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GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

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Practicing previous years’ GATE Questions is a highly effective strategy for preparing for the
GATE Exam
. By solving these questions, candidates can refine their understanding of concepts, improve their analytical
skills, and enhance their time management abilities. This article comprises a collection of GATE Questions
on C programming, compiled for your convenience. We strongly recommend candidates to practice these
C programming GATE previous year questions to achieve the best results. C programming is a crucial topic
in the GATE CSE question paper, and practicing these questions will allow the candidates to prepare more
proficiently for the GATE exams. Below, in this article, you can find the GATE Questions for C programming
for your practice. You can also refer to these
GATE previous year question papers
for your exam preparation.

GATE Questions on C Programming

Consider the following C declaration:

struct node {
int i;
float j;
};
struct node *s[10];

This C declaration in the GATE CSE 2000 exam defined:

An array, each element of which is pointer to a structure of type node
A structure of 2 fields, each field being a pointer to an array of 10 elements
A structure of 3 fields: an integer, a float, and an array of 10 elements
An array, each element of which is a structure of type node

Answer: (a) The number of tokens in the following printf statement from the GATE CSE 2000 exam:

printf(“i = %d, &i – %x”, i, &i);

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

3
Overview Test Series
10
25
22

Answer: (b) For the given C code from the GATE CSE 2000 exam, assuming that objects of the type short,
float, and long occupy 2 bytes, 4 bytes, and 8 bytes, respectively, the memory requirement for variable t,
ignoring alignment is:

struct {
short s [5];
union {
float y;
long z;
}u;
} t;

22 bytes
18 bytes
14 bytes
10 bytes

Answer: (b) Consider the following three C functions from the GATE CSE 2001 exam:

[P1] int * g (void) {

int x = 10;
return (&x);
}
[P2] int * g (void) {
int * px;
*px = 10;
return px;
}
[P3] int * g (void) {
int * px
px = (int *) malloc (sizeof(int));
*px = 10;
return px;
}

Which of the above three functions are likely to cause problems?

Only P1 and P2
Only P3
Only P1 and P3
P1, P2, and P3

Answer: (a) For the following C program from the GATE CSE 2011 exam, what does it print?

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

char c[] = “GATE2011”

Overview Test Series
char *p = c;
printf (“%s”, p + p[3] – p[1]);

GATE 2011
2011
E2011
011

Answer: (b) Continuing with more C programming questions, the output of the following C program from
the GATE CSE 2015 Set 1 exam is:

void f1(int a, int b) {

int c;
c=a; a=b; b=c;
}
void f2(int *a, int *b) {
int c;
c=*a; *a=*b; *b=c;
}
int main(){
int a=4, b=5, c=6;
f1(a,b);
f2(&b, &c);
printf(“%d”,c-a-b);
}

-5
6
-6
0

Answer: (a) The following program from the GATE CSE 2010 exam prints:

#include < stdio.h >

void f (int *p, int *q) {
p = q;
*p = 2;
}
int i = 0, j = 1;
int main ( ){
f(&i, &j);
printf (“%d %d \ n”, i, j);
return 0;
}

22
21

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

01
Overview Test Series
02

Answer: (d) The given C program from the GATE CSE 2016 Set 1 exam:

void f(int, short);

void main() {
int i = 100;
short s = 12;
short *p = &s;
__________ ; // call to f()
}

Which one of the following expressions, when placed in the blank above, will NOT result in a type checking
error?
f(s,*s)
i = f(i,s)
f(i,*s)
f(i,*p)

Answer: (d) The output of the following C program from the GATE CSE 2018 exam is:

#include< stdio.h >

struct Ournode{
char x,y,z;
};
int main(){
struct Ournode p = {‘1’, ‘0’, ‘a’+2};
struct Ournode *q = &p;
printf (“%c, %c”, *((char*)q+1), *((char*)q+2));
return 0;
}

0, c
0, a+2
‘0’, ‘a+2’
‘0’,’c’

Answer: (a) The output of the following C program is:

#include < stdio.h >

void mystery(int *ptra, int *ptrb) {
int *temp;
temp = ptrb;
ptrb = ptra;
ptra = temp;
}
int main() {
int a=2016, b=0, c=4, d=42;
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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

mystery(&a, &b);
Overview Test Series
if (a < c)
mystery(&c, &a);
mystery(&a, &d);
printf(“%d\n”, a);
}

2016
2018
016
16

Answer: (a) The output of the following C program is:

