Using Double Pointers after memory allocated within function
C is pass by value.
The value assigned to table
is lost on returning from InitStringTable()
.
Also when allocating pointers to char
ask for room for pointers to char
.
So this:
... = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char)*10);
shall at least be (assuming C):
... = malloc(sizeof(char*)*10);
A possible approach to this would be:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
int InitStringTable(char *** ppptable, const size_t n, const size_t l)
{
int result = 0;
if (NULL == ppptable)
{
result = -1;
errno = EINVAL;
}
else
{
(*ppptable) = malloc(n * sizeof(**ppptable));
if (NULL == (*ppptable))
{
result = -1;
}
else
{
size_t i = 0;
for(; i < n; ++i)
{
(*ppptable)[i] = calloc(l, sizeof(*(*ppptable)[i]));
if (NULL == (*ppptable)[i])
{
result = -1;
/* Failing in the middle requires clean-up. */
for (; i > 0; --i)
{
free((*ppptable)[i-1]);
}
free(*ppptable);
(*ppptable) = NULL;
break;
}
}
}
}
return result;
}
Call it like this:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int InitStringTable(char *** ppptable, const size_t n, const size_t l);
int main(void)
{
int result = EXIT_SUCCESS;
char ** strTable = NULL;
if ( -1 == InitStringTable(&strTable, 10, 42)) //* Allocate array with 10 "strings" à 42 chars. */
{
perror("InitStringTable() failed");
result = EXIT_FAILURE;
}
else
{
strcpy(strTable[0], "abcdef");
strcpy(strTable[1], "xy");
}
return result;
}
And no, I won't get into this ridiculous "You don't wanna be a 3-star-programmer!" discussion.