how to pass and retrieve char array in c++

Question

I am trying to pass a character array to a function. Set the values onto a character array. Then retrieve it and print using another function. But not able to get the result. Here is the code

class cSummary{
    private:
       char *cSummaryTable[2];
    public:
       void printSummary();
       void setSummary(char *ptr, int stage);
       char *getSummary();
};
void cSummary::printSummary(){
    char *cPtr = getSummary();
    for(int i = 0; i < 2; i++){
        cout << cPtr[i] << endl;
    }
}
void cSummary::setSummary(char ptr[], int stage){
    switch(stage){
        case 0: 
            cSummaryTable[0] = ptr; 
            break;  
        case 1:
            cSummaryTable[1] = ptr;
            break;
    }
}
char *cSummary::getSummary(){
    return *cSummaryTable;
}
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
    cSummary summary;

    summary.setSummary("first message!",   0);
    summary.setSummary("second message!!", 1);

    summary.printSummary();

    return 0;
}

First, this looks more like C than C++. In C++ you can just use a vector of strings. Second, passing string literals to a function should be as const char*. Third, your error is returning *cSummaryTable in getSummary() when you should be returning simply the cSummaryTable — najayaz
– najayaz, Commented Dec 22, 2018 at 8:16

john · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-22 08:22:16Z

1

getSummary is the problem since it only returns the first string. Notice the assymmetry between getSummary and setSummary, setSummary has a stage parameter but there's no such parameter in getSummary. That should have been a clue that something was wrong. I would recode like this

char *cSummary::getSummary(int stage) {
    return cSummaryTable[stage];
}

void cSummary::printSummary() {
    for(int i = 0; i < 2; i++){
        cout << getSummary(i) << endl;
    }
}

And I'll add the obiligatory piece of good advice. You should learn to program modern C++, which doesn't use arrays and pointers, but uses the much safer and easier to understand std::string and std::vector instead.

answered Dec 22, 2018 at 8:22

john

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