Excess elements of scalar initializer for pointer to array of ints

Question

I’m working on an exercise in K&R (ex. 5–9) and I was trying to convert the original program’s 2D array of

static char daytab[2][13] = {
    {0, 31, 28,          


        

Answer 1

@Dmitri explained it well, but I wanted to add that

static char (*daytab)[13] = { ... };

is one pointer to an array of 13 char elements. The compiler gives you the warning because you've passed in two arrays. It's like trying to assign two addresses to one pointer char *p = {a, b}. There are more elements than necessary per your declaration. See Geekforgeek's explanation on what an array pointer really means.

As for answering the K&R exercise, consider

Option 1:

static char *daytab[2] = { 
    (char []) {0, 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31},
    (char []) {0, 31, 29, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31}
    };} 

or Option 2:

static char (*daytab)[13] = (char [][13]) { 
    {0, 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31},
    {0, 31, 29, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31}
    };} 

Option 1 is an array of two char pointers.

Option 2 is one array pointer. It points to an array of 13 char elements. Just as you could increment a char pointer to get the next letter in a string, you can increment this array pointer to grab the next array of 13 chars.