Thread: pointer-convert-problem

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>
char* displaystring(ostream& out,istream& in,char string2display[30])
{
	string2display=strcat(string2display,"-");
    string2display=strcat(string2display,"is your name");
    char* pointer= new char;
    pointer=&string2display;
	return pointer;
}

this is just a practise-module but it doesnt work
my compiler says:error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'char * []' to 'char'

er.. help me please

just to fix the immediate problem:

Code:

pointer = &string2display;

should be replaced with

Code:

pointer = string2display;

also,

Code:

char* pointer = new char;
pointer = string2display;

that's a memory leak. you allocate space for a character, then throw it away. just use:

Code:

char *pointer = string2display;

Yeah, there are quite a few problems with the function -- more logical than syntactic. For one -- why are you passing references to ostream and istream objects when you aren't using them, it's silly. Also, do you want to return a copy of display string or what? Do you want the parameter to be limitted to a 30 char string? If so, you're declaring it wrong.

If what you want to do is return a duplicate, then do this:

Code:

#include <cstring>

char* displaystring(char (&string2display)[30])
{
    strcat(string2display,"-is your name");
    char* pointer= new char[30];
    strcpy( pointer, string2display );
    return pointer;
}

Just remember to delete the array returned after the function call.

Again, you most-likely want to completely rethink the function.

EDIT: also, there are problems with concatenating as you are doing because you never check to be sure the array is large enough.

EDIT2: post a thorough explanation of exactly what it is that you'd like to do. Until then, we're just guessing as to what you want.