Question

im quite new to C, and im trying to populate a file wide array variable with the results of a function, heres a simple code sample to show what i mean, can anyone point me in the direction of why this doesnt work?

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <dirent.h>
#include <regex.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pwd.h>

static gchar *external_names;

void directories(int arraylength, gchar internal_names[][100]){
    int n;
    for (n = 0; n < arraylength; n++)
    {
        strcpy(external_names[n], internal_names[n]);
    }
    for (n = 0; n < arraylength; n++)
    {
        printf("%s internal with %s external\n",internal_names[n], external_names[n]);
    }
}

void main()
{
    gchar anotherarray[10][100];
    directories(10, anotherarray);
}

[EDIT] latest code

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <dirent.h>
#include <regex.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pwd.h>

static gchar *external_names[100];

void directories(int arraylength, gchar internal_names[][100]){
    int n = 0;
    //gchar external_names[arraylength][100];
    for (n = 0; n < arraylength; n++)
    {
        printf("%s %i\n","before", n);
        strcpy(external_names[n], internal_names[n]);
        printf("%s %i\n","after", n);
    }
}

void main()
{
    int n;
    gchar anotherarray[10][100];
    for (n = 0; n < 10; n++)
    {
        strcpy(anotherarray[n],"test");
    }
    directories(10, anotherarray);
    for (n = 0; n < 10; n++)
    {
        printf("%s internal with %s external\n",anotherarray[n], external_names[n]);
    }
}

Answer 1

static gchar *external_names;  //one dimensional array.

external_names is a one dimensional array and you are trying to assign it from a two dimensional array internal_names.

strcpy(external_names[n], internal_names[n]);

This is what happens when you increment the index.

&internal_names[1] =  &internal_names[0] + size_t*100
&external_names[1] =  &external_names[0] + size_t*1

To solve this,

static gchar (*external_names)[100];

should work.