I am having trouble understanding how to assign memory to a double pointer. I want to read an array of strings and store it.
char **ptr;
fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
ptr = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char*)*50);
for(int i=0; i<20; i++)
{
ptr[i] = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*50);
fgets(ptr[i],50,fp);
}
instead of this I just assign a large block of memory and store the string
char **ptr;
ptr = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char)*50*50);
would that be wrong? And if so why is it?
Dynamically allocating an array of M pointers Dynamically allocating an array of pointers follows the same rule as arrays of any type: type *p; p = malloc(m* sizeof *p); In this case type is float * so the code is: float **p; p = malloc(m * sizeof *p);
A double-pointer is a pointer to a pointer. For instance, a char pointer to pointer is declared as char** ptrptr .
Dynamically allocated memory must be referred to by pointers. the computer memory which can be accessed by the identifier (the name of the variable). integer, 8, stored. The other is the “value” or address of the memory location.
Your second example is wrong because each memory location conceptually would not hold a char*
but rather a char
. If you slightly change your thinking, it can help with this:
char *x; // Memory locations pointed to by x contain 'char'
char **y; // Memory locations pointed to by y contain 'char*'
x = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * 100); // 100 'char'
y = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char*) * 100); // 100 'char*'
// below is incorrect:
y = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char) * 50 * 50);
// 2500 'char' not 50 'char*' pointing to 50 'char'
Because of that, your first loop would be how you do in C an array of character arrays/pointers. Using a fixed block of memory for an array of character arrays is ok, but you would use a single char*
rather than a char**
, since you would not have any pointers in the memory, just char
s.
char *x = calloc(50 * 50, sizeof(char));
for (ii = 0; ii < 50; ++ii) {
// Note that each string is just an OFFSET into the memory block
// You must be sensitive to this when using these 'strings'
char *str = &x[ii * 50];
}
char **ptr;
fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
ptr = (char**)malloc(sizeof(char*)*50);
for(int i=0; i<50; i++)
{
ptr[i] = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*50);
fgets(ptr[i],50,fp);
}
fclose(fp);
may be your typo mistake but your loop should be of 50 instead of 20 if you are looking for 50 x 50 matrix. Also after allocation of memory mentioned above you can access the buffer as ptr[i][j] i.e in the 2D format.
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With