Dynamic reallocation - 2D array - c

void matrixSetSize(double ***pMatrix, int size) {
if (*pMatrix == NULL) { // void matrix
*pMatrix = (double**)malloc(size * sizeof(double*));
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
*(*pMatrix + i) = (double*)malloc(size * sizeof(double));
}
else { // resize existing matrix
double **pointer = (double**)realloc(*pMatrix, 2 * size * sizeof(double*));
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
pointer[i] = (double*)realloc(*(pMatrix+i), 2 * size * sizeof(double));
for (int i = size; i < 2 * size; i++)
pointer[i] = (double*)malloc(size * sizeof(double));
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
free(*(*pMatrix + i));
free(*pMatrix);
*pMatrix = pointer;
}
}
Problem: When I try to realocate the size of the matrix, the code won't work and I don't know why. Can someone explain to me why isn't working?

That does not answer your posted code's problem, but could perhaps help you for your bigger picture:
double (*matrix)[size] = malloc(initial_size * initial_size * sizeof(double));
matrix[0][0] = 42;
matrix[size-1][size-1] = 24;
/* resizing */
double (*new_mat)[new_size] = realloc(matrix, new_size*new_size*sizeof(double));
matrix[0][0] = 42;
matrix[new_size-1][new_size-1] = 24;
/* freeing */
free(new_mat);
Isn't it much simpler?
And it's much, much faster to allocate/free, since it's only one allocation.
And it's much, much faster to use, since:
it's one contiguous memory block, so it's cache-friendly
you directly access the cell, you don't have a data dependency on an intermediate pointer.
Please, when you want a 2D-array, make a 2D-array, not a 1D-array-to-pointers-of-N-1D-arrays.
two caveats: 1) if you want to preserve old data on resizing you need to move it manually and 2) your compiler must support C99.

Two problems:
Consider these lines from the reallocation code:
pointer[i] = (double*)realloc(*(pMatrix+i), 2 * size * sizeof(double));
pointer[i] = (double*)malloc(size * sizeof(double));
In the second you don't allocate as much memory as the reallocation.
After you have reallocated, you free the old data, but it has already been done by the realloc calls.
On an unrelated note, in C you should not cast the result of malloc (or it siblings).

Related

C - Segmentation fault(core dumped)

I am making a Rubik's Cube that can rotate it's rows and columns. My struct is this:
typedef struct
{
int **cell;
}face;
In this part I am allocating memory for cells. (X is user input)
face faceOne; //There are six of this faces
faceOne.cell = (int **)malloc(x * sizeof(int));
for(int i = 0; i < x; i++)
faceOne.cell[i] = (int *)malloc(x * sizeof(int));
Then I am filling these cells:
for (int i = 0; i < x; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < x; j++)
{
faceOne.cell[i][j] = 0;
printf("%d\n", i);
}
If x is bigger than 3, program crashes with Segmentation fault. How can i solve this?
faceOne.cell = (int **)malloc(x * sizeof(int));
would be
faceOne.cell = malloc(x * sizeof(int*));
Otherwise you are allocating memory for x int variables and then storing int* variable on it. In case sizeof(int) = sizeof(int*) then it wont be any problem but on the system where this is not the case you have earned yoruself a undefined behavior.
To get rid of all this ** while using malloc the best would be to do this
faceOne.cell = malloc(x * sizeof *faceOne.cell);
Similarly,
faceOne.cell[i] = malloc(x * sizeof *faceOne.cell[i] );
And also don't cast the return value of malloc. This suppresses many warning generated by compiler and is unnecessary.
Apart from all this, have you ever wondered what would happen if malloc did fail and returned NULL? Then you are working on a NULL and dereferencing it(Undefined behavior). Check the return value of malloc, in case it returns NULL handle the error and move on.
You want here
faceOne.cell = (int **)malloc(x * sizeof(int));
to allocate x pointers to int, so this should be
faceOne.cell = malloc(x * sizeof(int *));
It seems on your system the size of a pointer (to int) is bigger than the size of an int ...
Also in C don't cast malloc() (see this)

