Can I use
size_t m, n;
scanf ("%zu%zu", &m, &n);
int (*a)[n] = (int (*)[n])calloc (m * n, sizeof (int));
to create a dynamic 2D array in C, whose size of rows and columns can be modified by function realloc during runtime?
Also you can use pointer-to-pointer-to-int and alloc first array for "pointers to lines" and then init all items by allocating memory for "arrays of int".
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main() {
size_t m, n;
scanf("%zu%zu", &m, &n);
int **a = (int **)calloc(m, sizeof(int*));
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < m; i++) {
a[i] = (int *)calloc(n, sizeof(int));
}
/// Work with array
for (i = 0; i < m; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < n; j++) {
a[i][j] = i+j;
printf("%d ", a[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
return 0;
}
Such approach allows to make realloc later
This record
int (*a)[n] = (int (*)[n])calloc (m * n, sizeof (int));
is correct provided that the compiler supports variable length arrays.
It may be written also like
int (*a)[n] = calloc ( 1, sizeof ( int[m][n] ) );
On the other hand, there is a problem when you will use realloc and the number of columns must be changed. This can result in losing elements in the array in its last row because C memory management functions know nothing about types of objects for which the memory is allocated. They just allocate extents of memory of required sizes.
Otherwise if the compiler does not support variable length arrays you will need to allocate array of pointers and for each pointer an array of integers. This approach is more flexible in sense that you can reallocate separately columns and rows.
Can I create a dynamic 2D array in C like this?
int (*a)[n] = (int (*)[n])calloc (m * n, sizeof (int));
Yes.
Cleaner as int (*a)[n] = calloc(m, sizeof a[0]);
Can I use int (*a)[n] = .... to create a dynamic 2D array in C, whose size of rows and columns can be modified by function realloc during runtime?
No. Once an array size of a is defined, (n in this case), the size can not change.
Instead consider allocating an array of arrays
// Error checking omitted for brevity
int **a2 = malloc(sizeof a2 * rows);
for (r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
a2[r] = malloc(sizeof a2[0] * cols);
}
Related
I don't really understand why method 1 works but not method 2. I don't really see why it works for characters and not an int.
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
/// WORK (METHODE 1)
char **string_array = malloc(sizeof(char **) * 10);
string_array[0] = "Hi there";
printf("%s\n", string_array[0]); /// -> Hi there
/// DOES NOT WORK (METHODE 2)
int **int_matrix = malloc(sizeof(int **) * 10);
int_matrix[0][0] = 1; // -> Segmentation fault
/// WORK (METHODE 3)
int **int_matrix2 = malloc(sizeof(int *));
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
int_matrix2[i] = malloc(sizeof(int));
}
int_matrix2[0][0] = 42;
printf("%d\n", int_matrix2[0][0]); // -> 42
}
In terms of the types, you want to allocate memory for the type "one level up" from the pointer you're assigning it to. For example, an int pointer (an int*), points to one or more ints. That means, when you allocate space for it, you should allocate based on the int type:
#define NUM_INTS 10
...
int* intPtr = malloc(NUM_INTS * sizeof(int));
// ^^ // we want ints, so allocate for sizeof(int)
In one of your cases, you have a double int pointer (an int**). This must point to one or more int pointers (int*), so that's the type you need to allocate space for:
#define NUM_INT_PTRS 5
...
int** myDblIntPtr = malloc(NUM_INT_PTRS * sizeof(int*));
// ^^ "one level up" from int** is int*
However, there's an even better way to do this. You can specify the size of your object it points to rather than a type:
int* intPtr = malloc(NUM_INTS * sizeof(*intPtr));
Here, intPtr is an int* type, and the object it points to is an int, and that's exactly what *intPtr gives us. This has the added benefit of less maintenance. Pretend some time down the line, int* intPtr changes to int** intPtr. For the first way of doing things, you'd have to change code in two places:
int** intPtr = malloc(NUM_INTS * sizeof(int*));
// ^^ here ^^ and here
However, with the 2nd way, you only need to change the declaration:
int** intPtr = malloc(NUM_INTS * sizeof(*intPtr));
// ^^ still changed here ^^ nothing to change here
With the change of declaration from int* to int**, *intPtr also changed "automatically", from int to int*. This means that the paradigm:
T* myPtr = malloc(NUM_ITEMS * sizeof(*myPtr));
is preferred, since *myPtr will always refer to the correct object we need to size for the correct amount of memory, no matter what type T is.
