I was experimenting some basic C code that defines an int matrix with pointers.
typedef int **Matrix;
Matrix createMatrix(int lines, int columns) {
int i, j;
Matrix m = (Matrix) malloc(sizeof(int) * lines * columns);
for (i = 0; i < lines; ++i) {
for (j = 0; j < columns; ++j) {
m[i][j] = 0;
}
}
return m;
}
int main(int argc, char**argv) {
Matrix m = createMatrix(5, 10);
// ...
if (m[2][3] == 20) {
// ...
}
return 0;
}
However, these m[i][j] accesses are throwing segmentation faults. What's wrong here? Too many asterisks?
I was convinced that a pointer to a pointer to an int was effectively the same as a matrix.
Your allocation of the Matrix data item assumes you're accessing it linearly with a single index. If you want to access it with two indices, e.g., m[1][1] you need to allocate each dimension:
Matrix m = malloc(sizeof(int *) * lines);
for ( int i = 0; i < lines; i++ )
m[i] = malloc(sizeof(int) * columns);
Note also that you should not type cast malloc.
Related
I want to declare 2D-array in .h file without given numbers of COLS nor ROWS (cause they are read somewhere from inside the main() )
I mean I could tried another way of doing this like below
if one of ROWS and COLS is given at the firsthand.
int COLS = 20;
int (*array)[COLS];
array = malloc((*array) * ROWS);
thus I tried like below:
below is 2d.h
int* a;
int** b;
int size;
below is test2d.c, inside int main(){}
read_size() //size value read from some file
a = malloc(sizeof(int) * size);
b = malloc(sizeof(*a) * size);
for(int i=0; i<size; i++){
for(int j=0; j<size; j++){
b[i][j] = i+j;
printf("ok");
}
}
//print all
should be printing all 0112 but the result is segmentation fault.
To allocate a 2D array you need to allocate the 2D pointer b, which you have done. After that you need to allocate memory for b[i] in a for loop as below
// cols and rows are input by user or other parts of program.
int **b;
b = malloc(sizeof(int*) * rows);
for(int i=0; i<rows; i++){
b[i] = malloc(sizeof(int) * cols);
}
The explanation for this is that b is an array of pointers to int. In each element of b you allocate an array of int. This gives you a 2D array.
If you want a rectangular (not jagged array), it's most efficient to allocate all the cells as a single block, then the row pointers can all point into that block:
#include <stdlib.h>
int **make_array(size_t height, size_t width)
{
/* assume this multiplication won't overflow size_t */
int *cells = malloc((sizeof *cells) * height * width);
int **rows = malloc((sizeof *rows) * height);
if (!rows || !cells) {
free(cells);
free(rows);
return 0;
}
/* now populate the array of pointers to rows */
for (size_t row = 0; row < height; ++row) {
rows[row] = cells + width * row;
}
return rows;
}
This also makes deallocation much simpler, as we no longer need a loop:
void free_array(int **a)
{
if (!a) return;
free(a[0]);
free(a);
}
This question already has answers here:
How do I correctly set up, access, and free a multidimensional array in C?
(5 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
This is were I got so far,but I don't know if it's right.
This function receives the dimensions of the 2D array (nxn),and allocates it.
flightInfo is the name of the struct.
Will this work?
thanks in advanced
after allocating the array(ignore the method ,since we are not allowed to use the method you proposed) I would like to initialize the struct (I built a function to do it but it didn't work),I tried to do it right after the allocation and kept getting the" Unhandled exception" warning, does it has to do
with the syntax, am I forgetting a '*'?
void flightMatrix()
{
FILE * fpf;
int checkScan,Origin,Dest;
float time,cost;
char flightName[3];
flightInfo *** matrix;
if(!(fpf=fopen("flights.txt","r")))exit(1);
while((checkScan=fscanf(fpf,"%*10c%3d%3d%3c%5f%7f%*",&Origin,&Dest,flightName,&time,&cost))!=EOF)
{
matrix=allocateMatrix(Dest);
matrix[Origin-1][Dest-1]->o=Origin;
}
}
flightInfo*** allocateMatrix(int n)
{ int i,j;
flightInfo*** matrix;
matrix=(flightInfo***)malloc(sizeof(flightInfo **)*n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
matrix[i]=(flightInfo **)malloc(sizeof(flightInfo*)*n);
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
matrix[i][j] = NULL;
}
return matrix;
}
[http://i.stack.imgur.com/MFC7V.png]
this is what happens when I try to initialize
Technically speaking, this won't create 2D array. The result will be array of pointers, where each one points to different array of pointers to a struct.