#include < stdio.h >

int main () {
int arr [] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,5}, *ip = arr+4;
printf (“%d\n”, ip[1]);
return 0;
}

6
5
66
0

Answer: (a) The most appropriate matching for the following pairs in the GATE CSE 2000 exam:

X: m=malloc(5); m= NULL;
Y: free(n); n->value = 5;
Z: char *p; *p=’a’;
1: using dangling
2: using uninitialized pointers
3. lost memory

X-1 Y-3 Z-2

X-2 Y-1 Z-3
X-3 Y-2 Z-1
X-3 Y-1 Z-2

Answer: (d) Consider the following C function from the GATE CSE 2004 exam:

void swap (int a, int b) {

int temp;
temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

In order to exchange the values of two variables x and y:

Overview Test Series
call swap (x,y)
call swap (&x, &y)
swap (x, y) cannot be used as it does return any value
swap (x,y) cannot be used as the parameters are passed by value

Answer: (d) Assume the following C variable declaration from the GATE CSE 2003 exam:

int * A[10], B[10][10];

Of the following expressions:

I. A[2]
II. A[2] [3]
III. B[1]
IV. B[2] [3]

Which will not give compile-time errors if used as left-hand sides of assignment statements in a C
program?
I, II and IV
II, III and IV
II and IV
IV only

Answer: (a) In the C language, according to the GATE CS 2002 exam:

a) At most one activation record exists between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main
b) The number of activation records between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main depends on the actual function calling sequence.
c) The visibility of global variables depends on the actual function calling sequence.
d) Recursion requires the activation record for the recursive function to be saved on a different stack
before the recursive function can be called.

There is no such restriction in C language

True
False. In C, variables are statically scoped, not dynamically
False. The activation records are stored on the same stack

Answer: (b) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int jumble(int x, int y){
x=2*x+y;
return x;
}
int main(){
int x=2, y=5;
y=jumble(y,x);
x=jumble(y,x);
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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

printf(“%d \n”, x);

Overview Test Series
return 0;
}

The value printed by the program is ____ (GATE 2019)

26
25
20
0

Answer: (a) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
int arr[]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,5}, *ip=arr+4;
printf(“%d\n”, ip[1]);
return 0;
}

The number that will be displayed on execution of the program is _______ (GATE 2019)
6
7
8
0

Answer: (a) Consider the following C function.

void convert(int n){

if(n<0)
printf(“%d”,n);
else {
convert(n/2);
printf(“%d”,n%2);
}
}

Which one of the following will happen when the function convert is called with any positive integer n as
an argument? (GATE 2019)
It will print the binary representation of n and terminate
It will print the binary representation of n in the reverse order and terminate
It will print the binary representation of n but will not terminate
It will not print anything and will not terminate

Answer: (d) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
void f (int *p, int *q) {
p = q;
*p = 2;

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

}
Overview Test Series
int i = 0, j = 1;
int main ( ){
f(&i, &j);
printf (“%d %d \ n”, i, j);
return 0;
}

Which one of the following values will be displayed on execution of the programs? (GATE 2019)
22
21
01
02

Answer: (d) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
void printlength (char *s, char *t) {
unsigned int c=0;
int len = ((strlen(s) – strlen(t)) > c) ? strlen(s): strlen(t);
printf(“%d\n”,len);
}
void main () {
char *x = “abc”,
char *y = “defgh”;
printlength (x,y);
}

Recall that strlen is defined in string. h as returning a value of type size_t, which is an unsigned int. The
output of the program is _____ (GATE 2019)
3
5
7
9

Answer: (a) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main () {
int arr [] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,5}, *ip = arr+4;
printf (“%d\n”, ip[1]);
return 0;
}

The output of the above C program is ______ (GATE 2019)

6
5
66

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

0
Overview Test Series

Answer: (a) The most appropriate matching for the following pairs:

X: m=malloc(5); m= NULL;
Y: free(n); n->value = 5;
Z: char *p; *p=’a’;
1: using dangling
2: using uninitialized pointers
3. lost memory

(GATE 2019)
X-1 Y-3 Z-2
X-2 Y-1 Z-3
X-3 Y-2 Z-1
X-3 Y-1 Z-2

Answer: (d) Consider the following C function:

void swap (int a, int b) {

int temp;
temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

In order to exchange the values of two variables x and y:

call swap (x,y)
call swap (&x, &y)
swap (x, y) cannot be used as it does return any value
swap (x,y) cannot be used as the parameters are passed by value

Answer: (d) Assume the following C variable declaration:

int * A[10], B[10][10];

Of the following expressions:

I. A[2]
II. A[2] [3]
III. B[1]
IV. B[2] [3]

Which will not give compile-time errors if used as left-hand sides of assignment statements in a C
program?
I, II and IV
II, III and IV
II and IV
IV only

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

Answer: (a) In the C language:

Overview Test Series
a) At most one activation record exists between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main
b) The number of activation records between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main depends on the actual function calling sequence.
c) The visibility of global variables depends on the actual function calling sequence.
d) Recursion requires the activation record for the recursive function to be saved on a different stack
before the recursive function can be called.

