return makes integer from pointer without a cast [-Wint-conversion] return candidate
<p>I'm learning C, but I find those vague compiler error messages increasingly frustrating. Here's my code:</p>

<pre><code>char getkey (int minimo, int maximo, int alphalen, int index, char alpha[])  
{  
    int cociente, residuo, cont;
    int i = 0;
    char cand[maximo+1];
    char candidate[maximo+1];

    while (index != 0)
    {
        cociente = index / alphalen;
        residuo = index%alphalen;
        cand[i] = residuo;
        index = cociente;
        i+=1;
    }

    for (cont=i-1; cont&gt;=0; cont--)  
    {   
        int pos = cand [cont];
        candidate[i] = alpha[pos];      
    }
    return candidate;
}
</code></pre>

<p>This generates one warning:</p>

<ul>
<li>return makes integer from pointer without a cast

<ul>
<li>return candidate;</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>Can someone explain these warning?</p>