segmentation fault when trying to deference pointer : C - c

Question

I was trying to implement circular queue functionality. I am a C++ coder and I found it surprising that in C, struct cannot have member functions. Anyway this is my implementation:-
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
struct node
{
int nvalue;
struct node *next;
};
struct CLlist
{
struct node* head;
struct node* tail;
int size;
};
void insert(struct CLlist *l,int num)
{
struct node *n=malloc(sizeof(struct node));
n->nvalue=num;
n->next=NULL;
if((l->head==l->tail)==NULL)
{
l->head=l->tail=n;
}
else if(l->head==l->tail && l->head!=NULL)
{
l->head->next=n;
l->tail=n;
l->tail->next=l->head;
}
else
{
l->tail->next=n;
l->tail=n;
l->tail->next=l->head;
}
l->size++;
}
void print(struct CLlist *l)
{
int idno=1;
printf("printing the linked list with size as %d\n",l->size);
struct node *cptr;
for(cptr=(l->head);cptr!=(l->tail);cptr=cptr->next)
{
printf("The idno is %d and the number is %d\n",idno,cptr->nvalue);
idno++;
}
//this is to print the last node in circular list : the tail node
idno++;
cptr=cptr->next;
printf("The idno is %d and the number is %d\n",idno,cptr->nvalue);
}
int main()
{
struct CLlist a;
struct CLlist *l;
l=&a;
insert(l,2);
insert(l,5);
insert(l,7);
insert(l,10);
insert(l,12);
print(l);
return 0;
}
I get segmentation fault in the line
printf("The idno is %d and the number is %d\n",idno,cptr->nvalue);
why does the error occur? I guess I am not passing l by pointer by value (passing pointers as by value) properly. could somebody help me in pointing out where I am going wrong?
Thanks

Answer 1

You never initialize the variable a in the main function, so its contents is indeterminate and using the members of that structure will lead to undefined behavior.

Answer 2

Your code has two issues, the first one more serious.
Your first issue is that the head and tail members of your CLlist structure are not being initialized to NULL, which can (non-deterministically) keep any real data from being stored in your structure. This can be fixed by adding the following 2 lines in main just before the first insert call:
l->head = NULL;
l->tail = NULL;
Your second problem is in this line:
if((l->head==l->tail)==NULL)
While it looks like this is comparing both l->head and l->tail to NULL, it's actually comparing l->head to l->tail, and then comparing that boolean result to NULL, which is effectively 0. The line should be changed to:
if((l->head == NULL) && (l->tail == NULL))
This will individually test both the head and tail pointers, and will only take that branch if they are both NULL.

Answer 3

You have a pointer
struct node *cptr;
// You're probably trying to access an unassigned pointer head in the next step
for(cptr=(l->head);cptr!=(l->tail);cptr=cptr->next)
As per the standards, there is no requirement that
a->head & a->tail are initialized to NULL
when you did
struct CLlist a;
Standard ISO/IEC 9899:201x clause 6.7.9->10 states
If an object that has automatic storage duration is not initialized
explicitly, its value is indeterminate.
In fact you're:
struct CLlist a;
// missing something here.
struct CLlist *l;
l=&a;