carrays and warning on char / char*

[jleni]

Swig documentation says that array_class() should not be used with char or char *.

http://www.swig.org/Doc3.0/Library.html#Library_carrays

Note: %array_functions() and %array_class() should not be used with types of char or char *.
The reason is not explicit in the documentation. Could someone explain the reason? Should the documentation be updated?

Is this to avoid collisions with strings? Is it ok to use array_class with unsigned char * ?

[wsfulton]

On 23 October 2017 at 10:09, jleni ***@***.***> wrote: Swig documentation says that array_class() should not be used with char or char *. http://www.swig.org/Doc3.0/Library.html#Library_carrays Note: %array_functions() and %array_class() should not be used with types of char or char *. The reason is not explicit in the documentation. Could someone explain the reason? Should the documentation be updated? Is this to avoid collisions with strings?

Yes, the default handling for char and char * is for character strings and the macros do not do enough to change this. Try the following to modify the default handling to treat char as a number and char pointers/arrays as a regular pointer. The two macros should then work for char and char *, but you'll break normal usage for char * as strings. %apply signed char {char} %apply SWIGTYPE* {char *, char[ANY], char []}

Is it ok to use array_class with unsigned char * ?

It should be. William

[ojwb]

@wsfulton Is there something you think should be addressed in SWIG here, or can this be closed?

[wsfulton]

8e733c0 enhanced the docs. Closing.