Segmentation fault with flex bison and yyparse - c

I was trying to implement flex and bison when this loop returned segmentation fault whith core dumped
With the first file it worked fine but the next file crashed and printed into terminal segmentation fault.
DIR *dir;
struct dirent *ent;
if ((dir = opendir ("./Corpus")) != NULL)
{
while ((ent = readdir (dir)) != NULL)
{
if ((strcmp(ent->d_name,".") != 0) && (strcmp(ent->d_name,"..") != 0))
{
printf("%s\n",ent->d_name);
yyin = fopen(ent->d_name,"r");
yyparse();
}
}
closedir (dir);
}
else
{
// could not open directory
perror ("");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

If you are using a reasonably recent version of flex, there is nothing wrong with switching input files in the way you do it. However, without seeing more code, it is impossible to know for certain what the problem is.
One obvious problem is that you do not check the value of yyin after the call to fopen. If the open fails (which is likely, see below), then yyin will be NULL and that will certainly create a segfault when flex attempts to read.
Also, you don't seem to be closing yyin, which will leak file descriptors. This should not be a problem on the second file, but it will eventually cause the open to fail for lack of file descriptors.
The problem with the fopen is that ent->d_name is just the basename of the file, without any path. So fopen will search for the file in the current working directory. However, the directory being read is ./Corpus, which is a subdirectory; unless the file is duplicated between Corpus and the main directory, the file will not be found.
For the benefit of commentators, the Flex manual states:
If the scanner reaches an end-of-file, subsequent calls are undefined unless either yyin is pointed at a new input file (in which case scanning continues from that file)… Essentially there is no difference between just assigning yyin to a new input file or using yyrestart() to do so; the latter is available for compatibility with previous versions of flex, and because it can be used to switch input files in the middle of scanning.
It is also possible that the segfault is independent of file handling. It would be best to use a debugger to determine where exactly the segfault occurs.

Related

why the program give "Segmentation fault" after 1018 try

I'm writing a C code to open txt file and read two lines on it then print the value
it worked for 1018 time then it gives "Segmentation fault"
I've tried to flush the buffer but it don't work
while(running) {
i = 0;
if ((fptr = fopen("pwm.txt", "r")) == NULL) {
printf("Error! File cannot be opened.");
// Program exits if the file pointer returns NULL.
exit(1);
}
fptr = fopen("pwm.txt","r");
while (fgets(line,sizeof(line), fptr)){
ppp[i]=atoi(line);
i++;
}
fclose(fptr);
printf("%d %d\n",ppp[0],ppp[1]);
rc_servo_send_pulse_us(ch, 2000);
rc_usleep(1000000/frequency_hz);
}
Actually, the file-opening is the likely culprit: On e.g. Linux there's a limit to how many files you can have open, and it typically defaults to 1024. A few files are used for other things, and your program probably uses some other file-handles elsewhere, leaving only around 1018 left over.
So when you open the file twice, you leak the file handle from the first fopen call, and then your second fopen call will fail and give you a NULL pointer in return. And since you don't check for NULL the second time you attempt to use this NULL pointer and have a crash.
Simple solution: Remove the second and unchecked call to fopen.

C language parse file's detail

I'm a beginner with C.
I want to parse all the source code (e.g., *.c, *.h) under a directory.
I want to know the file name, size, how many lines in the source.
After searching, I can parse one file's detail (to get how many lines in the source). I can also use system() to know the size and file name, or file list in the directory (without size).
But I have no idea about how to combine all these into one program, so I'm looking for guidance on that.
Thanks all!
below is my code for now
have no idea about next step..
int main (void){
DIR *dp;
FILE *fp;
struct dirent *ep;
dp = opendir ("./");
fp = fopen ("output.txt", "w");
if (dp != NULL)
{
while (ep = readdir (dp))
fprintf(fp,"%s\n", ep->d_name);
(void) closedir (dp);
}
else
perror ("Couldn't open the directory");
return 0;
}
Here's the things you need to look in to:
how to iterate over file names, such as with opendir(), readdir() and so on, including while statement for the actual iteration of course.
how to get file details, such as with fstat().
how to open and read files, such as with fopen(), fgetchar() and fclose(), including how to recognise line end characters with if.
That should be the tools you need to start the job, I'd suggest looking in to them then trying to construct your program. Specific problems with the program can then be bought to our attention in other questions.
Note that the examples given above (specifically those in the opendir bullet point) may be platform-specific. If they're not available, you'll need to find equivalents for your platform since standard C does not provide that functionality.

C segmention fault when opening file

This seems to be a really simple one, but I can't figure it out after not touching C programming in four years.
I was trying to open a file in main()
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
FILE * fp = fopen("data.txt","r");
...
return(0)
}
The program compiled, but when I tried to run it in gdb, the following error occurs.
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x00000000004016c6 in main ()
when the program is trying to open the file "data.txt". What could cause the error? Thanks!
I suspect your error lies in this bit of code:
...
In other words, there's nothing in the other code shown that appears to be wrong.
The most likely case is that the file doesn't exist, or it doesn't exist in the directory where the program is running (which, if you're in an IDE, usually turns out to be somewhere other than you think it is).
And, in that case, you're getting NULL from the fopen, then later using it, something like:
FILE *fp = fopen ("no_such_file.txt", "r");
int ch = fgetc (fp);
You should generally check return values from all functions that use them to indicate success or failure:
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void) {
FILE *fp = fopen ("no_such_file.txt", "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
perror ("Opening no_such_file.txt");
return 1;
}
// You can use fp here.
puts ("It worked.");
fclose (fp);
return 0;
}
What could cause the error?
The most likely cause of the error is that the file data.txt could not be opened (e.g. because it doesn't exist, or it's not in the current directory, or your program doesn't have permission to read it). That will cause fopen() to return NULL. Then if your code (in the ... section) tries to call fread() or fgets() or whatever and passes in the NULL pointer, that will cause a crash. You need to check the value returned by fopen() to make sure it is non-NULL before trying to use it.

