Help me understand this Strange C++ code - c++

This was a question in our old C++ exam. This code is driving me crazy, could anyone explain what it does and - especially - why?
int arr[3]={10,20,30};
int *arrp = new int;
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
(arrp=&arr[0])++;
std::cout<<*arrp;

This statement writes to the object *(arr+1) twice without an intervening sequence point so has undefined behavior.
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
This statement writes to the object arrp twice without an intervening sequence point so has undefined behavior.
(arrp=&arr[0])++;
The code could result in anything happening.
Reference: ISO/IEC 14882:2003 5 [expr]/4: "Between the previous and next sequence point a scalar object shall have its stored value modified at most once by the evaluation of an expression."

(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
arr + 1 - element with index 1
*(arr + 1) - value of this element
(arr + 1) += 3 - increase by 3
((arr+1)+=3)+=5 - increase by 5;
so arr[1] == 28
(arrp=&arr[0])++;
arr[0] - value of element 0
&arr[0] - address of element 0
arrp=&arr[0] - setting arrp to point to elem 0
(arrp=&arr[0])++ - set arr to point to elem 1
result: 28

This line:
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
produces the same result as this (see footnote):
arr[1] += 3;
arr[1] += 5;
This line:
(arrp=&arr[0])++;
produces the same result as this (see footnote):
int* arrp = arr+1;
So this line:
std::cout<<*arrp
prints out 28.
But this code leaks memory because int *arrp = new int; allocates a new int on the heap which will be lost on assignment by (arrp=&arr[0])++;
Footnote: Of course I'm assuming an absence of weirdness.
Edit: Apparently some of the lines in fact lead to undefined behavior, due to C++ Standard 5/4. So this really is a crappy exam question.

int arr[3]={10,20,30}; // obvious?
int *arrp = new int; // allocated memory for an int
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5; // (1)
(arrp=&arr[0])++; // (2)
std::cout<<*arrp; // (3)
(1)
*(arr+1) is the same as arr[1], which means that *(arr+1)+=3 will increase arr[1] by 3, so arr[1] == 23 now.
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5 means arr[1] is increased by another 5, so it will be 28 now.
(2)
arrp will pont to the address of the first element of arr (arr[0]). The pointer arrp will then be incremented, thus it will point to the second element after the entire statement is executed.
(3)
Prints what arrp points to: the second element of arr, meaning 28.

Well, remember that arrays can be interpreted as pointers
int arr[3]={10,20,30};
int *arrp = new int;
creates an array arr of three integers and an int pointer that gets assigned with a freshly allocated value.
Since assignment operators return a reference to the value that has been assigned in order to allow multi-assignment,
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
is equivalent to
*(arr+1)+=3;
*(arr+1)+=5;
*(arr + 1) refers to the first element of the array arr, therefore arr[1] is effectively increased by eight.
(arrp=&arr[0])++; assigns the address of the first array element to arrp and afterward increments this pointer which now points to the second element (arr[1] again).
By dereferencing it in std::cout<<*arrp, you output arr[1] which now holds the value 20 + 3 + 5 = 28.
So the code prints 28 (and furthermore creates a memory-leak since the new int initially assigned to arrp never gets deleted)

I'll try to answer you by rewriting the code in a simpler way.
int arr[3]={10,20,30};
int *arrp = new int;
(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
(arrp=&arr[0])++;
std::cout<<*arrp;
=== equals ===
int arr[3]={10,20,30};//create array of 3 elements and assign them
int *arrp = new int;//create an integer pointer and allocate an int to it(useless)
//(*(arr+1)+=3)+=5;
arr[1] = arr[1] + 3;//arr[1] == arr+1 because it is incrementing the arr[0] pointer
arr[1] = arr[1] + 5;
//(arrp=&arr[0])++;
arrp = &arr[0];//point the integer pointer to the first element in arr[]
arrp++;//increment the array pointer, so this really is now pointing to arr[1]
std::cout<<*arrp;//just print out the value, which is arr[1]
I am assuming you understand pointers and basic c.

