Returning multiple values from a C function

Question

Important: Please see this very much related question: Return multiple values in C++.

I\'m after how to do the same thing in ANSI C? Would you use a

Answer 1

In either case, you're passing references, so performance should be similar. If there is a chance that the function never actually returns a value, you could avoid the cost of the malloc with the "return a struct" option since you'd simply return null.

My personal preference is to return a dynamically allocated (malloc'd) struct. I avoid using function arguments for output because I think it makes code more confusing and less maintainable in the long-term.