arrayscpointers

extracting a string from a function in C

I having problems extracting chx then ch only returns the first charecter

char* chini(long int a){
    char* chx[12];
    itoa (a,chx,10);
    return *chx;    
    }

char ch[12];

*ch=chini(init);
    
    puts(ch);

I want to have all of chx in ch but it only returns chx[0]

Solution
    1. char* chx[12]; is an array of pointers not chars
    2. You return a reference to the local variable which stops to exist when function returns.

    Both are undefined behaviours (UBs)

    You have three ways of doing it:

    char *chini1(int a){
    char *chx = malloc(12);
    itoa(a ,chx, 10);
    return chx;    
}

    IMO the best::

    char *chini2(char *chx, int a){
    itoa(a,chx,10);
    return chx;    
}

    The worst:

    char *chini3(int a){
    static char chx[12];
    itoa(a,chx,10);
    return chx;    
}