finding a dangling pointer - c

Question

I have a problem with my code. I am getting a segmentation fault error, which I understand is a dangling pointer problem(generally) or a faulty allocation of memory. The compiler dose not show at what line the problem might be, so my question is how do I detect these problems for further concern? and where would my problem be in the code?
here is my code:
`#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(a) sizeof(a)/sizeof(a[0])
#define ALPHABET_SIZE (256)
#define CHAR_TO_INDEX(c) ((int)c - (int)'a')
#define LEVELS 255
// trie node
struct n
{
char value,level,isLeaf;
struct n* children[ALPHABET_SIZE];
struct n* failLink;
};
typedef struct n node;
//trie
struct t
{
node *root;
int count;
};
typedef struct t trie;
void bytesCpy(char *to, char *from, int len)
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<len;i++)
{
to[i]=from[i];
}
}
// Returns new trie node (initialized to NULLs)
node *getNode(trie *t, char value,char level)
{
node *pNode = NULL;
pNode = (node *)malloc(sizeof(node));
if (pNode)
{
printf("ok\n");
int i;
for (i = 0; i < ALPHABET_SIZE; i++)
{
pNode->children[i] = NULL;
}
pNode->failLink = t->root;
pNode->value=value;
pNode->level=level;
pNode->isLeaf=0;
}
else
printf("error\n");
return pNode;
}
// Initializes trie (root is dummy node)
void initialize(trie *t)
{
t->root = getNode(t, '[', 0);
//t->count = 0;
}
// If not present, inserts key into trie
// If the key is prefix of trie node, just marks leaf node
void insert(trie *t, char key[], int len)
{
int level;
char value;
node *node = t->root;
for (level = 0; level<len; level++)
{
value = key[level];
printf("value: %c\n",value);
if (node->children[value] == NULL)
{
node->children[value] = getNode(t, value, level+1);
}
node = node->children[value];
}
node->isLeaf=1;
}
// Returns non zero, if key presents in trie
int search(trie *t, char key[])
{
int level;
int length = strlen(key);
int value;
node *node;
node = t->root;
for (level = 0; level < length; level++)
{
value = key[level];//CHAR_TO_INDEX(key[level]);
if (!node->children[value])
{
node = node->failLink;
return 0;
}
node = node->children[value];
}
return (0 != node);// && node->value);
}
void search1(trie *t, char *c, int len)
{
node *curNode = t->root;
int i;
for(i=0; i<=len; i++)
{
printf("i=%d curnode=%p\n",i,curNode);
if(curNode->isLeaf) //leaf: cuvant gasit
{
printf("if1 curGasit \n");
do{
curNode=curNode->failLink;
if(curNode->isLeaf)
printf("if1 curGasit \n");
else break;
}while(1);
continue;
}
else //nu e gasit inca
{
if(curNode->children[c[i]]==NULL) //fail
{
printf("if2\n");
curNode = curNode->failLink;
continue;
}
else //litera gasita: go on
{
printf("el2\n");
curNode=curNode->children[c[i]];
}
}
}
printf("end of search\n");
}
node* searchAux(trie *t, node *curRoot, char cuv[], char len, int level ,int failLevel)
{
char cuvAux[1024];
bytesCpy(cuvAux,cuv,len);
printf("searchAux level:%d cuvAux:%s curRootLevel:%d\n",level,cuvAux,curRoot->level);
if(cuvAux[level+1] == '\0') //got to the end of cuvAux
{
printf("1st if\n");
return curRoot;
}
if(curRoot->children[cuvAux[level+1]] == NULL) //fail: letter not found
{
printf("3rd if\n");
return searchAux(t, t->root, &cuvAux[failLevel+1], len, 0, failLevel+1);
}
else //letter found: go on
{
printf("3rd else\n");
if(cuvAux[level+2] == '\0') //the found letter was the last of the string
{
printf("4th if\n");
return curRoot->children[cuvAux[level+1]]; //return final pointer
}
else //the found letter was not the last of the string: continue with the next one
{
printf("4th else\n");
return searchAux(t, curRoot->children[cuvAux[level+1]], cuvAux, len, level+1, failLevel);
