Question

Is it Possible to get the name of array the pointer pointing to?

example:

 char name[20];
 char *p = name
 int door_no;
 int *q = &door_no

In the above example we are giving the base address of the array with the array name and pointer q pointing to door_no but what if, I have to know the name of the variable the array is pointing to? What is the variable name pointer q is pointing to? Is it possible? I tried and came to the conclusion that it’s not possible but still I am trying to get the solution. What you think guys? Is there any way to make it possible?

Answer 1

No, you can’t do that. The names of variables do not even exist after your code is compiled and linked (unless you’re keeping debugging information around), so you can’t get at it at run time.

In C (in contrast to very dynamic languages such as JavaScript or classical Lisp), the only role of variable names is to tell the compiler/linker which declaration you’re pointing at when you mention a variable in the source code. Once these connections have been made and represented in the compiler’s internal data structures, there is no further use for the names (again, except for debugging and/or pretty-printing of error messages from the compiler).