Thread: Am I using pointers correctly here?

I have a simple program I am coding for my class and so far I have got the program to do what I want it to do, however I am not sure if I am using pointers as my professor had asked us to use in this program correctly.

Could someone take a look at this code and let me know if I am actually using pointers here to convert a line of text to uppercase and then lowercase?

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

main()
{
	/* Variable declarations */
	char text[26];
	int i;
	char *text_Ptr = text;
	
	/* Prompt user for line of text */
	printf ("\nEnter a line of text (up to 25 characters):\n");
	gets(text);
	
	/* Convert and output the text in uppercase characters */
	printf ("\nThe line of text in uppercase is:\n");
	
	i = 0;
	while ( text[i] != '\0')
	{
		putchar( toupper(text_Ptr[i++]) ); <--- should the text_Ptr have a * here?
	}
	
	/* Convert and output the text in lowercase characters */
	printf ("\n\nThe line of text in lowercase is:\n");
	
	i = 0;
	while ( text[i] != '\0')
	{
		putchar( tolower(text_Ptr[i++]) ); <--- should the text_Ptr have a * here?
	}
	
	printf ("\n");
	
} /* end main */

I seem to believe that I am suppose to have an * next to text_Ptr throughout the code, however when I put the * the code does not compile correctly and gives this error "invalid type argument of `unary *'".

Any help is much appreciated.

Yeah I know about using gets and my style of using main, but its what my professor wants us to use for some reason. Its an introductory course so I think hes just trying to keep it simple for now, although I feel it could create bad habits.

Anyways I revised my code and I think I'm doing the entire process correctly using pointers as my professor had assigned.

Heres the new code:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

main()
{
	/* Variable declarations */
	char text[26];
	char *textPtr;
	
	/* Prompt user for line of text */
	printf ("\nEnter a line of text (up to 25 characters):\n");
	gets(text);
	
	textPtr = text; /* point textPtr to text */
	
	/* Convert and output the text in uppercase characters */
	printf ("\nThe line of text in uppercase is:\n");
	
	/* Loop to convert to uppercase */
	while ( *textPtr )
	{
		*textPtr = toupper(*textPtr);
		textPtr++;
	} /* end while */
	
	/* Output uppercase line of text */
	printf("%s\n", text);
	
	textPtr = text; /* Convert textPtr back to original text */
	
	/* Convert and output the text in lowercase characters */
	printf ("\nThe line of text in lowercase is:\n");
	
	/* Loop to convert to lowercase */
	while ( *textPtr )
	{
		*textPtr = tolower(*textPtr);
		textPtr++;
	} /* end while */
	
	/* Output lowercase line of text */
	printf("%s\n", text);
	
} /* end main */