How to pass a pointer to a dynamic array to a void function?

Updated question to reflect answers and my research

Thanks casablanca and wallyk for answering. Success!! I ended up having to edit my strcpy and strcat as well as changing my Displayname(char c_fullname) function and researching some more about the additional errors (both complier and runtime) I was getting, but now I have working code!! Thanks to everyone for your help and patience. My final problem was that I was supposed to write my function declaration and implementation (but not my function call) as "Displayname(char* c_fullname)" not "Displayname(char *c_fullname)". Simple mistake but definitely a costly one as my program was not passing the strings completely. Again thanks to everyne for their help. I know I would have gotten this far without it.

I am posting my completed working code below for anyone else who may have the same issue:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;

void DisplayName(char* c_fullname);

int main()
{
//Declaration of variables
const int n_SIZE = 25;          //Size declaration for first, middle, and last name arrays
char c_firstname[n_SIZE];       //Firstname array
char c_middlename[n_SIZE];      //middlename array
char c_lastname[n_SIZE];        //lastname array
int n_namesize = 0;             //size declaration for dynamic array
char *c_fullname;               //pointer for fullname. Later will be allocated an array size
bool b_test = tr开发者_JS百科ue;             //while loop test value
char c_exittest;                //test value for user prompt

//Explanation of program to user
cout <<"This program inputs a user's first, middle, and last name.\nNext, the names are dynamically allocated to a single array\nand printed to the screen" <<endl <<endl;

while (b_test == true)
{
    cout <<"Please enter a first name: ";   //User inputs firstname
        cin >>c_firstname;
    cout <<"Please enter a middle name: ";  //User inputs middlename
        cin >>c_middlename;
    cout <<"Please enter a last name: ";    //User inputs lastname
        cin >>c_lastname;
    cout <<endl;                            //endl for aesetics

    //Testing of stored variables
    /*
    cout <<c_firstname;
    cout <<c_middlename;
    cout <<c_lastname;
    cout <<endl <<endl;

    cout <<strlen( c_firstname ) <<endl; 
    cout <<strlen( c_middlename ) <<endl; 
    cout <<strlen( c_lastname ) <<endl;
    */


    //setting size of n_namesize for length of array name[]
    n_namesize = (strlen(c_firstname) + strlen(c_middlename ) + strlen( c_lastname ) + 3);   //strlen used to determine length of each element + 3 for spaces
    c_fullname = new char[n_namesize];          //allocates memory to dynamic array 

    //Testing of n_namesize
    //cout <<n_namesize <<endl <<endl;

    //Concatenating strings to array fullname[n_namesize]
    strcpy_s(c_fullname, n_namesize, c_firstname );     //copies firstname to fullname
    strcat_s(c_fullname, n_namesize, " ");              //concatenates space to fullname
    strcat_s(c_fullname, n_namesize, c_middlename);     //concatenates middlename to fullname
    strcat_s(c_fullname, n_namesize, " ");              //concatenates space to fullname
    strcat_s(c_fullname, n_namesize, c_lastname);       //concatenates lastname to fullname

    //Testing of fullname[]
    //cout <<"Name: "<<c_fullname <<endl <<endl;

    //Passing pointer of array to function
    DisplayName(c_fullname);

    //Prompt users to enter a new name
    cout <<"Do you wish to enter a different name?" <<endl;
    cout <<"Enter 'y' for yes, or 'n' for no" <<endl;
    cin >>c_exittest;

    //User wants to enter a new name
    if (c_exittest == 'y')
    {
        delete[] c_fullname;    //deallocates memory assigned to array
    }

    //User does not want to enter a new name
    if (c_exittest == 'n')
    {
        b_test = false; //exits while loop
    }
}
}
void DisplayName(char* c_fullname)
{
cout <<"The full name entered is: "<<c_fullname <<endl;
}

Hey everyone,

Thanks for your previous help. I have another assignment (past due) that is giving me problems. I think the assignment is to pass a pointer of a dynamic array to a function which then will display the strings. My instructions is to " pass the constructed array to a function called void DisplayName(char * Name)" However, I keep getting errors. My code is:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;

void DisplayName(char *c_fullname);

int main()
{
//Declaration of variables
const int n_SIZE = 25;      //Size declaration for first, middle, and last name arrays
char c_firstname[n_SIZE];       //Firstname array
char c_middlename[n_SIZE];      //middlename array
char c_lastname[n_SIZE];        //lastname array
int n_namesize = 0;          //size declaration for dynamic array
char c_fullname[100];           
     //fullname array. size initialy set to 100
char *c_pointer;                //pointer for dynamic array
bool b_test;                     //while loop test value
char c_exittest;                //test value for user prompt