Related

Arrays and pointers arithmetic confusion

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
int numbers[5];
int * p;
p = numbers; *p = 10;
p++; *p = 20;
p = &numbers[2]; *p = 30;
p = numbers + 3; *p = 40;
p = numbers; *(p+4) = 50;
for (int n=0; n<5; n++)
cout << numbers[n] << ", ";
return 0;
}
Fairly new coder here. This is an example taken from the pointers page on cplusplus.com. They talk about dereferencing, the address of operator, and then they talk about the relationship between arrays and pointers. I noticed if I simply printed out a declared array it spits out the address of the array. I'm really trying to understand exactly what some of these lines of code are doing and am having a hard time.
Everything makes sense up until *p=10. I read this as, "the value being pointed to by pointer p is equal to 10" but an array isn't just one value. In this case it's 5... So, whats the deal? Will the compiler just assume we are talking about the first element of the array?
Even more confusing for me is p++;. p right now is the address of the array. How do you do p=p+1 when p is an address?
I understand p= &numbers[2];. As well as the following *p = 30;.
p = numbers + 3; confuses me. Why are we able to take an address and just add 3 to it? And, what does that even mean?
Everything within the for loop makes sense. It's just printing out the array correct?
Thanks for your help in advance!
As Pointed out this due to pointer arithmetic.
So both array numbers and pointer p are int, so after assigning numbers's base address to pointer p and the *p=10 does numbers[0]=10
Now when you do p++ the address of p is incremented but not to the next numeric value as in normal arithmetic operation of ++ but to the address of the next index of numbers.
Let's assume a int is 4byte of memory and numbers's initial address is 1000.
So p++ makes address it to be incremented to 1004 which is numbers[1]
Basically it points to the next int variable position in memory.
So when *p = 20 is encountered the value 20 will be assigned to the next adjacent memory i.e. 1004 or numbers[1]=20.
After that the p directly assigned address of 3rd index numbers[2] i.e 1008 (next int var in memory). Now p is pointing to the 3rd index of numbers so *p=30 is again numbers[2]=30
p = numbers + 3; *p = 40; does similar thing that is assigns base address of numbers incremented by 3 indexes (1000 + 3*sizeof(int) =1012 ==> 1000 + 3*4 =1012) to p and assigns 40 to that. so it becomes equivalent to numbers[3]=40.
Then p = numbers; *(p+4) = 50; is assigning 1000 to p and the adding 4 to the address of p by using the () and assigns 50 to the value by using *() which is value of the address(1000+ 4*4 = 1016) inside the braces.
Using a pointer like this in C++: p = numbers makes p point to the first element of the array. So when you do p++ you are making p point to the second element.
Now, doing *p = 10 assigns 10 to whatever p is pointing to, as in your case p is pointing to the first element of the array, then *p = 10 is the same as numbers[0] = 10.
In case you see this later: *(p + i) = 20, this is pointer arithmetic and is the same as p[i] = 20. That's why p[0] = 10 is equivalent to *(p + 0) = 10 and equivalent to *p = 10.
And about your question: How do you do p=p+1 when p is an address?: as arrays in C++ are stored sequentially in memory, if the element p is pointing at memory address 6400010 then p++ points at 6400014 assuming each element pointed by p occupies 4 bytes. If you wonder why p++ is 6400014 instead of 6400011, the reason is a little magic C++ does: when increasing a pointer, it doesn't increase by 1 byte but by 1 element so if you are pointing to integers, each one occupying 4 bytes, then p will be increased by 4 instead of 1.
Let's break it down:
int numbers[5];
int * p;
Assigning the array variable to a pointer means that the pointer will be pointing to the first element:
p = numbers; // p points to the 1st element
*p = 10; // 1st element will be 10
p++; // go to next location i.e. 2nd element
*p = 20; // 2nd element will be 20
You can do pointer arithmetic and it works according to the type. Incrementing an int pointer on a 32-bit machine will do a jump of 4 bytes in memory. On a 64-bit machine, that will be 8 bytes. Keep in mind that you cannot do this with a void pointer.
p = &numbers[2]; // assign the address of 3rd element
*p = 30; // 3rd element will be 30
p = numbers + 3; // numbers + 3 means the address of 4th element
*p = 40; // 4th element will be 40
p = numbers; // p points to the 1st element
*(p + 4) = 50; // p + 4 means the address of 5th element
// dereference 5th location and assign 50
// 5th element will be 50
There are a lot of pages on the web on how pointers work. But there are a couple things to quickly point out.
int* p;
The above line mean p is a pointer to an int. Assigning something to it doesn't change what it is. It is a pointer to an int, not an array of int.
int number[5];
p = number;
This assignment takes the address where the array is stored, and assigns it to p. p now points to the beginning of that array.
p++;
p now points to the 2nd int in the array. Pointers are incremented by the size of the object they point to. So the actual address may increase by 4 or 8, but it goes to the next address of an int.
*p = 30;
This is an assignment, not a comparison. It doesn't say that what p points to is 30, it copies 30 into the address pointed to by p. Saying "equals" is generally confusing in programming terms, so use either "assign" or "compare" to be clear.
1> p=numbers;
pointer p now points to the start of the array, i.e first element.
2> *p=10;
first element now becomes 10, as p is pointing to the first element.
3> p++;
this moves the pointer to the next element of the array, i.e second element
So, again *p=20; will make second element=20
4> p = &numbers[2];
this statement means that p now points to 3rd element of the array.
So, *p = 30; will make 3rd element=30
5> p = numbers + 3;
Wen we do p=numbers+1; it points to second element, so p=numbers+3; will now point to 4th element of array. *p = 40; make the fourth element=40
6> p = numbers;
Again p points to first element of array
*(p+4) = 50; will now make 5th element=50