Others have already answered most of the question, but I thought I would add some illustrations...
When you want an array-like object, i.e., a sequence of consecutive elements of a given type T, you use a pointer to T, T *, but you want to point to objects of type T, and that is what you must allocate memory for.
If you want to allocate 10 T objects, you should use malloc(10 * sizeof(T)). If you have a pointer to assign the array to, you can get the size from that
T * ptr = malloc(10 * sizeof *ptr);
Here *ptr has type T and so sizeof *ptr is the same as sizeof(T), but this syntax is safer for reasons explained in other answers.
When you use
T * ptr = malloc(10 * sizeof(T *));
you do not get memory for 10 T objects, but for 10 T * objects. If sizeof(T*) >= sizeof(T) you are fine, except that you are wasting some memory, but if sizeof(T*) < sizeof(T) you have less memory than you need.
Whether you run into this problem or not depends on your objects and the system you are on. On my system, all pointers have the same size, 8 bytes, so it doesn't really matter if I allocate
char **string_array = malloc(sizeof(char **) * 10);
or
char **string_array = malloc(sizeof(char *) * 10);
or if I allocate
int **int_matrix = malloc(sizeof(int **) * 10);
or
int **int_matrix = malloc(sizeof(int *) * 10);
but it could be on other architectures.
For your third solution, you have a different problem. When you allocate
int **int_matrix2 = malloc(sizeof(int *));
you allocate space for a single int pointer, but you immediately treat that memory as if you had 10
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
int_matrix2[i] = malloc(sizeof(int));
}
You can safely assign to the first element, int_matrix2[0] (but there is a problem with how you do it that I get to); the following 9 addresses you write to are not yours to modify.
The next issue is that once you have allocated the first dimension of your matrix, you have an array of pointers. Those pointers are not initialised, and presumably pointing at random places in memory.
That isn't a problem yet; it doesn't do any harm that these pointers are pointing into the void. You can just point them to somewhere else. This is what you do with your char ** array. You point the first pointer in the array to a string, and it is happy to point there instead.
Once you have pointed the arrays somewhere safe, you can access the memory there. But you cannot safely dereference the pointers when they are not initialised. That is what you try to do with your integer array. At int_matrix[0] you have an uninitialised pointer. The type-system doesn't warn you about that, it can't, so you can easily compile code that modifies int_matrix[0][0], but if int_matrix[0] is pointing into the void, int_matrix[0][0] is not an address you can safely read or write. What happens if you try is undefined, but undefined is generally was way of saying that something bad will happen.
You can get what you want in several ways. The closest to what it looks like you are trying is to implement matrices as arrays of pointers to arrays of values.
There, you just have to remember to allocate the arrays for each row in your matrix as well.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int **new_matrix(int n, int m)
{
int **matrix = malloc(n * sizeof *matrix);
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
matrix[i] = malloc(m * sizeof *matrix[i]);
}
return matrix;
}
void init_matrix(int n, int m, int **matrix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
matrix[i][j] = 10 * i + j + 1;
}
}
}
void print_matrix(int n, int m, int **matrix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
printf("%d ", matrix[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
int main(void)
{
int n = 3, m = 5;
int **matrix = new_matrix(n, m);
init_matrix(n, m, matrix);
print_matrix(n, m, matrix);
return 0;
}
Here, each row can lie somewhere random in memory, but you can also put the row in contiguous memory, so you allocate all the memory in a single malloc and compute indices to get at the two-dimensional matrix structure.
Row i will start at offset i*m into this flat array, and index matrix[i,j] is at index matrix[i * m + j].
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int *new_matrix(int n, int m)
{
int *matrix = malloc(n * m * sizeof *matrix);
return matrix;
}
void init_matrix(int n, int m, int *matrix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
matrix[m * i + j] = 10 * i + j + 1;
}
}
}
void print_matrix(int n, int m, int *matrix)
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
printf("%d ", matrix[m * i + j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
int main(void)
{
int n = 3, m = 5;
int *matrix = new_matrix(n, m);
init_matrix(n, m, matrix);
print_matrix(n, m, matrix);
return 0;
}
With the exact same memory layout, you can also use multidimensional arrays. If you declare a matrix as int matrix[n][m] you will get what amounts to an array of length n where the objects in the arrays are integer arrays of length m, exactly as on the figure above.