Dynamic array cleanup when malloc returns null

I am wondering what is the best way to clean up memory which was already allocated during the failed creation of 2D array.
int** a = (int**)malloc(rows * sizeof(int*));
for (int i = 0; i != rows; ++i)
a[i] = (int*)malloc(columns * sizeof(int));
for (int i = 0; i != rows; ++i)
free(a[i]);
free(a);
The sample code above should work like a charm. However malloc can return null and when it will the code above will not handle the problem. How can we protect such case?
Let's say (int*)malloc(columns * sizeof(int)) returned null for i = 3. We already have allocated space for int** a and a[0], a[1] and a[2].
Here is my current approach. Ugly and not sure if correct. This is why I am asking you for help.
int rows;
int columns;
scanf("%d", &rows);
scanf("%d", &columns);
int** a = (int**)malloc(rows * sizeof(int*));
if (!a)
{
printf("Cannot allocate enough space."); // nothing to clean up here
return 1; // to make example easier
}
int i;
bool arrayCreated = true;
for (i = 0; i != rows; ++i)
{
int* tmp = (int*)malloc(columns * sizeof(int));
if (!tmp) // malloc returned null
{
arrayCreated = false; // let's mark that we need to do some cleanup
break;
}
a[i] = tmp;
}
if (!arrayCreated) // creation failed, clean up is needed
{
for (int j = 0; j <= i; ++j)
free(a[j]);
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i != rows; ++i)
free(a[i]);
}
free(a);
In short:
As you have different functions used to allocate memory, you'll need to call their counterpart deallocation functions accordingly:
malloc(), calloc() and realloc() need to be deallocated with a call to free()
X* x = new X(); needs to be deallocated with delete x;
X** x = new X[10]; needs to be deallocated with delete[] x;
The idiomatic way in c++ is to use either a container
std::vector<X> x;
or a smart pointer like
std::unique_ptr<X> x = std::make_unique<X>();
to redeem you from caring about the necessary bookkeeping to balance allocation/deallocation operations correctly.
Please notice that this is a theoretical question about error handling in such, specific cases. I want to highlight that first two cases are for C, not C++.
There's no standard error handling defined if you're using the wrong pairs of dynamic memory de-/allocation functions.
As mentioned above they need to pair like described. Anything else calls undefined behavior.
int** b = (int**)calloc(sizeof(int*) * rows, sizeof(int*));
This is not correct, the first parameter of calloc is "number of elements to allocate".
should be
int** b = (int**)calloc(rows, sizeof(int*)); /* No need to cast in C */
What is the safe way for creating multidimensional arrays in C and C++
for such scenarios?
In C (in order to avoid segmentation) a real 2D dynamic array should be declared as
int (*arr)[columns]; /* A pointer to an array of n ints */
and (m)allocated using
arr = malloc(sizeof(int [rows][columns]));
or
arr = calloc(rows, sizeof(int[columns]));
In this way a single call to free(arr); is enough.
I'm not sure about C, but C++; delete[] should suffice.

