Program on Command Line Argument and Pointers

thelink123 · 09-01-2009, 08:18 AM

Hi,

Kindly see the code below

Code:

#include "stdio.h"

int main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
   printf("size of argv = %d\n",sizeof(argv));
   return 0;
}

i/p
---
./temp one two

o/p
---
size of argv = 4

Now see the second piece of code

Code:

#include "stdio.h"

int main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
   char *ptr[] = {"hi","hello"};
   printf("size of ptr = %d\n",sizeof(ptr));
}

o/p
---
size of ptr = 8

argv and ptr are both array of character pointers. Then why the difference in their sizes occur?

waiting for reply

Regards,
thelink

orgcandman · 09-01-2009, 08:58 AM

Here's a hint:

change the code in your second example to read

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
   char *ptr[] = {"hi", "hello", "goodbye"};
   printf("elem_test: %d ???\n", (sizeof(ptr)/sizeof(char *)));
   return 0;
}

Then keep adding elements to ptr and see what your results might be telling you.

EDIT:

Ahh, I understand the question now.
The reason for the discrepancy is because sizeof() is a compile-time function (it's replaced by the compiler with the "correct" information). In the case of ptr, the compiler knows how big it is. In the case of argv, the compiler can't, so it just gives you what the size of a pointer would be.

karamarisan · 09-01-2009, 09:05 AM

It's a matter of what the compiler knows, as sizeof() calls are resolved at compile-time. C doesn't really have much of a conception of arrays - really, just pointers. Normally, what that means is that the programmer is entirely responsible for keeping track of how many bars are stored at bar* foo. sizeof(argv) == sizeof(char**), which is just a pointer. You're obviously on a 32-bit system, so that's 4. Because argv isn't defined until run-time, there's no way the compiler could give you any other value in good faith. (Note that a pointer to an array is a pointer to a pointer and nothing more - int a[] is a pointer to an int, and can be used in exactly the same way.)

Now, for your ptr variable - because it is declared and defined in one line like that, it ends up in a different part of the binary used for fixed data (.data, I think, though I'm not sure). Since, at least at that point in your program, ptr refers to an array literal (if you will), the compiler tries to be helpful and give you the size of what's at ptr, which is 2x char* (&"hi", &"hello"). Kinda makes sense - I guess it's an easy way to have the size of an array in your code change dynamically as you change the array.