Function pointers in C
Let’s start with a basic function which we will be pointing to:
int addInt(int n, int m) { return n+m; }
First thing, let’s define a pointer to a function which receives 2 int
s and returns an int
:
int (*functionPtr)(int,int);
Now we can safely point to our function:
functionPtr = &addInt;
Now that we have a pointer to the function, let’s use it:
int sum = (*functionPtr)(2, 3); // sum == 5
Passing the pointer to another function is basically the same:
int add2to3(int (*functionPtr)(int, int)) { return (*functionPtr)(2, 3); }
We can use function pointers in return values as well (try to keep up, it gets messy):
// this is a function called functionFactory which receives parameter n // and returns a pointer to another function which receives two ints // and it returns another int int (*functionFactory(int n))(int, int) { printf("Got parameter %d", n); int (*functionPtr)(int,int) = &addInt; return functionPtr; }
But it’s much nicer to use a typedef
:
typedef int (*myFuncDef)(int, int); // note that the typedef name is indeed myFuncDef myFuncDef functionFactory(int n) { printf("Got parameter %d", n); myFuncDef functionPtr = &addInt; return functionPtr; }