C Pointer to Pointer Problems in Matrix Function

I know there are very similar questions, but I've read them and I don't understand what is going wrong or what exactly I haven't understood about pointers to pointers.
My teacher is using a "learning by doing" approach to pointers and it has left me with approximately 100 questions. Sometimes I just change things around until it compiles, but it really isn't becoming any more clear to me, so if someone could help clarify a few things, I'd really appreciate it.
struct Matrix {
int rows; // number of rows
int cols; // number of columns
double **data;
};
typedef struct Matrix Matrix;
The pointer to a pointer, is something like this, right?
double *row1 = (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double));
double *row2 = (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double));
double *row3 = (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double));
double *data[] = { row1, row2, row3};
Data is pointing to the row number which is pointing to the doubles in the rows.
Now I am supposed to make a constructor function that makes a Matrix with a 0 in every position returns a pointer to a Matrix.
Matrix *make_matrix(int n_rows, int n_cols) {
Matrix *m = xmalloc(sizeof(Matrix));
m->rows = n_rows;
m->cols = n_cols;
double **rows_and_columns = xmalloc(n_rows * n_cols * sizeof(double));
memset(rows_and_columns, 0, m->rows * m->cols * sizeof(double));
m->data = *rows_and_columns;
return m;
}
So I made a pointer for the matrix, then I assigned the values for the rows and columns. Then I got confused (although I am not sure how confused, because this part compiles). I made a pointer to pointer for the last element of the struct Matrix (**data). Since **rows_and_columns has to hold the rows and columns, I allocated xmalloc(n_rows * n_cols * sizeof(double)) memory to it. I then set the whole thing to 0 and assign it to data. I think this m->data = rows_and_columns; says that m points to data and since data is a pointer and rows_and_columns is a pointer, we'll align their addresses, so m->data will also point to a bunch of 0s? Or is this wrong? And I am returning m, because the output is Matrix * and the m will get the * upon output, correct?
The next step is to copy a matrix, at which point I got even more lost.
Matrix *copy_matrix(double *data, int n_rows, int n_cols) {
Matrix *m = make_matrix(n_rows, n_cols);
double *row = (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double));
int i = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < n_rows; j++) {
for (; i < n_cols; i++) {
row = (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double));
row [i] = data[i + j*n_cols];
}
m->data [j] = *row [i];
}
free(row);
return m;
}
So we are returning a pointer to a Matrix again. The input is now a pointer to double values, which I am assuming are the rows. First, I made a matrix. Then I made a pointer for a row with a n columns worth of memory (double *) malloc (n_cols*sizeof(double)).
This is where I got super confused. I was imagining **data the whole time as something like above (double *data[] = { row1, row2, row3};). So, I wanted to copy each row of *data into *row, then save that as an entry in **data, like data[0] = row0, but something isn't clicking with the pointers, because I am not allowed to assign m->data [j] = row [i];, because I'm assigning incompatible types by assigning double * from type double?
xmalloc() returns a void * pointer to single block of memory.
What you need is one block of pointers, serving as an conceptual table header row, holding pointers to other memory blocks which themselves contain the actual doubles.
double **columns -> [double *col0] [double *col1] [double *col2] ...
| | |
V V V
[double col_val0] [double col_val0] ...
[double col_val1] [double col_val1]
[double col_val2] [double col_val2]
... ...
A matrix allocation could look like this:
