Having a function change the value a pointer represents in C

Question

I have a main function that has a char, I am attempting to pass a pointer to that char into a function and have it change it from A to B but it just doesn't seem to change it. The example shown here is just the current state of the code I have tried many different variations on it thus there may be other mistakes in there from simply clutching at straws.

int main() {     char result = 'A';     setChar(&result);     printf("%C", result); }  void setChar(char* charToChange) {     charToChange = "B"; } 

Answer 1

What you want is *charToChange = 'b';. The pointer charToChange is a local variable (parameter) in setChar, but you can change what it points to using the prefix * operator and an assignment. Note that *charToChange is a character, too, not a string.

Answer 2

You have to dereference the pointer passed to setChar() in order to modify the value it points to, not the pointer argument itself.

You also have to use the character literal 'B' instead of the string literal "B" (which is a pointer to char, not a char).

void setChar(char* charToChange) {     *charToChange = 'B'; }