Input line freezing, segmentation fault - c

Question

I'm working on a project for a class and have been stuck for quite a while. When I unit tested the input earlier, it accepted the values for numOfDataSets and createDataSets without error. Now, however, after typing in any set of values for createDataSets, the code freezes after the first input until I enter any character (such as 1 or a), then errors with a segmentation fault. I am not sure what went wrong, and I would appreciate any help.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
// Function to return the number of data sets the user wants.
int numOfDataSets(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter number of data sets: ");
scanf("%d", &ret);
return ret;
}
// Function that creates the data sets in the input arrays.
void createDataSets(float **inputArr, int inputLength, int *lengths) {
int i = 0, j, k;
float value, *currentSet;
// For every element in inputArr...
while (i < inputLength) {
printf("Enter the number of values in this data set, followed by the values: ");
scanf("%d", &j);
*(lengths + i) = j;
currentSet = (float*)calloc(j, sizeof(float));
k = 0;
while (k < j-1) {
scanf("%f", &value);
*(currentSet + k) = value;
k++;
}
scanf("%f", &value);
*(currentSet + j - 1) = value;
*(inputArr + i) = (float*)&currentSet;
i++;
}
}
// Function to get int value of data set to choose.
int chooseDataSet(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter the number of the data set on which you wish to do calculations: ");
scanf("%d", &ret);
ret = ret - 1;
return ret;
}
// Gets the number option of the operation that the user wants to do.
int getOption(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter one of the following numbers:\n");
printf("1. Find the minimum value.\n");
printf("2. Find the maximum value.\n");
printf("3. Calculate the sum of all the values.\n");
printf("4. Calculate the average of all the values.\n");
printf("5. Sort the values in ascending order (i.e., from smallest to largest).\n");
printf("6. Select a different data set.\n");
printf("7. Exit the program.\n");
scanf("%d", &ret);
return ret;
}
// Function to find the minimum value of a dataset.
void minimum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float min;
min = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
if (*(ptr + i) < min) {
min = *(ptr + i);
}
i++;
}
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %d\n", min);
}
// Function to find the maximum value of a dataset.
void maximum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float max;
max = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
if (*(ptr + i) > max) {
max = *(ptr + i);
}
i++;
}
printf("The maximum value of the set is: %d\n", max);
}
// Function to find the sum of the values of a dataset.
void sum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float sum;
sum = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
sum = sum + *(ptr + i);
i++;
}
printf("The sum of the set is: %d\n", sum);
}
// Function to find the average of the values of a dataset.
void average(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float sum;
sum = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
sum = sum + *(ptr + i);
i++;
}
sum = sum / length;
printf("The average of the set is: %d\n", sum);
}
// Function to sort the values of a dataset.
void sort(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1, j;
float temp;
while (i < length) {
j = i;
while ((j > 0) && (*(ptr + j - 1) > *(ptr + j))) {
temp = *(ptr + j);
*(ptr + j) = *(ptr + j - 1);
*(ptr + j - 1) = temp;
j--;
}
i++;
}
printf("The sorted array is: ");
i = 0;
while (i < length) {
printf("%f\t", *(ptr + i));
i++;
}
printf("\n");
}
// Main method...
int main(void) {
int *lengths, outerLength, userChoiceSet = 0, userChoiceOption = 0, breakOutterLoop = 0;
float **outer;
outerLength = numOfDataSets();
outer = (float**)calloc(outerLength, sizeof(float*));
lengths = (int*)calloc(outerLength, sizeof(int));
createDataSets(outer, outerLength, lengths);
while (breakOutterLoop == 0) {
userChoiceSet = chooseDataSet();
while ((userChoiceOption != 6) || (userChoiceOption != 7)) {
userChoiceOption = getOption();
switch (userChoiceOption)
{
case 1:
minimum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 2:
maximum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 3:
sum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 4:
average(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 5:
sort(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 7:
breakOutterLoop = 1;
default:
break;
}
}
}
return (0);
}
The type of input to expect from the user would be something like:
2
3 1.2 2.3 3.4
4 4.5 5.6 6.7 7.8

Answer 1

Your main problem is this, in createDataSets():
*(inputArr + i) = (float*)&currentSet;
What this actually does is assign the address of currentSet to each element of inputArr. This address doesn't change on each iteration, so each element of inputArr gets set to the exact same value. Moreover, this address refers to a variable local to createDataSets() which will be destroyed when that function returns, so the address will be invalid. All the arrays you're dynamically creating are just being discarded, because you're not storing the addresses.
