I realized that I need my C function to return 2 values and not just one, so is it correct to return a hard-coded array in this way?

int * funct(){
    if(condition1){
       return{1,1}
    }else{
       return{1,-1}
    }
}    

I need this return array structure for implementing my minimax algorithm. Here's some code for context, but it's not necessary (the example above should be enough to deliver the idea).

//Requires: board, depth & true if we're playing max player/ false if min player 
//Effects: returns best score & col
int * minimax(int ** board, int depth, bool maxPlayer){
  int newscore;
  int * validLocations= getValidLocations(board);
  bool gameOver= gameOver(board);
  if (depth==0 || gameOver){
    if (gameOver){
      if(isWin(board, COMPUTER)){
      return {-1,  10000};
      }
    else if(isWin(board,PLAYER)){
      return {-1, -10000};
      }
    else{
      return {-1, 0};; //tie
      }
    }
    else{ //depth is 0
      return {-1, boardScore(AI)};
    }
  }
  if(maxPlayer){
    int val= INT_MIN;
    int bestCol= validLocations[0];
    int validLocationsIndex=0;
    int col= validLocations[0];
    while (col!=-1  && validLocationsIndex<7){
      int ** possibleBoard= copyBoard(board);
      insert(possibleBoard, col, COMPUTER);
      newscore= minimax(possibleBoard, depth-1, false)[1];
      freeBoard(possibleBoard);
      if (newscore>val){
        val= newscore;
        bestCol= col;
      }
      validLocationsIndex  ;
      col= validLocations[validLocationsIndex];
      return {bestCol, newscore};
      
    }
  }
  else{
    int val= INT_MAX;
    int validLocationsIndex=0;
    int col= validLocations[0];
    while (col!=-1  && validLocationsIndex<7){
      int ** possibleBoard= copyBoard(board);
      insert(possibleBoard, col, PLAYER);
      newscore= minimax(possibleBoard, depth-1, true)[1];
      freeBoard(possibleBoard);
      if (newscore<val){
        val= newscore;
        bestCol= col;
      }
      validLocationsIndex  ;
      col= validLocations[validLocationsIndex];
      return {bestCol, newscore};
    }
  }
}

CodePudding user response：

1. automatic storage duration arrays cannot be returned in C language.
2. return {-1, boardScore(AI)}; this syntax is wrong
3. You can use structs as structs are passed bt value
4. You can use compound literals

typedef struct
{
    int data[2];
}mystruct;

mystruct funct(int condition)
{
    if(condition)
    {
       return (mystruct){{1,-1}};
    }else
    {
       (mystruct){{1, -1}};
    }
}