The difference is that, memory will be fragmented, so every element will point to some memory location, instead of single continuous memory block.
The common approach for this is to create flatten 2D array:
flightInfo** allocateMatrix(int n)
{
flightInfo** matrix = malloc(n*n * sizeof(*matrix));
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++)
matrix[i*n + j] = NULL;
return matrix;
}
If you are forced to use two indices, then you could place matrix as function argument:
void allocateMatrix(int n, flightInfo* (**matrix)[n])
{
*matrix = malloc(n * sizeof(**matrix));
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
(*matrix)[i][j] = NULL;
}
The second asterisk is required, because pointers are passed by value, otherwise you would end up with modified local copy of the pointer, that does nothing to matrix from main function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct flightInfo {
char airport[30];
int altitude;
} flightInfo;
void allocateMatrix(int n, flightInfo* (**matrix)[n])
{
*matrix = malloc(n * sizeof(**matrix));
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
(*matrix)[i][j] = NULL;
}
int main()
{
int n = 10;
flightInfo* (*matrix)[n];
allocateMatrix(n, &matrix);
matrix[0][0] = malloc(sizeof(flightInfo));
strcpy(matrix[0][0]->airport, "Heathrow");
matrix[0][0]->altitude = 10000;
printf("%s, %d\n", matrix[0][0]->airport, matrix[0][0]->altitude);
}
The another way would be to encapsulate the array within a struct.
I need to allocate contiguous space for a 3D array. (EDIT:) I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE MADE THIS CLEAR IN THE FIRST PLACE but in the actual production code, I will not know the dimensions of the array until run time. I provided them as constants in my toy code below just to keep things simple. I know the potential problems of insisting on contiguous space, but I just have to have it. I have seen how to do this for a 2D array, but apparently I don't understand how to extend the pattern to 3D. When I call the function to free up the memory, free_3d_arr, I get an error:
lowest lvl
mid lvl
a.out(2248,0x7fff72d37000) malloc: *** error for object 0x7fab1a403310: pointer being freed was not allocated
Would appreciate it if anyone could tell me what the fix is. Code is here:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int ***calloc_3d_arr(int sizes[3]){
int ***a;
int i,j;
a = calloc(sizes[0],sizeof(int**));
a[0] = calloc(sizes[0]*sizes[1],sizeof(int*));
a[0][0] = calloc(sizes[0]*sizes[1]*sizes[2],sizeof(int));
for (j=0; j<sizes[0]; j++) {
a[j] = (int**)(a[0][0]+sizes[1]*sizes[2]*j);
for (i=0; i<sizes[1]; i++) {
a[j][i] = (int*)(a[j]) + sizes[2]*i;
}
}
return a;
}
void free_3d_arr(int ***arr) {
printf("lowest lvl\n");
free(arr[0][0]);
printf("mid lvl\n");
free(arr[0]); // <--- This is a problem line, apparently.
printf("highest lvl\n");
free(arr);
}
int main() {
int ***a;
int sz[] = {5,4,3};
int i,j,k;
a = calloc_3d_arr(sz);
// do stuff with a
free_3d_arr(a);
}
Since you are using C, I would suggest that you use real multidimensional arrays:
int (*a)[sz[1]][sz[2]] = calloc(sz[0], sizeof(*a));
This allocates contiguous storage for your 3D array. Note that the sizes can be dynamic since C99. You access this array exactly as you would with your pointer arrays:
for(int i = 0; i < sz[0]; i++) {
for(int j = 0; j < sz[1]; j++) {
for(int k = 0; k < sz[2]; k++) {
a[i][j][k] = 42;
}
}
}
However, there are no pointer arrays under the hood, the indexing is done by the magic of pointer arithmetic and array-pointer-decay. And since a single calloc() was used to allocate the thing, a single free() suffices to get rid of it:
free(a); //that's it.