Why is my popen failing

My c code is
size_t n=0;
char *str = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)* 1000)
FILE *fp = popen(" cat /conf/a.txt" ,"r" );
// my program comes in this function only if /conf/a.txt exists
getline(&str, &n, fp); <== crash if fp is null
My debugger shows that sometimes i get fp as null and hence my program crashes at line 6 . Sometimes i get valid pointere and it passes .
What is it , that controls this behaviour . I can't find problem in above code . Some help is appreciated .
I know I can have a check of fp==null but that is not my question . I just want to know , knowing that file is definitely present why is fp coming as null in some scenarios .
man of popen says The popen() function returns NULL if the fork(2) or pipe(2) calls fail, or if it cannot allocate memory.
i checked after crash and system is having enough memory ..
strerror and errno are your friends.
Example from the C++ references linked:
/* strerror example : error list */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
int main ()
{
FILE * pFile;
pFile = fopen ("unexist.ent","r");
if (pFile == NULL)
printf ("Error opening file unexist.ent: %s\n",strerror(errno));
return 0;
}
Example output:
Error opening file unexist.ent: No such file or directory
Using this method of checking errno after a failure will allow you to better diagnose your issue as it will print a more specific error message. There are many reasons a file can't be opened: no permission, bad path, file is locked from another process, IO errors during reading, etc. Ultimately your question seems to be asking why the open failed. Using these tools will answer that for you.
Update For Tag Change:
I've referenced and linked to C++ resources, but sterror and errno are both available in C as well by including errno.h.
popen() also fails if too many file handles are open in one process. I had one case in a server app, that was scanning one directory periodically for files.There was one scenario were no fclose call was made. So after some hours we reached the limit of 1024 open file handles on from that moment consecutive popen() calls would fail.
You can use ps -aux | grep {PROC_NAME} to retrieve the process id.
Then use sudo ls -l /proc/{PROC_ID}/fd to see the list of open file descriptors.

Help with opening a file in C on Xcode

I'm trying to open a simple .rtf file called test in C. I'm using Xcode. My code is:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
FILE *filePtr;
filePtr = fopen("test.rtf", "r");
if (filePtr == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "Can't open \"test\"\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
else {
printf("File open successful\n");
int x;
/* read one character at a time until EOF is reached */
while ((x = fgetc(filePtr)) != EOF) {
printf("%c", x);
}
}
fclose(filePtr);
return 0;
}
I have the test.rtf file in the same directory as my Xcode.proj directory. My output is "File open successful", however I do not get anything read from the file. Am I doing this right? Thanks.
There's nothing wrong with that code at all. I tested it (albeit not in Xcode) with a file and the transcript was:
pax> echo hello >test.rtf
pax> ./qq.exe
File open successful
hello
So the obvious think to ask is what happens when you examine test.rtf? Does it actually have any content? Because, when I do:
pax> rm test.rtf ; touch test.rtf
pax> ./qq.exe
File open successful
I get the same behaviour you observe.
Also try renaming it to test2.rtf temporarily and make sure you get the error. It's possible it may be opening a different copy of the file than what you think (this often happens in Visual C since the directory the program runs in is not always what developers think at first).
It looks right.
As for the lack of output, two possibilities:
Are you sure the file has some content? Maybe ls -l test.rtf or dir test.rft
Possibly it has some control characters which cause the terminal to which it is written to suppress output.
Try moving test.rtf to your build directory. If your project is named MyProject, move it to MyProject/build/Debug/.
I can think of two things that could cause this problem. Either there is an error when calling fgetc, or you are getting output that you don't recognize.
fgetc() will return EOF when the end of the file is reached, or an error occurs. To determine if it's an error, just after your while loop try:
if (ferror(filePtr) != 0) printf("error: %d.\n", errno);
A .rtf file is not a plain text file. It likely contains a bunch of formatting information. You are expecting to see "Hello . . . ". but what you may actually see is something like:
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1038\cocoasubrtf250
{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0
\pard\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040
\f0\fs24 \cf0 Hello . . .
And you are just assuming that is GDB output, not your program's output.
Based upon your recent comments, I think you have an empty file test.rtf in the directory your program is run in, and your real test.rtf file is in some other directory. Maybe your fopen() call at some point was fopen("test.rtf", "w"); instead of fopen("test.rtf", "r");, and you later modified it.
To see the directory your program is running in, add the following to your program after the FILE *filePtr; line:
char pwd[512];
if (getcwd(pwd, sizeof pwd) != -1)
printf("In directory %s\n", pwd);
else
fprintf(stderr, "Need bigger buffer, change '512' above\n");
Then, you can open a terminal, do cd <directory>, and test for yourself if the file you want is the file your program is opening.
You probably want this file to be plain text, not rich text. Rich text has a lot of formatting encoded into the file.

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