> OTOH, "int (* x)(char * )[]" is something you can call with a string and then index into to get an int. ...would be something you can call if it was a correc

> OTOH, "int (* x)(char * )[]" is something you can call with a string and then index into to get an int. ...would be something you can call if it was a correct declaration. I don't think it's valid, and certainly GCC in gnu99 mode rejects it (function returning an array). The rule I heard is that you start reading the declaration from the variable name and go right to boundary (parenthesis, comma, or semicolon), then bounce left and bounce right until all tokens were seen. Then this reads as: int (*x[])(char *) "x is an array <bounce-left> of pointers <bounce-right> to a function that expects (char pointer) <bounce-right> and returns int".