There is no such restriction in C language

True
False. In C, variables are statically scoped, not dynamically
False. The activation records are stored on the same stack

Answer: (b) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int jumble(int x, int y){
x=2*x+y;
return x;
}
int main(){
int x=2, y=5;
y=jumble(y,x);
x=jumble(y,x);
printf(“%d \n”, x);
return 0;
}

The value printed by the program is ____

26
25
20
0

Answer: (a) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
int arr[]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,5}, *ip=arr+4;
printf(“%d\n”, ip[1]);
return 0;
}

The number that will be displayed on execution of the program is _______

6
7
8

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

0
Overview Test Series

Answer: (a) Consider the following C function.

void convert(int n){

if(n<0)
printf(“%d”,n);
else {
convert(n/2);
printf(“%d”,n%2);
}
}

Which one of the following will happen when the function convert is called with any positive integer n as
an argument?
It will print the binary representation of n and terminate
It will print the binary representation of n in the reverse order and terminate
It will print the binary representation of n but will not terminate
It will not print anything and will not terminate

Answer: (d) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
void f (int *p, int *q) {
p = q;
*p = 2;
}
int i = 0, j = 1;
int main ( ){
f(&i, &j);
printf (“%d %d \ n”, i, j);
return 0;
}

Which one of the following values will be displayed on execution of the programs?
22
21
01
02

Answer: (d) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
void printlength (char *s, char *t) {
unsigned int c=0;
int len = ((strlen(s) – strlen(t)) > c) ? strlen(s): strlen(t);
printf(“%d\n”,len);
}
void main () {
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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

char *x = “abc”,
Overview Test Series
char *y = “defgh”;
printlength (x,y);
}

Recall that strlen is defined in string. h as returning a value of type size_t, which is an unsigned int. The
output of the program is _____
3
5
7
9

Answer: (a) Consider the following C program:

#include <stdio.h>
int main () {
int arr [] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,5}, *ip = arr+4;
printf (“%d\n”, ip[1]);
return 0;
}

The output of the above C program is ______

6
5
66
0

Answer: (a) The most appropriate matching for the following pairs:

X: m=malloc(5); m= NULL;
Y: free(n); n->value = 5;
Z: char *p; *p=’a’;
1: using dangling
2: using uninitialized pointers
3. lost memory

X-1 Y-3 Z-2

X-2 Y-1 Z-3
X-3 Y-2 Z-1
X-3 Y-1 Z-2

Answer: (d) Consider the following C function:

void swap (int a, int b) {

int temp;
temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

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17/11/2025, 11:41 GATE Questions on C Programming - Testbook.com

In order to Test
Overview exchange
Series the values of two variables x and y:
call swap (x,y)
call swap (&x, &y)
swap (x, y) cannot be used as it does return any value
swap (x,y) cannot be used as the parameters are passed by value

Answer: (d) Assume the following C variable declaration:

int * A[10], B[10][10];

Of the following expressions:

I. A[2]
II. A[2] [3]
III. B[1]
IV. B[2] [3]

Which will not give compile-time errors if used as left-hand sides of assignment statements in a C
program?
I, II and IV
II, III and IV
II and IV
IV only

Answer: (a) In the C language:

a) At most one activation record exists between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main
b) The number of activation records between the current activation record and the activation record
for the main depends on the actual function calling sequence.
c) The visibility of global variables depends on the actual function calling sequence.
d) Recursion requires the activation record for the recursive function to be saved on a different stack
before the recursive function can be called.

There is no such restriction in C language

True
False. In C, variables are statically scoped, not dynamically
False. The activation records are stored on the same stack

Answer: (b) Continue learning and stay tuned for the latest updates on the
GATE Syllabus for CSE (Computer Science Engineering)
,
Introduction to C Programming
,
GATE CSE Question Paper
, and more

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