If you just write that expression, you are putting the matrix on the stack (it has auto scope), but you can allocate such matrices as well if you use a pointer to int [m] arrays.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void *new_matrix(int n, int m)
{
int(*matrix)[n][m] = malloc(sizeof *matrix);
return matrix;
}
void init_matrix(int n, int m, int matrix[static n][m])
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
matrix[i][j] = 10 * i + j + 1;
}
}
}
void print_matrix(int n, int m, int matrix[static n][m])
{
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
{
printf("%d ", matrix[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
int main(void)
{
int n = 3, m = 5;
int(*matrix)[m] = new_matrix(n, m);
init_matrix(n, m, matrix);
print_matrix(n, m, matrix);
int(*matrix2)[m] = new_matrix(2 * n, 3 * m);
init_matrix(2 * n, 3 * m, matrix2);
print_matrix(2 * n, 3 * m, matrix2);
return 0;
}
The new_matrix() function returns a void * because the return type cannot depend on the runtime arguments n and m, so I cannot return the right type.
Don't let the function types fool you, here. The functions that take a matrix[n][m] argument do not check if the matrix has the right dimensions. You can get a little type checking with pointers to arrays, but pointer decay will generally limit the checking. The last solution is really only different syntax for the previous one, and the arguments n and m determines how the (flat) memory that matrix points to is interpreted.
The method 1 works only becuse you assign the char * element of the array string_array with the reference of the string literal `"Hi there". String literal is simply a char array.
Try: string_array[0][0] = 'a'; and it will fail as well as you will dereference not initialized pointer.
Same happens in method 2.
Method 3. You allocate the memory for one int value and store the reference to it in the [0] element of the array. As the pointer references the valid object you can derefence it (int_matrix2[0][0] = 42;)
Basically i understand pointers. But when it comes to dynamic allocation for matrices which also involve pointers, i'm getting lost in the process. I wanna know how can i translate this segment of code in order to understand it.
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
The function for reading the matrix looks like this:
void reading(int *n, int *m, int ***a) {
int i, j;
printf("n=");
scanf("%d", &*n);
printf("m=");
scanf("%d", &*m);
(*a) = (int**)malloc((*n) * sizeof(int*));
for (i = 0; i < *n; i++)
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
for (i = 0; i < *n; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < *m; j++) {
printf("a[%d][%d]=", i, j);
scanf("%d", &(*a)[i][j]);
}
}
}
And also what is the meaning of ***a in the declaration. I was told at college that te first asterisk stands for dynamic allocation and the other two's from the fact that is a matrix involved. For vectors dynamic allocation is **v and so on... but i can't naturally explain it in my mind in order understand what is happening in it.
First let me answer your question about this specific line:
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
What this is doing is allocating an array of exactly *m integers and saving a pointer to it into the array *a of pointers to int, which was previously allocated as:
(*a) = (int**)malloc((*n) * sizeof(int*));
Now, if it still isn't clear what is going on, re-writing the code in a more meaningful way will help. To make things easier, you can use temporary variables to work, and assign the values to the pointers passed as arguments only at the end of the function. Using more meaningful names also helps a lot.
void read_matrix(int *rows, int *columns, int ***matrix) {
int i, j, r, c;
int **mat;
printf("n = ");
scanf("%d", &r);
printf("m = ");
scanf("%d", &c);
// Allocate space for a matrix (i.e. an array of r integer pointers).
mat = malloc(r * sizeof(int*));
// Allocate space for each row of the matrix (i.e. r arrays of c integers).
for (i = 0; i < r; i++)
mat[i] = malloc(c * sizeof(int));
for (i = 0; i < r; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < c; j++) {
printf("a[%d][%d] = ", i, j);
scanf("%d", &mat[i][j]);
}
}
*rows = r;
*columns = c;
*matrix = mat;
}
Since we now moved the assignment of the values to the arguments at the end of the function, we got rid of all the annoying pointer dereference operators (*), and the code looks way cleaner.
You can see that what previously was:
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
now became:
mat[i] = malloc(c * sizeof(int));
Which is much easier to understand. This is allocating space for an array (a row of the matrix) holding c integers.
What previously was:
(*a) = (int**)malloc((*n) * sizeof(int*));
now became:
mat = malloc(r * sizeof(int*));
This is allocating an array of r integer pointers (which means a matrix of r rows, if each pointer points to a row).
