Returning string from C function

Question

I haven't used C in over 3 years, I'm pretty rusty on a lot of things.

I know this may seem stupid but I cannot return a string from a function at the moment. Please assume that: I cannot use string.h for this.

Here is my code:

#include <ncurses.h>  char * getStr(int length) {        char word[length];      for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)     {         word[i] = getch();     }      word[i] = '\0';     return word; }  int main() {     char wordd[10];     initscr();     *wordd = getStr(10);     printw("The string is:\n");     printw("%s\n",*wordd);     getch();     endwin();     return 0; } 

I can capture the string (with my getStr function) but I cannot get it to display correctly (I get garbage).

Help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Either allocate the string on the stack on the caller side and pass it to your function:

void getStr(char *wordd, int length) {     ... }  int main(void) {     char wordd[10 + 1];     getStr(wordd, sizeof(wordd) - 1);     ... } 

Or make the string static in getStr:

char *getStr(void) {     static char wordd[10 + 1];     ...     return wordd; } 

Or allocate the string on the heap:

char *getStr(int length) {     char *wordd = malloc(length + 1);     ...     return wordd; }