// Allocate the double pointer array:
double **matrix_rows = xmalloc(sizeof(double *) * column_count);
// Iterate over each double-pointer in the double-pointer-array allocated above.
for(int i = 0; i < column_count; i++) {
// Allocate a new double-array, and let current double-pointer point to it:
matrix_rows[i] = malloc(sizeof(double) * row_count);
// Initialize matrix cell, iterating over allocated values.
for(int j = 0; j < row_count; j++) {
// Accessing the i'th col and j'th cell.
matrix_rows[i][j] = 0.0;
}
}
A possible implementation of a matrix copy function could be done by iteratively copying individial cells. One way to do this is using a loop composition.
for(int col = 0; col < col_count; col++) {
for(int row = 0; row < row_count; row++) {
destination_matrix[col][row] = source_matrix[col][row];
}
}
To give some intuition where an n-pointer indirection could be used:
n = 1: Strings, an array of characters.
n = 2: Paragraph, holding lines of strings.
n = 3: An article, holding a list of paragraphs.
Please be aware of using two indirections is usually not something you want. It is usually more efficient to store data in a linear fashion and compute linear indices out of two-compoment vectors and the other way around, especially in the case of this matrix example.
If you want to represent a matrix as an array of pointers to rows you need to allocate memory both for the rows and for the array of pointers to rows. It is simpler to allocate the rows consecutively as a single block.
typedef struct
{
int n_rows;
int n_cols;
double **rows;
double *data;
} Matrix;
Matrix *matrix_new (int n_rows, int n_cols)
{
// allocate matrix
Matrix *m = malloc (sizeof(Matrix));
m->n_rows = n_rows;
m->n_cols = n_cols;
// allocate m->data
m->data = malloc (n_rows * n_cols * sizeof(double));
// allocate and fill m->rows
m->rows = malloc (n_rows * sizeof(double*));
for (int i = 0; i < n_rows; i++) {
m->rows[i] = &data[i * n_cols];
}
// set the matrix to 0
for (int i = 0; i < n_rows; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < n_cols; j++) {
m->rows[i][j] = 0.0;
}
}
return m;
}
The purpose of the rows array it to give you the convenience of being able to refer to element i,j with m->rows[i][j] instead of m->data[i * m->n_cols + j].
To free the matrix, take the inverse steps:
void matrix_free (Matrix *m)
{
free (m->rows);
free (m->data);
free (m);
}
To copy you can simply allocate a matrix of the same size and copy element by element:
Matrix *matrix_copy (Matrix *m1)
{
Matrix *m2 = matrix_new (m1->n_rows, m1->n_cols);
for (int i = 0; i < m1->n_rows; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < m1->n_cols; j++) {
m2->rows[i][j] = m1->rows[i][j];
}
}
return m2;
}
The important thing to note is that you must not copy the rows array since it is unique to each matrix.
It is important to understand the difference between pointers-to-pointers and multi-dimensional arrays.
What makes it extra confusing is that the same syntax is used for referencing individual elements: var[i][j] will reference element (i,j) of var regardless of if var is a pointer to pointer, double **var or a two-dimensional array, double var[22][43].
What really happens is not the same. A two-dimensional array is a contiguous memory block. A pointer to pointers is an array of pointers that point to the individual rows.
// Two-dimensional array
char var1[X1][X2];
int distance = &var[4][7] - &var[0][0]; // distance = 4*X2+7
// Pointer-to-pointer
char **var2 = malloc(X1 * sizeof(char*)); // Allocate memory for the pointers
for (i=0; i<X1; i++) var2[i] = malloc(X2); // Allocate memory for the actual data
int distance2 = &var2[4][7] - &var[0][0]; // This could result in anything, since the different rows aren't necessarily stored one after another.
The calculation of distance2 invokes undefined behaviour since the C standard doesn't cover pointer arithmetic on pointers that point to different memory blocks.