You don't show how this function is called, but presumably it looks something like this:
int n, m;
int **matrix;
reading(&n, &m, &matrix);
So in this context, matrix is defined as a pointer-to-pointer. It can hold the address of the first element of an array of int *, each of which can hold the address of the first element of an array of int.
When &matrix is then passed to this function, you have a pointer-to-pointer-to-pointer, which is what the argument a of reading is. In this context, a contains a pointer to a single int **, specifically matrix in the calling function. By dereferecing a in reading, you're actually accessing matrix in the calling function.
So now getting to this line:
(*a) = (int**)malloc((*n) * sizeof(int*));
This allocates space for an array of *n int * and assigns that to *a, (i.e. matrix in the calling funtion. So now you have an array of int *. Now for this:
for (i = 0; i < *n; i++)
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
This loops through the elements of the int * array and assigns to each one a pointer to a memory block big enough for *m int.
So you now effectively have a 2D array of int. Note however that this is not the same as an actual 2D array of int which would be declared as int arr[n][m].
First, you are doing too many different things in a single function, which is making it a bit messy. I suggest that you separate out the logic to get the matrix size from the logic to create the matrix:
void get_size(int *n, int *m) {
printf("n=");
scanf("%d", n);
printf("m=");
scanf("%d", m);
}
int **create_matrix(int n, int m) {
int **matrix = malloc(n * sizeof(int*));
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
matrix[i] = malloc(m * sizeof(int));
return matrix;
}
void fill_matrix(int **matrix, int n, int m) {
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < m; j++) {
printf("a[%d][%d]=", i, j);
scanf("%d", [i][j]);
}
}
}
From here it is a lot easier to see what is going on, with fewer *s and &s.
Your matrix is implemented as an array of arrays, so
int **matrix = malloc(n * sizeof(int*));
allocates memory for the outer array, while
matrix[i] = malloc(m * sizeof(int));
allocates memory for each of the inner arrays.
int ***a declares a to be a pointer to a pointer to pointer to an int. The caller is required to have their own int ** and to pass its address to this function. For example, the caller might define int **x; and pass &x to this function for the parameter a. I will use x to refer to the caller’s int **.
(*a) = (int**)malloc((*n) * sizeof(int*)); sets the caller‘s pointer (x) to point to space for *n pointers to int. This is preparation for fabricating a matrix of *n rows—memory will be allocated for each row, and we will have a pointer to that memory, so we need n pointers.
Then these lines:
for (i = 0; i < *n; i++)
(*a)[i] = (int*)malloc((*m) * sizeof(int));
allocate memory for *n rows. The second line allocates memory for an array of m int and sets x[i] to point to the first element of that memory. Note that since a is an int ***, *a is an int **, and (*a)[i] is an int *. Thus, *a points to an array of int * elements.
Finally, these lines:
for (i = 0; i < *n; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < *m; j++) {
printf("a[%d][%d]=", i, j);
scanf("%d", &(*a)[i][j]);
}
}
set each element of the *n by *m array: For each element x[i][j] (referred to as (*a)[i][j], it passes the address of the element (&(*a)[i][j]) to scanf to be set from the input stream.
I'm sort of confused between these 2 declarations
int *a;
int (*a)[3]
As I understand it, both of these give us a single pointer pointing to nothing in memory. The 2nd one is shown to be an example of a pointer pointing to an array of 3 ints in memory. But since this memory has not even been allocated, does it make any sense.
To make the pointer point to an array of 3 ints in memory, we need to do a a = (int*)malloc(sizeof(int) * 3). Doing this for the first one AND the second one will both give me a pointer pointing to a memory location where 12 consecutive bytes store my 3 numbers.
So why use int (*a)[3] at all if eventually I have to use malloc ?
So why use int (*a)[3] at all if eventually I have to use malloc ?
It is very useful for variable length arrays when you want to create a real 2d array using dynamic memory:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void *fn_alloc(int rows, int cols)
{
int (*arr)[cols];
int i, j;
arr = malloc(sizeof(int [rows][cols]));
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < cols; j++) {
arr[i][j] = (i * cols) + j;
}
}
return arr;
}
void fn_print(int rows, int cols, int (*arr)[cols])
{
int i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < cols; j++) {
printf("\t%d", arr[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
int main(void)
{
int rows, cols;
scanf("%d %d", &rows, &cols);
int (*arr)[cols] = fn_alloc(rows, cols);
fn_print(rows, cols, arr);
free(arr);
return 0;
}
In other words, when dynamic memory is involved, your first declaration is useful for pointing to an array of n dimensions while the second one is useful to point to an array of array of n dimensions.