What you should have is:
inputArr[i] = currentSet;
As you mention in the comments, your compiler warned you about this, because what you were doing was trying to store a float ** in a float *, which is rarely a good idea. By adding the cast you silenced the warning, but you didn't fix the problem it was warning you about. The number of occasions in C where a cast is actually what you want to do are relatively few. None of the casts in your program are either necessary, or wise.
A few other points...
You use the wrong format specifier in many of your printf() calls. The %d here:
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %d\n", min);
for instance, should be an %f, because min is a float.
You are overusing pointer notation which makes your code very difficult to follow. That includes very difficult for you, too. For instance, your minimum() function could be much better written as so:
void minimum(float *ptr, int length) {
float min = ptr[0];
for ( int i = 0; i < length; ++i ) {
if ( ptr[i] < min ) {
min = ptr[i];
}
}
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %f\n", min);
}
Similarly, in your switch statement, something like:
average(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
is much more clearly written as:
average(outer[userChoiceSet], lengths[userChoiceSet]);
You are missing a call to fflush(stdout) in a few places, where you prompt for input but do not end the prompt with an '\n'. When I ran this code on my system, the prompt did not show before it sat to wait for the input. Interactive output is line-buffered by default, in C, and if you want things to be predictable, then you need to output a '\n' or call fflush(stdout) when output needs to be displayed.
You would benefit from defining your variables closer to the time of use. Restricting the scope of your variables to the minimum feasible is generally good. For instance, in your main() function, your variable userChoiceSet is never used outside of the outer while loop, so define it inside with:
while (breakOutterLoop == 0) {
int userChoiceSet = chooseDataSet();
You don't check the return from calloc() anywhere - you must do this, because the allocation might fail. malloc() and friends return NULL on failure. There's also no real point using calloc(), here - malloc() would be more normal.
You seem to use while loops in places where for loops would be much more natural.
You haven't done too bad a job with this one, but you'll find writing larger programs easier if you make each function do just one thing. For instance, your minimum() function should just calculate the minimum, but right now it calculates it and prints it. Particularly when it comes to dealing with input in the wrong format (see point 9 below) wrapping this up in a separate function will make the functions that use that input much less cluttered, and it's easy to get a function correct and to visually debug it if it's not doing a bunch of different things at once. Also, your opportunity for reusing code goes up when you do this (e.g. right now you couldn't use that minimum() function at any place where you wanted to calculate the minimum without also printing it).
Overall, having one array for your values, and a second for their lengths, is not a good approach. Far better would be to have an array of structs, each struct having a member for the array, and a member for the length, so the two related pieces of data are packaged together.
Also, your use of scanf() is potentially troublesome. If you enter input that's not expected, your program will not fail gracefully. For instance, if you enter anything other than a number in your main menu, then you'll go into an infinite loop. Generally better is to use fgets() to read in an entire line, and use sscanf() to parse its contents. At a minimum, you should check the return from scanf() to see if it successfully read a value, and if it did not, take appropriate remedial action (like reading all the characters in the input buffer and going back to ask for more input).
Overall, bearing all of the above in mind except for the last two points, your createDataSets() function would be better looking something like this:
void createDataSets(float **inputArr, const int inputLength, int *lengths) {
for ( int i = 0; i < inputLength; ++i ) {
printf("Enter the number of values in this data set, "
"followed by the values: ");
fflush(stdout);
scanf("%d", &lengths[i]);
float * currentSet = malloc(lengths[i] * sizeof *currentSet);
if ( !currentSet ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory in createDataSets()");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
for ( int j = 0; j < lengths[i]; ++j ) {
scanf("%f", &currentSet[j]);
}
inputArr[i] = currentSet;
}
}
Much easier to debug, easier to follow, and easier to not get wrong in the first place.
