Everything is understandable but why did I use return (& result) instead of return result? Pls answer!!!

Question

#include <stdio.h>

void* square (const void* num);

int main() {
int x;
int * sq_int;
x = 6;
sq_int = (int *) square(&x);
printf("%d squared is %d\n", x, *sq_int);

return 0;
}

void* square (const void *num) {
static int result;
result = (*(int *)num) * (*(int *)num);
return &result;
}

Answer 1

Because the return value of the square function is a void pointer.
When the function is called it returns the address of static int result using the address operator "&" and assigns it to sq_int (which is a pointer to integer) casting it with (int*).

Answer 2

Thanks 😊 now it is cleared completely