So why use int (*a)[3] at all if eventually I have to use malloc ?
Because in most such cases (dynamically sized 2D matrixes), you should have some abstract data type using flexible array members. This answer is very relevant to your question (which is a near duplicate).
This question already has answers here:
Allocating 2-D array in C
(2 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I need to create a two dimensional array. Presently I created it as
int a[100][100]
but I need to allocate the memory dynamically using malloc in C language. I used the code
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
int n=6, m=5, i, j;
int **a = malloc(n * sizeof(int *));
for(i = 0; i < m; i++)
a[i] = malloc(m * sizeof(int));
for( i = 1; i <= n; i++ )
{
for( j = 1; j <= m; j++ )
{
scanf("%d %d",&a[i][j]);
}
}
return 0;
}
but now while inputting the elements into the array it shows SEGMENTATION ERROR.
You say in the comments that n is the number of rows. So you need to allocate n rows each of length m. Therefore, the second for loop condition should be i < n. Also, you should check the return value of malloc for NULL in case it fails to allocate memory. I suggest the following change -
long long **a = malloc(n * sizeof(*a));
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
a[i] = malloc(m * sizeof(*a[i]));
Please note that a multi-dimensional array is not a fundamentally new type. It's simply an array of elements where each element itself is an array (for a 2D array), an array of arrays (for a 3D) array and so on. If you are using C99, you can allocate your array cleanly and succinctly as
int nrow = 4; // number of rows
int ncol = 8; // number of columns
// define arr to be a pointer to an array of ncol ints, i.e.,
// arr is a pointer to an object of type (int[ncol])
int (*arr)[ncol] = malloc(sizeof(int[nrow][ncol]));
// check the result of malloc for NULL
if(arr == NULL) {
printf("malloc failed to allocate memory\n");
// handle it
}
// do stuff with arr
for(int i = 0; i < nrow; i++)
for(int j = 0; j < ncol; j++)
arr[i][j] = i + j;
// after you are done with arr
free(arr);
You should also go through this - How do I work with dynamic multi-dimensional arrays in C?
You have three errors: The first is that you allocate only 5 secondary arrays, but in the input you loop over 6 of them.
The second problem is that array indices are zero-based, i.e. the index start at zero and goes to the size minus one.
The third problem is that you scan for two numbers (why?), but you provide only one destination pointer to scanf.
you just need
long *a = malloc(100*100*sizeof(long));
if you want one single big block of memory.
if you want an array of long* pointers and then each array to be in a separate block of memory go like this:
long **a = malloc(100*sizeof(long*));
for (i=0; i<100; i++) {
a[i] = malloc(100*sizeof(long));
}
This creates 1 array of long* pointers, and then 1 array of 100 longs of each pointer, but I'm not sure now if you say a[10][15] for example if it would calculate position of the element as if its a continuous block. Check that out. :)
If you have C99 use Variable Length Array
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void) {
unsigned rows, cols;
printf("Enter rows and columns: ");
fflush(stdout);
scanf("%u%u", &rows, &cols);
int (*a)[cols]; // pointer to VLA
a = malloc(rows * cols * sizeof a[0][0]);
if (a) {
for (unsigned r = 0; r < rows; r++) {
for (unsigned c = 0; c < cols; c++) {
a[r][c] = r*c;
}
}
printf("the element at [4, 2] is %d\n", a[4][2]);
free(a);
}
return 0;
}
Otherwise, you need to calculate the indexing manually.
There are many problems in your code
First, you need long long a[100][100] but you only allocate enough space for ints
a[i] = malloc(m * sizeof(int));
You're also accessing arrays out-of-bound. Indexes start from 0 to array_length-1.
Another problem is that you scanf 2 int values but only provide the address for 1.
scanf("%d %d",&a[i][j]);
You can allocate a 100-element array of pointers, each points to an array of another 100-element array but that's not good because it takes time to do 100 mallocs, and the resulting memory most probably isn't contiguous, which makes it cache unfriendly. There are also a small memory overhead too because the memory allocator must round it up to the nearest block size and this is most probably powers of 2, which may be large as you allocate more and more elements in the first dimension.