You can do something like this:
int ***allocateLinearMemory(int x, int y, int z)
{
int *p = (int*) malloc(x * y * z * sizeof(int));
int ***q = (int***) malloc(x * sizeof(int**));
for (int i = 0; i < x; i++)
{
q[i] = (int**) malloc(y * sizeof(int*));
for (int j = 0; j < y; j++)
{
int idx = x*j + x*y*i;
q[i][j] = &p[idx];
}
}
return q;
}
void deallocateLinearMemory(int x, int ***q)
{
free(q[0][0]);
for(int i = 0; i < x; i++)
{
free(q[i]);
}
free(q);
}
I use it and works fine.
I need to define function for allocation 2D array, but it should call malloc only once.
I know how to allocate it (-std=c99):
int (*p)[cols] = malloc (sizeof(*p) * rows);
But i can't figure out how to return it from function. Return isn't option, because the array will stop existing once the function ends (or at least part of it). So, only options to pass array to this function is as parametr, but the solution above needs to have defined number of cols at the declaration. Is it even possible?
Thanks.
Thanks to user kotlomoy i managed to solve this issue like this:
...
#define COLS 10
#define ROWS 5
int (*Alloc2D())[COLS]
{
int (*p)[COLS] = malloc(sizeof(*p) * ROWS);
return p;
}
//and this is example how to use it, its not elegant,
//but i was just learning what is possible with C
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
int (*p)[COLS] = Alloc2D();
for (int i = 0; i < ROWS; i++)
for(int j = 0; j < COLS; j++)
p[i][j] = j;
for (int i = 0; i < ROWS; i++){
for(int j = 0; j < COLS; j++)
printf("%d", p[i][j]);
printf("\n");
}
return 0;
}
int * Alloc2D(int rows, int cols)
{
return malloc(sizeof(int) * rows * cols);
}
Usage.
To allocate:
int * array = Alloc2D( rows, cols );
To get element [i,j]:
array[ cols * i + j ]
And don't forget to clean memory:
free( array );
I have been asked in an interview how do i allocate a 2-D array and below was my solution to it.
#include <stdlib.h>
int **array;
array = malloc(nrows * sizeof(int *));
for(i = 0; i < nrows; i++)
{
array[i] = malloc(ncolumns * sizeof(int));
if(array[i] == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "out of memory\n");
exit or return
}
}
I thought I had done a good job but then he asked me to do it using one malloc() statement not two. I don't have any idea how to achieve it.
Can anyone suggest me some idea to do it in single malloc()?
Just compute the total amount of memory needed for both nrows row-pointers, and the actual data, add it all up, and do a single call:
int **array = malloc(nrows * sizeof *array + (nrows * (ncolumns * sizeof **array));
If you think this looks too complex, you can split it up and make it a bit self-documenting by naming the different terms of the size expression:
int **array; /* Declare this first so we can use it with sizeof. */
const size_t row_pointers_bytes = nrows * sizeof *array;
const size_t row_elements_bytes = ncolumns * sizeof **array;
array = malloc(row_pointers_bytes + nrows * row_elements_bytes);
You then need to go through and initialize the row pointers so that each row's pointer points at the first element for that particular row:
size_t i;
int * const data = array + nrows;
for(i = 0; i < nrows; i++)
array[i] = data + i * ncolumns;
Note that the resulting structure is subtly different from what you get if you do e.g. int array[nrows][ncolumns], because we have explicit row pointers, meaning that for an array allocated like this, there's no real requirement that all rows have the same number of columns.
It also means that an access like array[2][3] does something distinct from a similar-looking access into an actual 2d array. In this case, the innermost access happens first, and array[2] reads out a pointer from the 3rd element in array. That pointer is then treatet as the base of a (column) array, into which we index to get the fourth element.
In contrast, for something like
int array2[4][3];
which is a "packed" proper 2d array taking up just 12 integers' worth of space, an access like array[3][2] simply breaks down to adding an offset to the base address to get at the element.
int **array = malloc (nrows * sizeof(int *) + (nrows * (ncolumns * sizeof(int)));
This works because in C, arrays are just all the elements one after another as a bunch of bytes. There is no metadata or anything. malloc() does not know whether it is allocating for use as chars, ints or lines in an array.
