Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

Post History

77%
+5 −0
Q&A What does a variable followed by parentheses ("ptr()") mean?

What does ptr() mean in this code? An expression like ptr followed by parentheses as in ptr() is a function call. In your example, ptr is a variable of type "pointer to function" because of t...

posted 3y ago by Dirk Herrmann‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Dirk Herrmann‭

Answer
#2: Post edited by user avatar Dirk Herrmann‭ · 2022-03-23T07:53:27Z (almost 3 years ago)
Fixed: had used foo instead of ptr...
  • > What does `ptr()` mean in this code?
  • An expression like `ptr` followed by parentheses as in `ptr()` is a function call. In your example, `ptr` is a variable of type "pointer to function" because of the declaration `void (*foo)()`. That is, `ptr()` will call the function that the variable `ptr` points to. And, due to the assignment `ptr = PrintHello`, the variable `ptr` contains the pointer to the function `PrintHello`.
  • For those not familiar with function pointers, the syntax appears strange, and some magic seems to happen. To make it a bit easier to understand, I have used your example code and added some alternative ways to write the assignment and function call.
  • ```
  • int main ()
  • {
  • void (*ptr)(void); // ptr is a pointer to a function that
  • // returns void (first void in the line)
  • // and takes no arguments "(void)"
  • ptr = PrintHello; // PrintHello is implicitly converted to
  • // pointer to function - you could also write:
  • ptr = &PrintHello; // Some people prefer writing it like this to
  • // make it clear that a function pointer is used
  • ptr(); // Call the function. Could also be written as:
  • (*ptr)(); // Some people prefer writing it like this to
  • // make it clear that a function pointer is used
  • // Ignore the below part if you are not really interested in some
  • // background about how the C standard defines the stuff - which
  • // may be surprising, because it appears somehow upside-down...
  • PrintHello(); // Normal way of writing a function call, but:
  • (&PrintHello)(); // This is what the compiler makes of it.
  • // See C standard 6.5.2.2#1 with footnote and
  • // 6.3.2.1.#4
  • }
  • ```
  • On a side note, to remember the function pointer declaration syntax, I always think about how the function call would look like. I come up with the expression `(*ptr)()`, because I think: "first dereference the function pointer to get the function, afterwards call it with the arguments". Then I am almost done, because the syntax for the call is similar to the syntax of the declaration.
  • > What does `ptr()` mean in this code?
  • An expression like `ptr` followed by parentheses as in `ptr()` is a function call. In your example, `ptr` is a variable of type "pointer to function" because of the declaration `void (*ptr)()`. That is, `ptr()` will call the function that the variable `ptr` points to. And, due to the assignment `ptr = PrintHello`, the variable `ptr` contains the pointer to the function `PrintHello`.
  • For those not familiar with function pointers, the syntax appears strange, and some magic seems to happen. To make it a bit easier to understand, I have used your example code and added some alternative ways to write the assignment and function call.
  • ```
  • int main ()
  • {
  • void (*ptr)(void); // ptr is a pointer to a function that
  • // returns void (first void in the line)
  • // and takes no arguments "(void)"
  • ptr = PrintHello; // PrintHello is implicitly converted to
  • // pointer to function - you could also write:
  • ptr = &PrintHello; // Some people prefer writing it like this to
  • // make it clear that a function pointer is used
  • ptr(); // Call the function. Could also be written as:
  • (*ptr)(); // Some people prefer writing it like this to
  • // make it clear that a function pointer is used
  • // Ignore the below part if you are not really interested in some
  • // background about how the C standard defines the stuff - which
  • // may be surprising, because it appears somehow upside-down...
  • PrintHello(); // Normal way of writing a function call, but:
  • (&PrintHello)(); // This is what the compiler makes of it.
  • // See C standard 6.5.2.2#1 with footnote and
  • // 6.3.2.1.#4
  • }
  • ```
  • On a side note, to remember the function pointer declaration syntax, I always think about how the function call would look like. I come up with the expression `(*ptr)()`, because I think: "first dereference the function pointer to get the function, afterwards call it with the arguments". Then I am almost done, because the syntax for the call is similar to the syntax of the declaration.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Dirk Herrmann‭ · 2022-03-20T15:08:30Z (almost 3 years ago)
> What does `ptr()` mean in this code?

An expression like `ptr` followed by parentheses as in `ptr()` is a function call.  In your example, `ptr` is a variable of type "pointer to function" because of the declaration `void (*foo)()`.  That is, `ptr()` will call the function that the variable `ptr` points to.  And, due to the assignment `ptr = PrintHello`, the variable `ptr` contains the pointer to the function `PrintHello`.

For those not familiar with function pointers, the syntax appears strange, and some magic seems to happen.  To make it a bit easier to understand, I have used your example code and added some alternative ways to write the assignment and function call.

```
int main ()
{
    void (*ptr)(void); // ptr is a pointer to a function that
                       // returns void (first void in the line)
                       // and takes no arguments "(void)"

    ptr = PrintHello;  // PrintHello is implicitly converted to
                       // pointer to function - you could also write:
    ptr = &PrintHello; // Some people prefer writing it like this to
                       // make it clear that a function pointer is used

    ptr();             // Call the function.  Could also be written as:
    (*ptr)();          // Some people prefer writing it like this to
                       // make it clear that a function pointer is used

    // Ignore the below part if you are not really interested in some
    // background about how the C standard defines the stuff - which
    // may be surprising, because it appears somehow upside-down...
    PrintHello();      // Normal way of writing a function call, but:
    (&PrintHello)();   // This is what the compiler makes of it.
                       // See C standard 6.5.2.2#1 with footnote and
                       // 6.3.2.1.#4
}
```

On a side note, to remember the function pointer declaration syntax, I always think about how the function call would look like.  I come up with the expression `(*ptr)()`, because I think: "first dereference the function pointer to get the function, afterwards call it with the arguments".  Then I am almost done, because the syntax for the call is similar to the syntax of the declaration.