}
}
}
void createFailLinks(trie *t, node* curRoot, char cuv[], int level)
{
int i;
char cuvAux[1024];
bytesCpy(cuvAux,cuv,1024);
if(curRoot == NULL)
return;
for(i=0;i<ALPHABET_SIZE/*curRoot->children[i] != NULL*/;i++)
{
if(curRoot->children[i] == NULL)
continue;
else
{
cuvAux[level] = curRoot->children[i]->value;
printf("createFailLinks %c%d\n",cuvAux[level],curRoot->children[i]->level);
curRoot->children[i]->failLink = searchAux(t, t->root, cuvAux, level+1, 0, 0);
createFailLinks(t,curRoot->children[i],cuvAux,level+1);
}
}
printf("got\n");
}
void printTrie(node *curRoot)
{
int i;
if(curRoot == NULL)
return;
printf("%c: ", curRoot->value);
for(i=0;i<ALPHABET_SIZE;i++)
if(curRoot->children[i] != NULL)
{
printf("%c ", i);
}
printf("\n");
for(i=0;i<ALPHABET_SIZE;i++)
if(curRoot->children[i] != NULL)
{
printTrie(curRoot->children[i]);
}
}
void checkLinks(node* curRoot)
{
int i;
if(curRoot == NULL)
return;
printf("node %c%d: ",curRoot->value,curRoot->level);
for(i=0;i<256;i++)
if(curRoot->children[i] != NULL)
printf("\n\t%c%d:%c%d",curRoot->children[i]->value, curRoot->children[i]->level, curRoot->children[i]->failLink->value,curRoot->children[i]->failLink->level);
printf("\n");
for(i=0;i<256;i++)
if(curRoot->children[i] != NULL)
checkLinks(curRoot->children[i]);
}
int mai()
{
FILE *fd = fopen("VirusDatabase.txt","r");//O_RDONLY);
int i;
char c;
for(i=0;i<1000;i++)
{
fscanf(fd, "%c", &c);
printf("%c",c);
}
}
int main()
{
// Input keys (use only 'a' through 'z' and lower case)
char keys[][1024] = { "he", "she", "her", "his", "heres"};
char cuv[] = {'\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0'};
trie t;
char output[][32] = { "Not present in trie", "Present in trie" };
int i;
char text[]={"andreiherutshevlastashecristihiskatjaheres"};
initialize(&t);
// Construct trie
for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(keys); i++)
{
insert(&t, keys[i], strlen(keys[i]));
}
createFailLinks(&t, t.root, cuv, 0);
printTrie(t.root);
printf("\n\n");
checkLinks(t.root);
search1(&t, text, strlen(text));
return 0;
// Search for different keys
printf("%s --- %s\n", "abcd", output[search(&t, "abcd")]);
printf("%s --- %s\n", "ab", output[search(&t, "ab")]);
printf("%s --- %s\n", "ccdd", output[search(&t, "ccdd")]);
printf("%s --- %s\n", "thaw", output[search(&t, "thaw")]);
return 0;
char a = getchar();
}`

Answer 1

Do you have access to a debugger? I ran your code in a debugger and get a memory access violation at line 157 here:
return searchAux(t, t->root, &cuvAux[failLevel+1], len, 0, failLevel+1);
You seem to be recursively calling searchAux. ie you have:
node* searchAux(trie *t, node *curRoot, char cuv[], char len, int level ,int failLevel)
{
char cuvAux[1024];
...
return searchAux(t, t->root, &cuvAux[failLevel+1], len, 0, failLevel+1);
...
Anyway, eventually the buffer size variable failLevel exceeds the size of your buffer so you are attempting to access memory outside the bounds of your array which is why you get an access violation.
The easiest way to debug is use an interactive debugger. On Windows there is a free version of Visual Studio with a very good debugger. On linux you can use GDB.
Failing that you can embed print statements to print out variables before the crash.

Answer 2

You can add print statements at lines of code.
#include <iostream>
std::cout << "At Line: " << __LINE__ << endl;
putting that at various lines of code, you can see what lines got executed, and find where it crashes.
This is for C++. My bad. Same idea, but put printf() statements and see where it stopped executing to narrow down the crash location.