);

int main()
{
   char * first = new char[80];
   char * last = new char[80];
   double winningNumber;
 
   input(first, second, winningNumber);
  
  //etc.
  //not a bad idea to use the delete [] operator here but
  //not absolutely necessary if the program ends here.

as ClownPrince indicated.