You want to use pointer-to-pointer. So you need to first allocate memory for an array of pointers and then for each array:
Matrix *make_matrix(int n_rows, int n_cols) {
Matrix *m = xmalloc(sizeof(Matrix));
int i, j;
m->rows = n_rows;
m->cols = n_cols;
m->data = xmalloc(n_rows * sizeof(double*));
for (i=0; i < n_; i++) {
m->data[i] = xmalloc(n_cols * sizeof(double));
for (j=0; j < n_cols; j++) {
m->data[i][j] = 0.0;
}
}
return m;
}
Don't assume that the double 0.0 will have all bits set to 0!
To copy a matrix:
Matrix *copy_matrix(Matrix *source) {
Matrix *m = make_matrix(source->n_rows, source->n_cols);
int i, j;
for (j = 0; j < n_rows; j++) {
for (i = 0; i < n_cols; i++) {
m->data[i][j] = source[i][j];
}
}
return m;
}
I'll backup a bit and start with the basics. Pointers are one of those things that are not difficult to understand technically, but require you to beat your head into the I want to understand pointers wall enough for them to sink in. You understand that a normal variable (for lack of better words) is just a variable that holds a direct-reference to an immediate value in memory.
int a = 5;
Here, a is a label to the memory address that holds the value 5.
A pointer on the other hand, does not directly-reference an immediate value like 5. Instead a pointer holds, as its value, the memory address where 5 is stored. You can also think of the difference this way. A normal variable holds a value, while a pointer holds the address where the value can be found.
For example, to declare a pointer 'b' to the memory address holding 5 above, you would do something like:
int *b = &a;
or equivalently:
int *b = NULL;
b = &a;
Where b is assigned the address of a. To return the value stored at the address held by a pointer, or to operate directly on the value stored at the address held by a pointer, you must dereference the pointer. e.g.
int c = *b; /* c now equals 5 */
*b = 7; /* a - the value at the address pointed to by b, now equals 7 */
Now fast forward to pointer-to-pointer-to-type and simulated 2D matricies. When you declare your pointer-to-pointer-to-type (e.g. int **array = NULL), you are declaring a pointer that points to a pointer-to-type. To be useful in simlated 2D arrays (matricies, etc.), you must delcare an array of the pointer-to-pointer-to-type:
int **array = NULL;
...
array = calloc (NUM, sizeof *array); /* creates 'NUM' pointer-to-pointer-to-int. */
You now have NUM pointers to pointers-to-int that you can allocate memory to hold however many int values and you will assign the starting address for the memory block holding those int values to the pointers you previously allocated. For example, let's say you were to allocate space for an array of 5 random int values (from 1 - 1000) to each of the NUM pointers you allocated above:
for (i = 0; i < NUM; i++) {
array[i] = calloc (5, sizeof **array);
for (j = 0; j < 5; j++)
array[i][j] = rand() % 1000 + 1;
}
You have now assigned each of your NUM pointers (to-pointer-to-int) the starting address in memory where 5 random int values are stored. So your array is now complete. Each of your original NUM pointers-to-pointer-to-int now points to the address for a block of memory holding 5 int values. You can access each value with array notation (e.g. array[i][j] or with pointer notation *(*(array + i) + j) )
How do you free the memory? In the reverse order you allocated (values, then pointers):
for (i = 0; i < NUM; i++)
free (array[i]);
free (array);
Note: calloc both allocates memory and initializes the memory to 0/nul. This is particularly useful for both the pointers and arrays when dealing with numeric values, and when dealing with an unknown number of rows of values to read. Not only does it prevent an inadvertent read from an uninitialized value, but it also allows you to iterate over your array of pointers with i = 0; while (array[i] != NULL) {...}.

