Passing character array into function

Hi I am new. I hope this is not asked recently. Is it possible to pass the character array by itself instead of as a pointer? I want to get the size of array in the function the array was passed in. Can you do that? The following code only returns the size of pointer, not the size of buffer. Please help.

Code:

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void Test()
{
  char testStr[128];
  int testSize = GetSize(testStr);
  std::cout << testSize << std::endl;
}

int GetSize(char testStr[])
{
  return sizeof(testStr);
}

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Add another parameter to the function so as to pass the array size. Alternatively, use a std::tr1::array<char, 128>.

the answer is yes, but you must already know the size, so what you want to do with it is moot.

Code:

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void func(char(&arr)[128])
{
//this passes a reference to a static array of char[128]
}

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I am trying to find a way for the function to figure out the size, so passing the size defeats the purpose. Is there any way to do this without passing the hardcoded size? Thanks.

I suppose you could use a variant of what m37h0d suggested:

Code:

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template<typename T, std::size_t Size>
inline std::size_t GetSize(T(&arr)[Size])
{
    return Size;
}

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if it's a static array, you have to know the size at compile time.

if it's a dynamic array, you have to know the size at allocation time.

either way, you should never find yourself in the position of having an array and not knowing its length.

sounds like you should use vector.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m37h0d

either way, you should never find yourself in the position of having an array and not knowing the size of it's contents.

sounds like you should use vector.

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Yes, that is something to consider over a std::tr1::array since your array size can vary. Of course, we're assuming that this GetSize() function will no longer exist, since it presumably existed so that you can conveniently pass the size to other functions, but now other functions can get the size through the vector.

Yet another option is to just pick a suitable container and then have your other function takes iterators instead as arguments. This way you are not so restricted to just a vector... but it may be overkill for what you are trying to do.

Okay, originally I was trying to check for buffer overrun. I get the character array from someone, and my function would make sure it has enough buffer size to copy the data or do whatever that I want to do with it. How do you do this normally? Do you always ask the size of array when passing a character array? I was hoping there is more elegant way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cactuar

Okay, originally I was trying to check for buffer overrun. I get the character array from someone, and my function would make sure it has enough buffer size to copy the data or do whatever that I want to do with it. How do you do this normally? Do you always ask the size of array when passing a character array? I was hoping there is more elegant way.

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If you mean what do, say, library functions do, the answer is "assume the person passing the array in knows what they're doing". The standard functions like strcat, strcpy, etc will happily overwrite into invalid memory. The ever-popular "_s" functions from Microsoft (just as an example), or fgets, do require you to pass in the size.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cactuar

Okay, originally I was trying to check for buffer overrun. I get the character array from someone, and my function would make sure it has enough buffer size to copy the data or do whatever that I want to do with it. How do you do this normally? Do you always ask the size of array when passing a character array? I was hoping there is more elegant way.

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There's a reason so many Win32 API functions require the buffer length to be passed in. It's because it needs this information and that is the easiest way to get it. There is nothing more elegant.
Take a look at this:
GetShortPathName Function (Windows)
The idea used here is that passing zero gives you back the size that you need to allocate.