Question

I would like to know how to prototype a function that returns a array which also takes in an array. after prototyping the array how can i implement it

is this correct?

coffee* getData(*coffe);

int main() {
    coffee cf[256];
    coffee FinalCoffee[256];
    FinalCoffee=getData(cf);
}

coffee getData(coffee objcf[]) {
    for(int i=0;i<SIZE;i++) {
        objcf[i].brand="nescafe";
    }
    return coffee;
}

Plsease do advice me on this. i need to be able to get back array so that i can pass the updated array to another function to process it.

Answer 1

Your code doesn’t even have matching declaration and function definition. This doesn’t work.

But the following does:

std::vector<coffee> getData(std::vector<coffee> const& objs) {
    std::vector<coffee> result;
    // Do something to fill result
    return result;
}

But if, as in your example, you want to manipulate the original array, rather than returning a new one, then it makes more sense to not have a return value at all, and to pass the argument as a non-const reference:

void manipulateData(std::vector<coffee>& objs) {
    for (auto& obj : objs)
        obj.brand = "nescafe";
}

As a rule of thumb, try to avoid C arrays in favour of C++ standard library containers. This will make your life much, much easier.