C++ Why make new int is error?

Why my code error ?
int *x ;
x = new int[5];
x[0] = 3;
x[1] = 4;
x[2] = 5;
x[3] = 1;
x[4] = 2;
x[5] = 11;
x[6] = 90;
int *y ;
y = new int[5];
cout << "if no error, then this command should be run" << endl;
but the output is :
Process exited after 0.07883 seconds with return value 3221226356
Press any key to continue . . .
Before writing code, think of the logic for a moment. If you could allocate space for 5 ints and then straightaway carry on storing 10 (or anything beyond 5 elements, for that matter), what's the point of allocating anything, in first place?
What you're seeing here is memory overrun, which invokes undefined behavior. Don't do that.
To elaborate, on 0-based indexing system, the valid index for the above case will be 0 to 4, anything beyond that is going to access out of bound memory, which invokes the UB.
You allocate 5 integers then try to store 7.
Why do you expect that to work?
You can't access the 5 and 6 position of an array of length 5.
You only can access x[0], x[1], x[2],x[3] and x[4] positions.
So if an array is of n positions you can access up to position n-1 because the first position is 0.
Why make new int is error
There is nothing wrong with make new int. The problem is with the size of your array at declaration.
Let's look at your code for a moment:
int *x ;
x = new int[5];
x[0] = 3;
x[1] = 4;
x[2] = 5;
x[3] = 1;
x[4] = 2;
x[5] = 11;
x[6] = 90;
You start by declaring a pointer int variable in the first line.
You then assign exactly 5 consecutive spaces in memory, with x pointing to the first one.
You then assign values to the 5 blocks of memory, starting at 0 and going up to 4, which is valid, as 0-4 is 5 blocks of memory is what the compiler has initialy allocated for you in memory.
Then, you try to store 11 in x[5] and 90 in x[6]. This is where undefined behaviour occurs.
When you try to move outside of the index specified in your array, your program is trying to access memory that it should not, because the compiler has only allotted a fixed number of spaces in memory initially. You do not know what the memory space that comes right after x[4] has stored in it, if anything at all, because the compiler has only allotted you memory for an array of index 0 to 4. x[5] may be empty, in which your program sill continue running, or it may be used in some other process of your machine, and trying to access that is disallowed, which leads to a segmentation fault in your case.
This is why it is called undefined behaviour; when an array index that is outside of the array size declared initially may point to a memory space that is or is not empty. If it is empty, then the program will continue running (this is wrong), but if it is not empty, then your program will terminate due to a runtime error: segmentation fault.
To fix this, change your array size to:
x = new int [7];
So that the compiler will find 7 consecutive spaces of memory instead of 5.

