Copy an array to linked List in each data field - c

Question

First, sorry if my question has already been answered. I found some threads that are (in a way) similiar but I was not able to solve my problem.
Second, I am new to single-linked-list in C so I would be happy if you could answer my question as easy as possible.
I made a simple linke-list, that has characters in it:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
// declaration of node
struct _Node_
{
char data_string;
struct _Node_ *next;
};
int main() {
//a simple linked list with 3 Nodes, Create Nodes
struct _Node_* head = NULL;
struct _Node_* second = NULL;
struct _Node_* third = NULL;
//allocate 3 Nodes in the heap
head = (struct _Node_*)malloc(sizeof(struct _Node_));
second = (struct _Node_*)malloc(sizeof(struct _Node_));
third = (struct _Node_*)malloc(sizeof(struct _Node_));
// assign data for head
head->data_string = 'H'; //assign value according struct
head->next = second; //points to the next node
// assign data for second
second->data_string = 'E';
second->next = third;
third->data_string = 'Y';
third->next = NULL;
return 0;
}
The linked list does now look like this:
/* Linked list _Node_
head second third
| | |
| | |
+---+---+ +---+---+ +----+------+
| 1 | o-----> | 2| o-------> | 3 | NULL |
+---+---+ +---+---+ +----+------+
*/
Let's assume I have 3 arrays with the following:
char name1[] = "Joe";
char name2[] = "Eve";
char name3[] = "Brad";
And my goal is to copy this array into each data field, so the result looks like this:
/* Linked list _Node_
head second third
| | |
| | |
+-----+---+ +-------+---+ +-------+------+
| Joe | o-----> | Eve | o-----> | Brad | NULL |
+-----+---+ +-------+---+ +-------+------+
*/
How can I achieve this? I already tried adding/changing the following:
...
struct _Node_
{
char data_string[8];
struct _Node_ *next;
};
...
...
char name1[] = "Joe";
char name2[] = "Eve";
char name3[] = "Brad";
// assign data for head
head->data_string = name1; //assign value according struct
head->next = second; //points to the next node
// assign data for second
second->data_string = name2;
second->next = third;
third->data_string = name3;
third->next = NULL;
...
But all I get after compiling is:
stack_overflow.c:27:23: error: array type 'char [8]' is not assignable
head->data_string = name1; //assign value according struct
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^
stack_overflow.c:31:25: error: array type 'char [8]' is not assignable
second->data_string = name2;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^
stack_overflow.c:34:24: error: array type 'char [8]' is not assignable
third->data_string = name3;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^
3 errors generated.
Maybe someone could help, I appreciate any help.
Again, sorry if this is a duplicate but I am not able to solve this with other threads..

Answer 1

You asked for a code example:
struct Node
{
char *data_string;
struct Node *next;
};
struct Node *newNode (char *s)
{
struct Node *node;
if (!s) return 0; // error: no string
if (!(node= malloc(sizeof(struct Node)))) return 0; // no more memory
node->data_string= malloc(strlen(s)+1);
if (!node->data_string) {
free(node);
return 0;
}
strcpy(node->data_string,s);
node->next= 0;
return(node);
}
void freeNode(struct Node *node)
{
if (!node) return;
if (node->data_string) free(node->data_string);
free(node);
}
Notes:
you alocate the memory for the string 1 more than the length because a string in C has a null terminating character.
do not use underscores before an identifier name - those are reserved for the compiler.
do not cast the result of malloc. It returns a void pointer, which is compatible with any pointer type.
this example includes all required error checking.