Dynamically allocated 2 dimensional array

I am trying to build two dimensional array by dynamically allocating. My question is that is it possible that its first dimension would take 100 values, then second dimension would take variable amount of values depending on my problem? If it is possible then how I would access it? How would I know the second dimension's boundary?
(See the comments in the code)
As a result you'll get an array such like the following:
// Create an array that will contain required variables of the required values
// which will help you to make each row of it's own lenght.
arrOfLengthOfRows[NUMBER_OF_ROWS] = {value_1, value_2, ..., value_theLast};
int **array;
array = malloc(N * sizeof(int *)); // `N` is the number of rows, as on the pic.
/*
if(array == NULL) {
printf("There is not enough memory.\n");
exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
}
*/
// Here we make each row of it's own, individual length.
for(i = 0; i < N; i++) {
array[i] = malloc(arrOfLengthOfRows[i] * sizeof(int));
/*
if(array[i] == NULL) {
printf("There is not enough memory.\n");
exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
}
*/
}
You can use array of 100 pointers:
int *arr[100];
then you can dynamically allocate memory to each of the 100 pointers separately of any size you want, however you have to remember how much memory (for each pointer) you have allocated, you cannot expect C compiler to remember it or tell it to you, i.e. sizeof will not work here.
To access any (allowed, within boundary) location you can simply use 2D array notation e.g. to access 5th location of memory allocated to 20th pointer you can use arr[20][5] or *(arr[20] + 5).
I believe the OP wants a single chunk of memory for the array, and is willing to fix one of the dimensions to get it. I frequently like to do this when coding in C as well.
We all used to be able to do double x[4][]; and the compiler would know what to do. But someone has apparently messed that up - maybe even for a good reason.
The following however still works and allows us to use large chunks of memory instead of having to do a lot of pointer management.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
// double x[4][];
struct foo {
double y[4];
} * x;
void
main(int ac, char * av[])
{
double * dp;
int max_x = 10;
int i;
x = calloc(max_x, sizeof(struct foo));
x[0].y[0] = 0.23;
x[0].y[1] = 0.45;
x[9].y[0] = 1.23;
x[9].y[1] = 1.45;
dp = x[9].y;
for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
if (dp[i] > 0)
printf("%f\n", dp[i]);
}
The trick is to declare the fixed dimension in a struct. But keep in mind that the "first" dimension is the dynamic dimension and the "second" one is fixed. And this is the opposite of the old way ...
You will have to track the size of your dynamic dimension on your own - sizeof can't help you with that.
Using anonymous thingies you might even be able to git rid of 'y'.
Using a single pointer:
int *arr = (int *)malloc(r * c * sizeof(int));
/* how to access array elements */
for (i = 0; i < r; i++)
for (j = 0; j < c; j++)
*(arr + i*c + j) = ++count; //count initialized as, int count=0;
Using pointer to a pointer:
int **arr = (int **)malloc(r * sizeof(int *));
for (i=0; i<r; i++)
arr[i] = (int *)malloc(c * sizeof(int));
In this case you can access array elements same as you access statically allocated array.

