Question

Confused with the problem here. New to C, as made obvious by the below example:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

void pass_char_ref(unsigned char*);

int main()
{
  unsigned char bar[6];

  pass_char_ref(&bar);

  printf("str: %s", bar);

  return 0;
}

void pass_char_ref(unsigned char *foo)
{
  foo = "hello";
}

To my understanding, bar is an unsigned character array with an element size of 6 set away in static storage. I simply want to pass bar by reference to pass_char_ref() and set the character array in that function, then print it back in main().

Answer 1

You need to copy the string into the array:

void pass_char_ref(unsigned char *foo) 
{ 
  strcpy( foo, "hello" ); 
} 

Then when you call the function, simply use the array’s name:

pass_char_ref( bar );

Also, the array is not in “static storage”; it is an automatic object, created on the stack, with a lifetime of the containing function’s call.