Array of Linked Lists in C: initializing and inserting?

Question

I need to create an array of linked lists (as pictured) and this is what I've made so far:

typedef struct Node {
    int data;
    struct Node *next;
} Node;

int main(void) {
    Node* link[5];
    for(int q = 0; q < 5; q++) {
        link[q] = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
        link[q] = NULL;
    }
}

It's been awhile since I've used linked lists in C, so I've forgotten a lot of the syntax and I'm having trouble visualizing what exactly happens when I code linked lists. If I'm not mistaken, when I call malloc in my code, I'm creating a Node with nothing in it yet?

I want to initialize it to point to NULL. And I did this with

link[q] = NULL;

Am I right in saying this is what it looks like in memory?

|1| -> NULL

|2| -> NULL

|3| -> NULL

---

My next problem would be inserting data into the linked list.

(Referring to the picture): If I want to insert another element into say the 3rd index of the array ([3]-> d -> NULL)

Would this be correct?

Node* newNode = link[3];
newNode->data = 1;
link[3] = newNode;

Thank you for the help!

Answer 1

This loop

Node* link[5];
for(int q = 0; q < 5; q++) {
    link[q] = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
    link[q] = NULL;
}

results in memory leaks because at first memory is allocated and then the pointers are overwritten with NULL. So the addresses of the allocated memory are lost.

You could just write

Node* link[5] = { 0 };

Here is a demonstrative program that shows how nodes can be added to elements of the array of lists. Insetad of the data member data of the type int I am using the data member data of the type char for visibility.

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

typedef struct Node 
{
    char data;
    struct Node *next;
} Node;


int push_front( Node **head, char data )
{
    Node *new_node = malloc( sizeof( Node ) );
    int success = new_node != NULL;

    if ( success )
    {
        new_node->data = data;
        new_node->next = *head;
        *head = new_node;
    }

    return success;
}

void output( Node **head )
{
    for( Node *current =*head; current != NULL; current = current->next )
    {
        printf( "%c ", current->data );
    }
    printf( "%s", "NULL" );
}

void display( Node **set, size_t n )
{
    for ( size_t i = 0; i < n; i++ )
    {
        output( set++ );
        putchar( '\n' );
    }
}

#define N   5

int main(void) 
{
    Node * link[N] = { 0 };

    push_front( &link[0], 'b' );
    push_front( &link[0], 'a' );
    push_front( &link[1], 'c' );
    push_front( &link[2], 'd' );

    display( link, sizeof( link ) / sizeof( *link ) );

    return 0;
}

The program output is

a b NULL
c NULL
d NULL
NULL
NULL