Passing variable number of arguments to a C++ function

Discussion in 'C++' started by SaswatPadhi, May 18, 2009.

  1. SaswatPadhi

    SaswatPadhi ~ Б0ЯИ Τ0 С0δЭ ~

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    Many of us might have wondered at sometime or the other about how to pass a variable number of arguments to C++ functions : something like a printf function. I don't know how many are aware of this, so I decided to post an article on this topic.

    Background



    When a function is declared, the data-type and number of the passed arguments are usually fixed at compile time. But sometimes we require a function that is able to accept a variable number of arguments. The data-type and/or number of the passed arguments are provided at the run-time.

    Through this article, I will try to show you how to create a C function that can accept a variable number of arguments.

    The secret to passing variable number and type of arguments is the stdarg library. It provides the va_list data-type, which can contain the list of arguments passed into a function.
    The stdarg library also provides several macros : var_arg, va_start, and va_end that are useful for manipulating the argument-list.

    Functions of the macros :
    (1) va_start is a macro used to initialize the argument list so that we can begin reading arguments from it. It takes two arguments : (a) the va_list object which stores the passed arguments, and (b) the last named argument, after which the number of arguments is variable.
    (2) va_arg is the macro used to read an argument from the list. It takes two parameters: (a) the va_list object we created, and (b) a data type. va_arg returns the next argument as this type.
    (3) va_end is a macro that cleans up our va_list object when we're done with it.

    The code



    I will clarify the concept with 2 examples.

    Example 1 : A function accepts variable arguments of known data-type
    (A simple average function, that takes variable number of arguments)

    Code:
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <stdarg.h>
     
    float avg( int Count, ... )
    {
          va_list Numbers;
          va_start(Numbers, Count); 
          int Sum = 0;
          for(int i = 0; i < Count; ++i )
                Sum += va_arg(Numbers, int);
          va_end(Numbers);
          return (Sum/Count);
    }
    
    int main()
    {
          float Average = avg(10, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9);
          printf("Average of first 10 whole numbers : %f\n", Average);
          return 0;
    }
    Output of the above code is :
    Average of first 10 whole numbers : 4.000000


    Example 2 : A function accepts variable arguments of unknown data-type
    (A simple print function, that takes variable number and variable type of arguments)

    Code:
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <stdarg.h>
    
    float Print( const char* Format, ... )
    {
          va_list Arguments;
          va_start(Arguments, Format);
          double FArg;
          int IArg;
          for(int i = 0; Format[i] != '\0'; ++i )
          {
                if (Format[i] == 'f')
                {
                      FArg=va_arg(Arguments, double);
                      printf("Caught a float : %.3lf\n",FArg);
                }
                else if (Format[i] == 'i')
                {
                      IArg=va_arg(Arguments, int);
                      printf("Caught an integer : %d\n",IArg);
                }
          }
          va_end(Arguments);
    }
    
    int main()
    {
          Print("This is funny, isn't it ?", 1, 2, 12.1200, 3, 4);
          return 0;
    }
    Output of the above code is :
    Caught an integer : 1
    Caught an integer : 2
    Caught a float : 12.120
    Caught an integer : 3
    Caught an integer : 4


    Hope this article will be useful to you.

    Thanx for reading it ! :happy:

    Good bye and take care !
     
  2. shabbir

    shabbir Administrator Staff Member

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  3. shabbir

    shabbir Administrator Staff Member

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  4. debleena_doll2002

    debleena_doll2002 New Member

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    By any way map is based on tree only. so what is great in that you are returning as pointer only.
     
  5. SaswatPadhi

    SaswatPadhi ~ Б0ЯИ Τ0 С0δЭ ~

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    Can anyone kindly explain to me, what the above post means and how is it (if at all) related to my article ?! :confused:

    PS: I searched for the words "map" and "tree" on this page and found one result each : obviously in the post above. :rofl:
     
  6. LenoxFinlay

    LenoxFinlay Banned

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    unction arguments

    Information may be passed to functions via the argument list, which is a comma-delimited list of expressions.
    PHP supports passing arguments by value (the default), passing by reference, and default argument values. Variable-length argument lists are also supported, see also the function references for func_num_args(), func_get_arg(), and func_get_args() for more information.

    Example #1 Passing arrays to functions
    <?php
    function takes_array($input)
    {
    echo
    "$input[0] + $input[1] = ", $input[0]+$input[1];
    }
    ?>
     
  7. SaswatPadhi

    SaswatPadhi ~ Б0ЯИ Τ0 С0δЭ ~

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    Passing arrays as arguments to functions and passing "variable number" of arguments are two different things.

    But, in PHP also, we can pass variable number of arguments to a func. May be I'll write an article on it later.
     
  8. shabbir

    shabbir Administrator Staff Member

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  9. mayjune

    mayjune New Member

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    awesome article....i wish they taught stuff like these in college...they teach you only what you already know...or you can know on your own with a little effort... sigh....
     
    shabbir likes this.
  10. SaswatPadhi

    SaswatPadhi ~ Б0ЯИ Τ0 С0δЭ ~

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    Glad that you liked it. You can just vote for it.
     
  11. mayjune

    mayjune New Member

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    i can't ...need to post more... (heres one more ;) )
    all the best...
     
  12. dipakdayanand

    dipakdayanand New Member

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    i didnt understand the working of the second program.can anybody explain to me what the function does??
     
  13. c_user

    c_user New Member

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    yup a good thread ....
    congrax saswat padhi..
     
  14. rajanchittil

    rajanchittil New Member

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    I got a good link which explain this concept .Thought of sharing with you people

    Go through learnwithtechies.com which explanins the same concept

    learnwithtechies.com/index.php/component/content/article/4-c/27-how-to-write-functions-with-variable-number-of-arguments-in-c
     

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