CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cpointerssegmentation-faultmalloc
Vivek Sethi
Vivek Sethi

Reputation: 984

dynamic allocation of array of pointers

The following code gives a segmentation fault. I am not able to figure out as to why. Please see..

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
    int **ptr;
    int *val;
    int x = 7;
    val = &x;
    *ptr = (int *)malloc(10 * sizeof (*val));
    *ptr[0] = *val;
    printf("%d\n", *ptr[0] );

    return 0;
}

on debugging with gdb, it says:

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.

0x0804843f in main () at temp.c:10

*ptr = (int *)malloc(10 * sizeof (*val));

Any help regarding the matter is appreciated.

Upvotes: 8

Views: 57190

Answers (5)

tanweer alam
tanweer alam

Reputation: 437

include

include 

int main()    
{    
    int **ptr;    
    int *val;    
    int x = 7;    
    val = &x;    
    ptr = (int**)malloc(sizeof(int**));    
    *ptr = (int *)malloc(10 * sizeof (*val));    
    *ptr[0] = *val;    
    printf("%d\n", *ptr[0] );    
    return 0;    
}

Above would work. You can find the difference and understand the reason as well.

Bottom line you were de-referencing **ptr without allocating memory to it.

Upvotes: 0

Karthik G
Karthik G

Reputation: 11

Conceptually if you are using **ptr, then you need to alloacte memory for ptr & *ptr to defrence **ptr.

But in you case you are alloacting memory only for *ptr,if your compiler is smart enough its alloacting memory for ptr(one pointer location) to link *ptr,hence it could able to link ptr->ptr->*ptr.Hence you are not getting Seg Fault.

Upvotes: 0

Whoami
Whoami

Reputation: 14428

See the below program, perhaps, it helps to understand better.

#include<stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(){

/* Single Dimention */

int *sdimen,i;
sdimen = malloc ( 10 * sizeof (int));
/* Access elements like single diminution. */
sdimen[0] = 10;
sdimen[1] = 20;

printf ("\n.. %d... %d ", sdimen[0], sdimen[1]);

/* Two dimention ie: **Array of pointers.**  */

int **twodimen;

twodimen = malloc ( sizeof ( int *) * 10);

for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
  twodimen[i] = malloc (sizeof(int) * 5);

}

/* Access array of pointers */

twodimen[0][0] = 10;
twodimen[0][3] = 30;
twodimen[2][3] = 50;

printf ("\n %d ... %d.... %d ", twodimen[0][0], twodimen[0][3], twodimen[2][3]);
return 0;
}

Hope this helps.. ;).

Upvotes: 3

Alok Save
Alok Save

Reputation: 206646

int **ptr; 
*ptr = (int *)malloc(10 * sizeof (*val));

First statement declares a double pointer.
Second dereferences the pointer. In order that you are able to dereference it the pointer should point to some valid memory. it does not hence the seg fault.

If you need to allocate enough memory for array of pointers you need: 

ptr = malloc(sizeof(int *) * 10);

Now ptr points to a memory big enough to hold 10 pointers to int.
Each of the array elements which itself is a pointer can now be accessed using ptr[i] where, 

i < 10

Upvotes: 15

Kludas
Kludas

Reputation: 571

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(void)
{
    int **ptr;
    int x;

    x = 5;

    ptr = malloc(sizeof(int *) * 10);
    ptr[0] = &x;
    /* etc */

    printf("%d\n", *ptr[0]);

    free(ptr);
    return 0;
}

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions