Extract pair numbers from array - c++

Question

Good evening, folks.
I'm currently experiencing difficulties with extracting pair numbers from an array. I have the following code:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int *paire(int *d, int length) {
int counter = 0;
int position = 0;
for (int i=0; i<length; i++) {
if (d[i] % 2 ==0)
counter++;
}
int *k = new int[counter];
for (int i=0; i<length; i++) {
if (d[i] % 2 ==0) {
k[position] = d[i];
position++;
}
}
return k;
}
int main() {
int b[8] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
int *array1 = paire(b,8);
for (int i=0; i<5; i++) { // how can I point here to the counter in paire() ?
cout<<array1[i];
}
delete[] array1;
return 0;
}
So I think I've got it right with initializing the new array in function paire, but I'm having difficulties to iterate through the array.
P.S. I'm first year in university, so I would really be thankful if you can keep the same simplicity in the answers. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It appears that you need to return 2 separate values: the number of even numbers in the array b, and the address of the newly allocated memory that is storing exclusively those even numbers.
Since you can not return multiple variables, one solution that does minimal modification to your code would be as follows.
int *paire(int *d, int length, int& counter) {
counter = 0;
// rest of your function remains unchanged
// ...
}
int main() {
int b[8] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
int evenNumbers;
int *array1 = paire(b,8, evenNumbers);
for (int i=0; i<evenNumbers; i++) {
cout<<array1[i];
}
delete [] array1;
return 0;
}
Alternatively, you can return the value in counter and send the reference to the int* variable as an argument to paire function. Or, you can declare paire to have return type void and use references to pass back both the values.

Answer 2

You can further simplify your function by allocating to that of the length and returning the counter by an output parameter.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int *paire(int *d, int length, int &counter) {
counter = 0;
int *k = new int[length]; // allocate for the maximum memory
for (int i = 0; i < length; ++i) {
if (d[i] % 2 == 0) {
k[counter++] = d[i];
}
}
return k;
}
int main() {
int b[8] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
int counter = 0;
int *array1 = paire(b,8, counter);
for (int i=0; i<counter; i++) { // how can I point here to the counter in paire() ?
cout<<array1[i] << " ";
}
delete [] array1;
return 0;
}
But please note that as others have already pointed out this method is quite error prone in the sense that it leaves the responsibility to the client to delete the internal memory used by paire function.