C++ references and pointers int∗ p = &a [ 2 ] ;

I am studying C++ and came across this Code
int a[] = {9,8,−5};
int∗ p = &a[2] ;
and was wondering what exactly that means? So a is an Array and p is a pointer. But what does the & before a[] mean?
and what does mean then?
std::cout << (p − a) << "\n";
edit:
so i have read some answeres but what i still dont understand is what the & is really for. Is there a difference between
int∗ p = &a[2] ;
and
int∗ p = a[2] ;
?
Thanks for your help.
This code
int∗ p = &a[2];
is equivalent to this:
int∗ p = a + 2;
so even mathematically you can see that p - a is equal to a + 2 - a so I think result should be obvious that it is equal to 2.
Note name of array can decay to a pointer to the first element but is not that pointer, as many may mistakenly say so. There is significant difference.
About your note, yes there is difference, first expression assigns address of third element to p, second is syntax error as you try to assign int to int * which are different types:
int a[] = { 1, 2, 3 };
int var = a[2]; // type of a[2] is int and value is 3
int *pointer = &a[2]; // type of &a[2] is int * and value is address of element that holds value 3
Subject of your question says that you think & means reference in this context. It only means reference when applied to types, when used in expression it means different things:
int i, j;
int &r = i; // refence when applied to types
&i; // address of in this context
i&j; // binary AND in this
In your case & is used to get the address to a value. So what will happen there is that p will contain the address of a[2], thus p will be a pointer to the third element of the array.
EDIT: Demo (with p-a included)

Multi-dimensional arrays and pointers in C++

Let's say I declare and initialize the following multi-dimensional array in C++:
unsigned a[3][4] = {
{12, 6, 3, 2},
{9, 13, 7, 0},
{7, 4, 8, 5}
};
After which I execute this code:
cout << a << endl; // output: 0x7fff5afc5bc0
cout << a + 1 << endl; // output: 0x7fff5f0afbd0
cout << *a << endl; // output: 0x7fff5afc5bc0
cout << *a + 1 << endl; // output: 0x7fff5f0afbc4
I just don't understand what is happening here.
a is the address of the first element, right? In single-dimensional arrays, *a should be the value of the first element, but instead it's the same as a?! What does *a even mean in this context?
Why is a + 1 different from *a + 1?
You should try and find some good documentation about pointers, arrays, and array-to-pointer decay. In your case, unsigned a[3][4] is a bi-dimensional array of type unsigned [3][4]. Whenever you refer to it as a, it decays to a pointer to unsigned[4], so the decayed type of a is unsigned (*)[4]. Therefore dereferencing it gives you an array, so *a is the array [12, 6, 3, 2] (technically it's the pointer to the first element into the array).
Now, a+1 means "increment the pointer to unsigned[4] by 1", in your case it "jumps" 4 unsigneds in the memory, so now a+1 points to the "row" indexed by 1 in your example. Dereferencing it *(a+1) yields the array itself ([9,13,7,0]) (i.e. the pointer to the first element of it), and dereferencing again gives you the first element, i.e. **(a+1) equals 9.
On the other hand, *a+1 first dereferences a, so you get the first row, i.e. [12,6,3,2] (again, technically the pointer to the first element of this row). You then increment it by one, so you end up pointing at the element 6. Dereferencing it again, *(*a+1), yields 6.
It may be helpful to define a equivalently as
typedef unsigned T[4]; // or (C++11) using T = unsigned[4];
T a[3]; // Now it's a bit more clear how dereferencing works
Two dimensional array is array of array.
You can visualize a as
a = { a[0], a[1], a[2]}
and a[0], a[1], a[2] as
a[0] = { a[0][0], a[0][1], a[0][2], a[0][3]};
a[1] = { a[1][0], a[1][1], a[1][2], a[1][3]};
a[1] = { a[2][0], a[2][1], a[2][2], a[2][3]};
Analysis of your first question
a is the address of the first element, right?
Yes a is the address of the first element, and first element of a is a[0] which is the address of the first element of a[0][0].
*a should be the value of the first element, but instead it's the same as a?
Yes *a should be the value of the first element that refer a[0]. And we see a[0] is the address of a[0][0] so as a . Thus *a have same value as a which is the address of a[0][0].
What does *a even mean in this context?
Previously answered, *a is the address of first arrays first element a[0][0], and *(a+1) is the address of second arrays first element a[1][0].
And analysis of your second question
Why is a + 1 different from *a + 1?
At this time perhaps you can answer your owns question.
a is the address of a[0] then
a+1 is the address of a[1] which hold address of a[1][0].
You can print the value by
cout<<**(a+1)<<endl; // 9
Other way *a is the value of a[0] which is the address of a[0][0].
So *a+1 is the address of a[0][1]. You can print the value as
cout<<*(*a+1)<<endl; // 6

