On Thursday, 4 June 2015 at 21:35:40 UTC, Kyoji Klyden wrote:
On Thursday, 4 June 2015 at 03:25:24 UTC, ketmar wrote:
On Wed, 03 Jun 2015 11:59:56 +0000, Kyoji Klyden wrote:
[...]
what
exactly is char**? Is it pointing to the first char of the
first string
in an array?
it's a pointer to array of pointers to first chars of strings.
;-)
Ohh okay. So this is how the function is able to take multiple
strings then..
How was I supposed to know it was an array though? Is it
because it was a string type pointer?
Generally, a `char**` is a pointer to a pointer to a char. There
may be more pointers to chars behind the pointed-to one. And
there may be more chars behind the pointed-to ones. You can't
know just from the type. You have to read the documentation of
the involved functions for the specifics.
Also does D primarily use explicit length field strings?
I'm not sure if I understand you right, but yes, D arrays carry
their length. And D `string`s are arrays. You should encounter
things like `char**` pretty much only when talking to C code.
By the way, there are subtly different meanings of "array" and
"string" which I hope you're aware of, but just to be sure:
"array" can refer to D array types, i.e. a pointer-length pair,
e.g. char[]. Or it can refer to the general concept of a
contiguous sequence of elements in memory.
And as a special case, "string" can refer to D's `string` type,
which is an alias for `immutable(char)[]`. Or it can refer to a
contiguous sequence of characters in memory.
And when ketmar writes: "it's a pointer to array of pointers to
first chars of strings", then "array" and "string" are meant in
the generic way, not in the D-specific way.
