What is Recursion in C Language with Example

Recursion in C

When function calling itself is called recursion in c programming language. In other words, When function is call in the same function is known as recursion in c language.

The function which calls the same function is called recursive function in C.

Recursive functions is quite useful in any mathematical calculation for solving a problem e.g useful in calculate factorial of any number, perform fibonacci series, etc.

After explaining recursion in c, Let's see the syntax of recursion in c.

Syntax:

function()
{
function();//calling itself, known as recursion or recursive function
}

Let's talk about some advantages and disadvantages of recursion in c language.

Advantages of Recursion in C

There are some advantages of using recursion in c language.

• Recursion will be useful when same kind of work has to be continued for a finite no input or time.

• We can reduce the length of the code by using recursion in c.

• Recursion is very useful for solving data structure problems.

Disadvantages of Recursion in C

There are some disadvantages of recursion in c language.

• It requires more memory because recursive calls along with automatic variables are stored on the stack.

• Recursive solution is always logical and it is very difficult to trace i.e debug and analyse.

Now let's explain recursion in c with examples.

Factorial using recursion in c

This is the simple factorial program with recursion in c language.

#include<stdio.h>

#include<conio.h>

int fact(int);

void main()

{

int number, a;

clrscr();

printf("Enter number");

scanf("%d", &number);

a = fact(number);

printf("Factorial is %d\n", a);

getch();

}

int fact(int x)

{

int f;

if(x ==1)

return 1;

else

f = x*fact(x - 1);//recursion performed

return f;

}

}

Output: Enter number 5
             Factorial is 120

Fibonacci Series Program in C with Recursion

This is simple fibonacci series program in c by using recursion function.

#include<stdio.h>

int fibonacci(int);

main()

{

int n, c, i = 0;

scanf("%d", &n);

printf("febonacci series \n");

for(c = 1; c <= n; c++)

{

printf("%d\n", febonacci(i));

i++;

}

return 0;

}

int febonacci(int n)

{

if(n == 0)

return 0;

else if(n == 1)

return 1;

else 

return (febonacci(n-1) + febonacci(n-2));

}

Here we discussed what is recursion in c language with examples and their advantages and disadvantages.

Check other C tutorial articles e.g data types in c language and printf() and scanf() function in c.