return multiple value from the structure in c

How to return multiple values from a function in C programming?

Sometimes we require to return multiple values from a function in C. I found that many new programmers ask this question is because the C language does not allow to return multiple values from the function directly.

But no problem we have the way to take multiple values from the function and it is not much difficult. We can return the multiple values from the function using the pointer, array or structure. So let see few examples to understand the concept that how to return multiple values from a function in C.

Return multiple values from the function using the array

We can return multiple values from the function using the array but the limitation is that all values should have the same type.

In the example program, I am creating an integer array of size “n” ( int ptr[n] ) and passing this integer array to the function as the parameter to collect the first to “n” odd numbers. The function parameter type could be as int ptr[] , int ptr[n] or int *ptr.

Note: For more detail, you can see how to pass an array in the function.

#include <stdio.h>

#define ARRAY_SIZE  10

// Function to get n odd numbers
void collectOddNumbers(const int n, int *ptr)
{
    int i =0; //Integer variable

    for (i = 0; i < n; ++i)
    {
        // Store odd numbers
        *(ptr + i) =  ((i*2) + 1);
    }
}


int main()
{
    //Array to store odd numbers
    int oddNumbers[ARRAY_SIZE] = {0};
    int index = 0;

    // Get first 10 odd numbers
    collectOddNumbers(ARRAY_SIZE, oddNumbers);

    // Print all 10 odd numbers
    for (index = 0; index < ARRAY_SIZE; ++index)
    {
        printf("%d ", oddNumbers[index]);
    }

    return 0;
}

 

Output: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19

 

You can also use the dynamic array to return multiple values from the function. Let see one more example of how we can return multiple values using the dynamic array. If you don’t know how to create a dynamic array, please see the article, how to create a dynamic array in c.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define ARRAY_SIZE  10

// Function to get n odd numbers
int * collectOddNumbers(const int n)
{
    int i =0; //Integer variable

    int *ptr = NULL; //Integer pointer

    //Allocate the memory
    ptr = malloc(sizeof(int)*n);

    //Check allocated memory
    if(ptr == NULL)
    {
        return NULL;
    }

    for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
    {
        // Calculate and store even number in numbers
        *(ptr + i) =  ((i*2) + 1);
    }

    return ptr;
}


int main()
{
    //integer variable
    int index = 0;

    //integer pointer
    int *oddNumbers = NULL;

    //Get first 10 odd numbers
    oddNumbers = collectOddNumbers(ARRAY_SIZE);

    // Print all 10 odd numbers
    for (index = 0; index < ARRAY_SIZE; ++index)
    {
        printf("%d ", oddNumbers[index]);
    }

    //free allocated memory
    free(oddNumbers);
    oddNumbers = NULL;

    return 0;
}

Output: 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19

 

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Return multiple values from function using structure

When we require to return multiple values of the different types from the function then the structure is a good choice to use. We can also do this task with the help of pointer we will see them later. A structure is a user-defined data type, you can also see this article to understand the structure, structure in brief.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

//structure to store info
typedef struct UserInfo
{
    int age;
    float height;
    char name[24];
} s_Userinfo;


//function to get user info
s_Userinfo Getinfo(void)
{
    s_Userinfo info = {0}; // structure variable

    printf("\n\n Enter User age = ");
    scanf("%d",&info.age);

    printf("\n\n Enter User height = ");
    scanf("%f",&info.height);

    printf("\n\n Enter User name = ");
    scanf("%s",info.name);

    return info;
}


int main()
{
    //structure variable
    s_Userinfo info = {0};

    //Get user info
    info = Getinfo();

    printf("\n User age = %d",info.age);

    printf("\n User height = %f",info.height);

    printf("\n User name = %s",info.name);

    return 0;
}

Output:

How to return multiple values from a function in C programming?

 

Return multiple values from a function in C- using the pointer

Using the call by reference we can get the multiple values from the function. Let see one example,

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>


//function to get user info
void Getinfo(int *age, float *height, char *name)
{

    printf("\n\n Enter User age = ");
    scanf("%d",age);

    printf("\n\n Enter User height = ");
    scanf("%f",height);

    printf("\n\n Enter User name = ");
    scanf("%s",name);

}


int main()
{
    //variable to store age
    int age =0;
    //variable to store height
    float height = 0.0f;
    //variable to store name
    char name[24] = {0};

    //Get user info
    Getinfo(&age, &height, name);

    printf("\n User age = %d",age);

    printf("\n User height = %f",height);

    printf("\n User name = %s",name);

    return 0;
}

 

How to return multiple values from a function in C programming

 

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