You should declare a 1D array of size 100*100 instead. This will be much faster and improve cache coherency. To get the element at a[i][j] just do a[i*WIDTH + j]
long long* a = malloc(WIDTH*HEIGHT*sizeof(long long));
for (i = 0; i < WIDTH*HEIGHT; i++)
{
scanf("%lld ",&a[i]);
}
for (i = 0; i < HEIGHT; i++)
{
for (j = 0; j < WIDTH; j++)
{
printf("%lld ", a[i*WIDTH + j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
I am trying to dynamically allocate a 2D array, put some values, and print output. However it seems that I am making mistake in getting input to program in atoi() function.
Basically when we assign a static 2D array, we declare it as say int a [3][3]. So 3*3 units if int, that much memory gets allocated. Is same thing holds for allocating dynamic array as well?
Here is my code:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main(int arg,char* argv)
{
int rows = atoi(argv[1]);
int col = atoi(argv[2]);
int rows =3;
int col=3;
int i,j;
int (*arr)[col] = malloc(sizeof (*arr)*rows);
int *ptr = &(arr[0][0]);
int ct=1;
for (i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<col;j++)
{
arr[i][j]=ct;
ct++;
}
}
printf("printing array \n");
for (i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<col;j++)
{
printf("%d \t",arr[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
free(arr);
return (0);
}
Program crashes in runtime. Can someone comment?
Try to change the third line to:
int main(int arg,char **argv)
The common method to use dynamic matrices is to use a pointer to pointer to something, and then allocate both "dimensions" dynamically:
int **arr = malloc(sizeof(*arr) * rows);
for (int i = 0; i < rows; ++i)
arr[i] = malloc(sizeof(**arr) * col);
Remember that to free the matrix, you have to free all "rows" in a loop first.
int rows = atoi(argv[1]);
int col = atoi(argv[2]);
int rows =3;
int col=3;
int i,j;
You are defining rows and col twice.... that would never work!
With traditional C, you can only have the array[][] structure for multiple dimension arrays work with compile time constant values. Otherwise, the pointer arithmetic is not correct.
For dynamically sized multi dimensional arrays (those where rows and cols are determined at runtime), you need to do additional pointer arithmetic of this type:
int *a;
int rows=3;
int cols=4;
a = malloc(rows * cols * sizeof(int));
for (int i = 0; i < rows; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < cols; ++j)
a[i*rows + j] = 1;
free(a);
Alternatively, you can use double indirection and have an array of pointers each pointing to a one dimensional array.
If you are using GCC or any C99 compiler, dynamic calculation of multiple dimension arrays is simplified by using variable length arrays:
// This is your code -- simplified
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
int rows = atoi(argv[1]);
int col = atoi(argv[2]);
// you can have a rough test of sanity by comparing rows * col * sizeof(int) < SIZE_MAX
int arr[rows][col]; // note the dynamic sizing of arr here
int ct=1;
for (int i=0;i<rows;i++)
for(int j=0;j<col;j++)
arr[i][j]=ct++;
printf("printing array \n");
for (int i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
for(int j=0;j<col;j++)
{
printf("%d \t",arr[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
return 0;
} // arr automatically freed off the stack
With a variable length array ("VLA"), dynamic multiple dimension arrays in C become far easier.
Compare:
void f1(int m, int n)
{
// dynamically declare an array of floats n by m size and fill with 1.0
float *a;
a = malloc(m * n * sizeof(float));
for (int i = 0; i < m; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
a[i*n + j] = 1.0;
free(a);
}
With VLA you can write to do the same:
void f2(int m, int n)
{
// Use VLA to dynamically declare an array of floats n by m size and fill with 1.0
float a[m][n];
for (int i = 0; i < m; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
a[i][j] = 1.0;
}
Be aware that unlike malloc / free VLA's handling of requesting a size larger than what is available on the stack is not as easily detected as using malloc and testing for a NULL pointer. VLA's are essentially automatic variables and have similar ease and restrictions.
VLA's are better used for smaller data structures that would be on the stack anyway. Use the more robust malloc / free with appropriate detection of failure for larger data structures.
If you are not using a fairly recent vintage C compiler that supports C99 -- time to get one.