Then, you have to initialize:
int *offs = &array[nrows]; /* same as int *offs = array + nrows; */
for (i = 0; i < nrows; i++, offs += ncolumns) {
array[i] = offs;
}
Here's another approach.
If you know the number of columns at compile time, you can do something like this:
#define COLS ... // integer value > 0
...
size_t rows;
int (*arr)[COLS];
... // get number of rows
arr = malloc(sizeof *arr * rows);
if (arr)
{
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (j = 0; j < COLS; j++)
arr[i][j] = ...;
}
If you're working in C99, you can use a pointer to a VLA:
size_t rows, cols;
... // get rows and cols
int (*arr)[cols] = malloc(sizeof *arr * rows);
if (arr)
{
size_t i, j;
for (i = 0; i < rows; i++)
for (j = 0; j < cols; j++)
arr[i][j] = ...;
}
How do we allocate a 2-D array using One malloc statement (?)
No answers, so far, allocate memory for a true 2D array.
int **array is a pointer to pointer to int. array is not a pointer to a 2D array.
int a[2][3] is an example of a true 2D array or array 2 of array 3 of int
To allocate memory for a true 2D array, with C99, use malloc() and save to a pointer to a variable-length array (VLA)
// Simply allocate and initialize in one line of code
int (*c)[nrows][ncolumns] = malloc(sizeof *c);
if (c == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "out of memory\n");
return;
}
// Use c
(*c)[1][2] = rand();
...
free(c);
Without VLA support, if the dimensions are constants, code can use
#define NROW 4
#define NCOL 5
int (*d)[NROW][NCOL] = malloc(sizeof *d);
You should be able to do this with (bit ugly with all the casting though):
int** array;
size_t pitch, ptrs, i;
char* base;
pitch = rows * sizeof(int);
ptrs = sizeof(int*) * rows;
array = (int**)malloc((columns * pitch) + ptrs);
base = (char*)array + ptrs;
for(i = 0; i < rows; i++)
{
array[i] = (int*)(base + (pitch * i));
}
I'm not a fan of this "array of pointers to array" to solve the multi dimension array paradigm. Always favored a single dimension array, at access the element with array[ row * cols + col]? No problems encapsulating everything in a class, and implementing a 'at' method.
If you insist on accessing the members of the array with this notation: Matrix[i][j], you can do a little C++ magic. #John solution tries to do it this way, but he requires the number of column to be known at compile time. With some C++ and overriding the operator[], you can get this completely:
class Row
{
private:
int* _p;
public:
Row( int* p ) { _p = p; }
int& operator[](int col) { return _p[col]; }
};
class Matrix
{
private:
int* _p;
int _cols;
public:
Matrix( int rows, int cols ) { _cols=cols; _p = (int*)malloc(rows*cols ); }
Row operator[](int row) { return _p + row*_cols; }
};
So now, you can use the Matrix object, for example to create a multiplication table:
Matrix mtrx(rows, cols);
for( i=0; i<rows; ++i ) {
for( j=0; j<rows; ++j ) {
mtrx[i][j] = i*j;
}
}
You should now that the optimizer is doing the right thing and there is no call function or any other kind of overhead. No constructor is called. As long as you don't move the Matrix between function, even the _cols variable isn't created. The statement mtrx[i][j] basically does mtrx[i*cols+j].
It can be done as follows:
#define NUM_ROWS 10
#define NUM_COLS 10
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char (*p)[NUM_COLS] = NULL;
p = malloc(NUM_ROWS * NUM_COLS);
memset(p, 81, NUM_ROWS * NUM_COLS);
p[2][3] = 'a';
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ROWS; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < NUM_COLS; j++) {
printf("%c\t", p[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
} // end of main
You can allocate (row*column) * sizeof(int) bytes of memory using malloc.
Here is a code snippet to demonstrate.
int row = 3, col = 4;
int *arr = (int *)malloc(row * col * sizeof(int));
int i, j, count = 0;
for (i = 0; i < r; i++)
for (j = 0; j < c; j++)
*(arr + i*col + j) = ++count; //row major memory layout
for (i = 0; i < r; i++)
for (j = 0; j < c; j++)
printf("%d ", *(arr + i*col + j));