Thread: asterisk

Hi,

can the asterisk sign mean anything else in C other than pointers and arrays? What does it mean when it's in a bracket after a declaration like below?
And what does it mean when a function like "realloc" is after (int *)?

if ((blk->sss = (int *) realloc(blk->sss, sizeof(int) * (blk->no_sss + 1))) == NULL) { ...


Thanks!

it is still a pointer.

Actually the (int *) is a cast, casting the return value from that function to an int* from the void* that the function returns.

Jim

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

Actually the (int *) is a cast, casting the return value from that function to an int* from the void* that the function returns.

Jim

Thanks Jim, that helps a lot!

And in the other part of the code when it's (int) *, what is the meaning? Why can't it be "size of int * (blk -> no_sss+1)"?
I've been looking through textbook about pointers but I can't seem to find brackets in that form explained.

Do you mean this?

Code:

sizeof(int) * (blk->no_sss + 1))

In this case that * is the old fashioned multiplication symbol. The asterisk has several different meanings depending on content, in this content it is going to multiply the values on both sides of the operator.

Jim