What does a typedef with parenthesis like "typedef int (f)(void)" mean? Is it a function prototype?
It's a typedef
to a function type. The intent is to use it for function pointers, but in this case the syntax to use it would be:
int bar(void);
fc_name* foo = bar; /* Note the * */
Update:
As mentioned in the comments to Jonathan Leffler's answer, the typedef
can be used to declare functions. One use could be for declaring a set of callback functions:
typedef int (callback)(int, void*);
callback onFoo;
callback onBar;
callback onBaz;
callback onQux;
The first parentheses are superfluous - it is equivalent to:
typedef int fc_name(void);
I don't think this does anything useful, though I can't get GCC to complain about it on its own.
This means that fc_name
is an alias for a function type that takes no arguments and returns an int
. It isn't directly all that useful, though you can declare, for example, the rand()
function using:
fc_name rand;
You cannot use the typedef
in a function definition.
A pointer to function typedef would read:
typedef int (*fc_name)(void);
This code shows that the typedefs without the asterisk are not function pointers (addressing a now-deleted alternative answer):
static int function(void)
{
return 0;
}
typedef int fc_name1 (void);
typedef int (fc_name2)(void);
typedef int (*fc_name3)(void);
fc_name1 x = function;
fc_name2 y = function;
fc_name3 z = function;
When compiled, 'gcc' says:
gcc -Wextra -Wall -pedantic -c -O x.c
x.c:10:1: error: function ‘x’ is initialized like a variable
x.c:11:1: error: function ‘y’ is initialized like a variable
And this code demonstrates that you can indeed use fc_name *var = funcname;
as suggested by jamesdlin:
static int function(void)
{
return 0;
}
typedef int fc_name1 (void);
typedef int (fc_name2)(void);
typedef int (*fc_name3)(void);
fc_name1 x_0 = function;
fc_name1 *x_1 = function;
fc_name2 y_0 = function; // Damn Bessel functions - and no <math.h>
fc_name2 *y_1 = function; // Damn Bessel functions - and no <math.h>
fc_name3 z = function;
Using y0, y1 generates GCC warnings:
x.c:12:11: warning: conflicting types for built-in function ‘y0’
x.c:13:11: warning: built-in function ‘y1’ declared as non-function
And, building on the comment from schot:
static int function(void)
{
return 0;
}
typedef int fc_name1 (void);
typedef int (fc_name2)(void);
typedef int (*fc_name3)(void);
fc_name1 x_0 = function; // Error
fc_name1 *x_1 = function; // x_1 is a pointer to function
fc_name1 x_2; // Declare int x_2(void);
fc_name1 *x_3 = x_2; // Declare x_3 initialized with x_2
fc_name2 y_0 = function; // Damn Bessel functions - and no <math.h>
fc_name2 *y_1 = function; // Damn Bessel functions - and no <math.h>
fc_name1 y_2; // Declare int y_2(void);
fc_name1 *y_3 = x_2; // Declare y_3 initialized with y_2
fc_name3 z = function;
Interesting - the dark corners of C are murky indeed.