How to declare pointer and allocate memory a two-dimensional array and pass to a function

I want to declare the correct pointer and allocate memory for a two-dimensional array, and correctly pass to a function. I am having trouble getting this to work properly and need help.
Here is my code:
double **podrucje;
podrucje=(double **) malloc (sizeof (double *) *123);
for (i=0;i<(123);i++)
{
podrucje[i]=(double *) malloc (sizeof (double) * 11);
}
for (i=0;i<(123);i++)
{
memset (podrucje[i], 0, 10);
}
But this code doesnt work, it messes up whole my program. So i decided to give up on dynamic allocation and use this:
double podrucje[123][11]={0};
But i dont know how to send it and use it in function...
memset works on per byte basis.
double **podrucje = (double **) malloc (sizeof (double *) * 123);
for (i = 0; i < 123; i++)
{
podrucje[i] = (double *) malloc (sizeof (double) * 11);
memset(podrucje[i], 0, sizeof(double) * 11);
}
if you want to pass it just declare it as such
void function(double podrucje[123][11]) {
...
}
You're best off to use malloc, but allocate the whole array on your second line, so it all gets allocated in contiguous memory. So
podrucje = (double*) malloc (sizeof (double) * 123 * 11);
Then the first loop can go away too. And it looks like you're initializing the array to 0 -- in that case, use calloc instead of malloc, eliminating the second loop.
To index into the array, use things like
double myitem = podrucje [11 * row + col];
You should of course use a define or similar to keep the use of 11 consistent, but that's not the point of this answer.
Write the function argument the same way you wrote the variable definition:
void myfunc(double podrucje[123][11])
{
...
}
double podrucje[123][11];
myfunc(podrucje);
Note that the array is passed "by reference" rather than being copied.
In the following code snippet,
podrucje[i]=(double *) malloc (sizeof (double) * 11);
for (i=0;i<(123);i++)
{
memset (podrucje[i], 0, 10);
}
1) You dont need the extra parenthesis against the numbers 123 and 11
The for loop can be as follows,
for (i = 0; i < 123; i++)
2) Instead of using 123 and 11. Try to define a MACRO and use that instead.
Advantage: The code becomes independent of special numbers and is easily maintainable. Especially in the cases of larger code base.
3) If you read the code, podrucje[i] is allocated a memory of 11 doubles But when you memset you are setting it for only 10 doubles while the last one may or may not consist of garbage. Use calloc here, It not only allocated memory but also initializes the same.
podrucje[i]=(double *) calloc(11,sizeof(double));
Also It could be more helpful if you could tell How exactly is it screwing up your code ?
Example, Code Snippet could help more than just stating its screwing up.
It helps others to investigate and solve the issue.
If you have a modern C compiler (C99 would do) you can even declare real 2D matrices with variable sizes. You don't need to fall back to this awful emulation with pointers.
void myfunc(size_t n, size_t m, double podrucje[n][m])
{
...
}
double (*podrucje)[n] = malloc(sizeof(double[n][m]));
myfunc(n, m, podrucje);
For the function you just have to ensure that the declarations of n and m come first, before the matrix.
There are several ways to dynamically allocate memory for an NxM array. Here are two:
You can declare a pointer to an M-element array, and then malloc N instances of it:
double (*podrucje)[11] = malloc(sizeof *podrucje * 123);
As of C89, you don't need to cast the result of malloc, and the practice is discouraged. Also, note that the operand to sizeof is the expression *podrucje; this gives me the same result as sizeof (double) * 11.
You would index this array as podrucje[i][j] like any other 2D array. podrucje[i] implicitly dereferences the pointer (remember that a[i] is equivalent to *(a + i)) so you don't have to do anything funky with it.
You would use it in a function as follows:
void init(double (*podrucje)[11], size_t rows)
{
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (j = 0; j < 11; j++)
podrucje[i][j] = 0.0;
}
which would be called as
init(podrucje, 123);
The drawback to this method is that the function can only operate on Nx11 arrays; if you're using a C99 compiler or a C2011 compiler that supports variable length arrays, you could specify the number of columns as a runtime variable:
void foo(void)
{
size_t rows = 123, cols = 11;
double (*podrucje)[cols] = malloc(sizeof *podrucje * rows);
if (podrucje)
init(cols, podrucje, rows);
...
}
// cols must be declared before it can be used
// in an array declarator
//
void init(size_t cols, double(*podrucje)[cols], size_t rows)
{
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (j = 0; j < cols; j++)
podrucje[i][j] = 0.0;
}
When you're done with the array, deallocate it as follows:
free(podrucje);
The other approach is to allocate each row separately, as follows:
size_t rows = 123, cols = 11;
double **podrucje = malloc(sizeof *podrucje * rows);
if (!podrucje)
{
// malloc failed; handle allocation error here
}
else
{
size_t i;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
{
podrucje[i] = malloc(sizeof *podrucje[i] * cols);
if (!podrucje[i])
{
// malloc failed; handle allocation error here
}
}
}
And you would use it in a function as follows:
void foo()
{
double **podrucje;
// allocate array as above
init(foo, rows, cols);
...
}
void init(double **podrucje, size_t rows, size_t cols)
{
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (j = 0; j < cols; j++)
podrucje[i][j] = 0.0;
}
When you're finished with the array, deallocate it as follows:
for(i = 0; i < rows; i++)
free(podrucje[i]);
free(podrucje);
The first method allocates memory as a single, contiguous block; the second allocates it in a series of smaller, discontinuous chunks. If your array is especially big or your heap especially fragmented, the first method may fail where the second will succeed. If you're working with a compiler that doesn't support variable-length arrays, the first method is much less flexible, because the number of columns must be specified at compile time.
How could the same indexing method work for both forms?
In the first case, each podrucje[i] is an 11-element array of double; indexing it with j works like any other array. In the second case, each podrucje[i] is a pointer to double. Since a[i] is evaluated as *(a + i), array indexing works on pointer expressions just as well as array expressions.
int print_func(char((*p)[26])[10])
{
int i = 0;
for (i=0; i < 26 ; i++) {
fprintf(stderr, "%02d:%.*s\n", i, 10, p[0][i]);
}
return (0);
}
int main(void)
{
int nrow = 26;
int ncol = 10;
char((*p)[26])[10] = (char((*)[26])[10])(0);
char(*q)[10];
char c = 'a';
int i = 0;
p = (char((*)[26])[10])malloc(sizeof(char) * nrow * ncol);
if ((char((*)[26])[10])0 == p) {
return (-1);
}
for (i=0, q=p[0]; i < nrow ; i++) {
memset(q, c, sizeof(char) * ncol);
c++;
q++;
}
for (i=0,q=p[0] ; i < nrow ; i++) {
fprintf(stderr, "%.*s\n", 10, q);
q++;
}
p[0][8][0]='z';
getchar();
print_func(p);
return (0);
}

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