arrayscgccmultidimensional-arrayincomplete-type

GCC: Array type has incomplete element type


I have declared a struct, and I try to pass an array of those structs (as well as a double array of doubles, and an integer) into a function. I get an "array type has incomplete element type" message from gcc when I compile it. What have I gotten wrong in how I pass the struct to the function?

typedef struct graph_node {
  int X;
  int Y;
  int active;
} g_node;

void print_graph(g_node graph_node[], double weight[][], int nodes);

I have also tried struct g_node graph_node[], but I get the same thing.


Solution

  • It's the array that's causing trouble in:

    void print_graph(g_node graph_node[], double weight[][], int nodes);
    

    The second and subsequent dimensions must be given:

    void print_graph(g_node graph_node[], double weight[][32], int nodes);
    

    Or you can just give a pointer to pointer:

    void print_graph(g_node graph_node[], double **weight, int nodes);
    

    However, although they look similar, those are very different internally.

    If you're using C99, you can use variably-qualified arrays. Quoting an example from the C99 standard (section §6.7.5.2 Array Declarators):

    void fvla(int m, int C[m][m]); // valid: VLA with prototype scope
    
    void fvla(int m, int C[m][m])  // valid: adjusted to auto pointer to VLA
    {
        typedef int VLA[m][m];     // valid: block scope typedef VLA
        struct tag {
            int (*y)[n];           // invalid: y not ordinary identifier
            int z[n];              // invalid: z not ordinary identifier
        };
        int D[m];                  // valid: auto VLA
        static int E[m];           // invalid: static block scope VLA
        extern int F[m];           // invalid: F has linkage and is VLA
        int (*s)[m];               // valid: auto pointer to VLA
        extern int (*r)[m];        // invalid: r has linkage and points to VLA
        static int (*q)[m] = &B;   // valid: q is a static block pointer to VLA
    }
    

    Question in comments

    [...] In my main(), the variable I am trying to pass into the function is a double array[][], so how would I pass that into the function? Passing array[0][0] into it gives me incompatible argument type, as does &array and &array[0][0].

    In your main(), the variable should be:

    double array[10][20];
    

    or something faintly similar; maybe

    double array[][20] = { { 1.0, 0.0, ... }, ... };
    

    You should be able to pass that with code like this:

    typedef struct graph_node
    {
        int X;
        int Y;
        int active;
    } g_node;
    
    void print_graph(g_node graph_node[], double weight[][20], int nodes);
    
    int main(void)
    {
        g_node g[10];
        double array[10][20];
        int n = 10;
    
        print_graph(g, array, n);
        return 0;
    }
    

    That compiles (to object code) cleanly with GCC 4.2 (i686-apple-darwin11-llvm-gcc-4.2 (GCC) 4.2.1 (Based on Apple Inc. build 5658) (LLVM build 2336.9.00)) and also with GCC 4.7.0 on Mac OS X 10.7.3 using the command line:

    /usr/bin/gcc -O3 -g -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -c zzz.c