//Explanation of program to user
cout <<"This program inputs a user's first, middle, and last name.\nNext, the names are dynamically allocated to a single array\nand printed to the screen" <<endl <<endl;

while (b_test = true)
{
    cout <<"Please enter a first name: ";   //User inputs firstname
        cin >>c_firstname;
    cout <<"Please enter a middle name: ";  //User inputs middlename
        cin >>c_middlename;
    cout <<"Please enter a last name: ";    //User inputs lastname
        cin >>c_lastname;
    cout <<endl;                            //endl for aesetics

    //Testing of stored variables
    /*
    cout <<c_firstname;
    cout <<c_middlename;
    cout <<c_lastname;
    cout <<endl <<endl;

    cout <<strlen( c_firstname ) <<endl; 
    cout <<strlen( c_middlename ) <<endl; 
    cout <<strlen( c_lastname ) <<endl;
    */

    //setting size of n_namesize for length of array name[]
    n_namesize = (strlen(c_firstname) + strlen(c_middlename ) + strlen( c_lastname ) + 3);   //strlen used to determine length of each element + 3 for spaces
    c_pointer = new char[n_namesize];                                                       //allocates memory to dynamic array
    c_pointer = c_fullname;                                                                 //sets pointer to dynamic array     

    //Testing of n_namesize
    //cout <<n_namesize <<endl;

    //Concatenating strings to array fullname[n_namesize]
    strcpy_s(c_fullname, c_firstname);      //copies firstname to fullname[]
    strcat_s(c_fullname, " ");              //concatenates space to fullname[]
    strcat_s(c_fullname, c_middlename);     //concatenates middlename to fullname[]
    strcat_s(c_fullname, " ");              //concatenates space to fullname[]
    strcat_s(c_fullname, c_lastname);       //concatenates lastname to fullname[]

    //Testing of fullname[]
    cout <<"Name: "<<c_fullname <<endl <<endl;

    //Passing pointer of array to function
    DisplayName(*c_fullname);

    //Prompt users to enter a new name
    cout <<"Do you wish to enter a different name?" <<endl;
    cout <<"Enter 'y' for yes, or 'n' for no" <<endl;
    cin >>c_exittest;

    //User wants to enter a new name
    if (c_exittest == 'y')
    {
        delete[] &c_fullname;   //deallocates memory assigned to array
    }

    //User does not want to enter a new name
    if (c_exittest == 'n')
    {
        b_test = false; //exits while loop
    }
}
}

void DisplayName(char *c_fullname)
{
cout <<"The full name entered is: "<<&c_fullname <<endl;
}

my error is: error C2664: 'DisplayName' : cannot convert parameter 1 from 'char' to 'char *'

I have tried to change several parts to make it work, all of which give me other errors. At this point I am really stuck, so looking for some advice. Thanks in advance for your help,

Kula Dhad

You've got the use of * and & mixed up. You don't need any operator to pass a pointer, you just pass it directly. This:

DisplayName(*c_fullname);

should be:

DisplayName(c_fullname);

Again, a char * is already a string, so you can print it directly. & takes the address, which is not what you want. This:

cout <<"The full name entered is: "<<&c_fullname <<endl;

should be:

cout <<"The full name entered is: "<<c_fullname <<endl;

Finally, you should NOT delete memory that wasn't allocated using new. In your case, c_fullname was allocated on the stack, so you should remove this line:

delete[] &c_fullname;

Update: Maybe I wasn't clear earlier. The function is still defined to take char *:

void DisplayName(char *c_fullname);

But you just call it as:

DisplayName(c_fullname);

pass dynamic array to DisplayName(char *) function for displaying and Deallocate dynamically-allocated array

To do this, you just get rid of your existing static array (char c_fullname[n_SIZE]) and use new to create the array. In that case, you will also need to use delete later:

char *c_fullname;
...
c_fullname = new char[n_SIZE];
...
DisplayName(c_fullname);
...
delete [] c_fullname;

To fix, replace

DisplayName(*c_fullname);

with

DisplayName(c_fullname);

c_fullname is already a pointer type. Putting * in front of it dereferences it providing the contents of the element, which is type char.

By the way, deleting &c_fullname—or anything else associated with c_fullname—will cause nasty runtime problems. There is no need to delete an automatic array.