Pointer arithmetic and dereferencing

In the following code, can anyone please explain to my what the line in bold is doing.
struct southParkRec {
int stan[4];
int *kyle[4];
int **kenny;
string cartman;
};
int main()
{
southParkRec cartoon;
cartoon.stan[1] = 4;
cartoon.kyle[0] = cartoon.stan + 1;
cartoon.kenny = &cartoon.kyle[2];
*(cartoon.kenny + 1) = cartoon.stan; //What does this line do?
return 0;
}
Think of it as
cartoon.kenny[1] = cartoon.stan;
They are basically the same thing
If we bring the whole thing to one common style of using the subscript operator [] (possibly with &) instead of a * and + combination, it will look as follows
cartoon.stan[1] = 4;
cartoon.kyle[0] = &cartoon.stan[1];
cartoon.kenny = &cartoon.kyle[2];
cartoon.kenny[1] = &cartoon.stan[0];
After the
cartoon.kenny = &cartoon.kyle[2];
you can think of kenny as an "array" of int * elements embedded into the kyle array with 2 element offset: kenny[0] is equivalent to kyle[2], kenny[1] is equivalent to kyle[3], kenny[2] is equivalent to kyle[4] and so on.
So, when we do
cartoon.kenny[1] = &cartoon.stan[0];
it is equivalent to doing
cartoon.kyle[3] = &cartoon.stan[0];
That's basically what that last line does.
In other words, if we eliminate kenny from the consideration ("kill Kenny"), assuming that the rest of the code (if any) doesn't depend on it, your entire code will be equivalent to
cartoon.stan[1] = 4;
cartoon.kyle[0] = &cartoon.stan[1];
cartoon.kyle[3] = &cartoon.stan[0];
As for what is the point of all this... I have no idea.
In cartoon you have:
- stan, an array of 4 ints.
- kyle, an array of 4 pointers to int.
- kenny, a pointer to a pointer to int, that is, let's say, a pointer to an "array of ints".
cartoon.stan[1] = 4; sets second element of stan array (an int) to 1.
cartoon.kyle[0] = cartoon.stan + 1; sets first element of kyle array (a pointer to int) to point to the second element of stan array (which we have just set to 4).
cartoon.kenny = &cartoon.kyle[2]; sets kenny pointer to point to the third element of kyle array.
*(cartoon.kenny + 1) = cartoon.stan; sets fourth element of kyle array (a pointer to int) to point to the first element of stan array (which hasn't been initialised yet). More in detail:
cartoon.kenny gets kenny pointer's address (third element of kyle array),
cartoon.kenny+1 gets the next int after that address (fourth element of kyle array, which happens to be a pointer to int),
*(cartoon.kenny + 1) dereferences that pointer, so we can set it, and
= cartoon.stan sets it to point to the first element of stan array.
It is incrementing the pointer at *cartoon.kenny. 'kenny' is a pointer to a pointer, so the first dereference returns a pointer, which is incremented, and a value assigned. So, *(kenny + 1) now points to the beginning of the array 'stan'.
It sets the last element of Kyle to point to the first element of Stan.