Since I've got a bit of time on my hands, here's how I'd figure it:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <ctype.h>
/* Maximum length of input buffer */
#define MAX_LINE 1024
/* Dataset structure */
struct dataset {
float * data;
size_t length;
};
/* Gets a single integer from user */
int getInteger(const char * prompt)
{
int value;
bool first_try = true;
char buffer[MAX_LINE];
do {
printf("%s%s: ", first_try ? "" : "Try again - ", prompt);
fflush(stdout);
fgets(buffer, MAX_LINE, stdin);
first_try = false;
} while ( sscanf(buffer, "%d", &value) != 1 );
return value;
}
/* Gets a bounded integer from user */
int getBoundedInteger(const char * prompt, const int min, const int max)
{
bool bad_input;
int value;
do {
bad_input = false;
value = getInteger(prompt);
if ( value < min ) {
printf("Too low, try again - ");
bad_input = true;
}
else if ( value > max ) {
printf("Too high, try again - ");
bad_input = true;
}
} while ( bad_input );
return value;
}
/* Gets a list of floats from user - caller must free */
float * getFloats(const char * prompt, const int num)
{
float * values = malloc(num * sizeof *values);
if ( !values ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory in getFloats()");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
bool bad_input = false;
do {
printf("%s%s: ", bad_input ? "Try again - " : "", prompt);
fflush(stdout);
char buffer[MAX_LINE];
fgets(buffer, MAX_LINE, stdin);
char * ptr = buffer;
int num_read = 0;
bad_input = false;
while ( *ptr && num_read < num ) {
/* Skip leading whitespace */
while ( *ptr && isspace(*ptr) ) {
++ptr;
}
/* Get and check input */
char * endptr;
float val = strtof(ptr, &endptr);
if ( ptr == endptr ) {
bad_input = true;
break;
}
/* Advance ptr and store input if good */
ptr = endptr;
values[num_read++] = val;
}
if ( num_read < num ) {
bad_input = true;
}
} while ( bad_input );
return values;
}
/* Returns the number of data sets the user wants. */
int numOfDataSets(void)
{
return getInteger("Enter number of data sets");
}
/* Creates the data sets */
void createDataSets(struct dataset ** sets, const int set_length)
{
for ( int i = 0; i < set_length; ++i ) {
struct dataset * new_set = malloc(sizeof *new_set);
if ( !new_set ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory for dataset");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
new_set->length = getInteger("Enter number of values in set");
new_set->data = getFloats("Enter values", new_set->length);
sets[i] = new_set;
}
}
/* Gets the number of data set to choose */
int chooseDataSet(const int min, const int max)
{
return getBoundedInteger("Choose data set", min, max) - 1;
}
/* Gets a menu choice from the user */
int getOption(void)
{
printf("Enter one of the following numbers:\n");
printf("1. Find the minimum value\n");
printf("2. Find the maximum value\n");
printf("3. Calculate the sum of all the values\n");
printf("4. Calculate the average of all the values\n");
printf("5. Sort the values in ascending order\n");
printf("6. Output the data set\n");
printf("7. Select a different data set\n");
printf("8. Exit the program\n");
return getInteger("Choose option");
}
/* Returns the minimum value in a data set */
float minimum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float min = set->data[0];
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
if ( set->data[i] < min ) {
min = set->data[i];
}
}
return min;
}
/* Returns the maximum value in a data set */
float maximum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float max = set->data[0];
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
if ( set->data[i] > max ) {
max = set->data[i];
}
}
return max;
}
/* Returns the sum of the data in a dataset */
float sum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float sum = 0;
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i) {
sum += set->data[i];
}
return sum;
}
/* Returns the arithmetic average of the data in a dataset */
float average(const struct dataset * set)
{
float sum = 0;
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
sum += set->data[i];
}
return set->length > 0 ? sum / set->length : sum;
}
/* Sorts the elements of a dataset in place */
void sort(struct dataset * set)
{
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
for ( size_t j = i; j && set->data[j-1] > set->data[j]; --j ) {
float temp = set->data[j];
set->data[j] = set->data[j-1];
set->data[j-1] = temp;
}
}
}
/* Prints a dataset */
void print_set(const struct dataset * set) {
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
printf("%.4f ", set->data[i]);
}
putchar('\n');
}
/* Main function */
int main(void)
{
/* Get and initialize sets */
const int num_sets = numOfDataSets();
struct dataset ** sets = malloc(num_sets * sizeof *sets);
if ( !sets ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory for sets");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
createDataSets(sets, num_sets);
/* Main menu */
int chosen_set = chooseDataSet(1, num_sets);
bool keep_going = true;
while ( keep_going ) {
switch ( getOption() )
{
case 1:
printf("Minimum value is %f\n\n",
minimum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 2:
printf("Maximum value is %f\n\n",
maximum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 3:
printf("Sum of values is %f\n\n",
sum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 4:
printf("Average of values is %f\n\n",
average(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 5:
sort(sets[chosen_set]);
break;
case 6:
print_set(sets[chosen_set]);
break;
case 7:
chosen_set = chooseDataSet(1, num_sets);
break;
case 8:
keep_going = false;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
/* Free memory for sets */
for ( int i = 0; i < num_sets; ++i ) {
free(sets[i]->data);
free(sets[i]);
}
free(sets);
return 0;
}