issue with pointers and count - c++

Question

I need to build a code where it takes a 2d array of char and checks if its palindrome the second function uses the first one to see how many arrays are palindrome my issue with the code is that every time I get count is 0; I know the issue is in the second function but don't know where
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int CountPal(char M[][5], int rows);
int pal(char* S) {
char *p, *start, flag = 1;
p = S;
while(*p != NULL) {
++p;
}
--p;
for(start = S; p >= start && flag;) {
if(*p == *start) {
--p;
start++;
} else
flag = 0;
}
}
int main() {
int x;
cout << "please enter the number of rows " << endl;
cin >> x;
char M[5][5];
cout << "before test" << endl;
cout << CountPal(M, x) << endl;
cout << "After test" << endl;
system("pause");
}
int CountPal(char M[][5], int rows) {
int count = 0;
cout << "please enter the string " << endl;
for(int i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
for(int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
cin >> M[i][j];
}
for(int i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
char* S;
S = &M[i][0];
if(pal(S) == 1) count++;
}
}
return count;
}

Answer 1

I think your problem is in int pal(char* S) function. You want it to return 1 if a given string of your 2d array is a palindrome to up your count by 1. And anything other than 1 would be non palindrome string.
So i think you should add a return statement after the end of your int pal(char* S) function like this;
int pal(char* S) {
char *p, *start, flag = 1;
p = S;
while(*p != NULL) {
++p;
}
--p;
for(start = S; p >= start && flag;) {
if(*p == *start) {
--p;
start++;
} else
flag = 0;
}
return flag;
}
You could even change your function to bool data type. It's more proper because you only want to return "true" or "false" values.