Program printing Windows paths? - c

Question

I can't figure out why my program is outputting seemingly random Windows paths as shown below.
\maven, : ORS=4 (id: 4677968)
m32\cmd.exe, ò: Æ (id: 5525087)
, : (id: 4653392)
It does this when looping through an array of structures I have and displaying the values inside. Funny thing is though that it works perfectly. If I add 5 entries, it still displays all of them accurately. Yet it prints the random paths shown above before everything else.
I'm going to attach the whole program because I honestly don't know where to narrow the problem down to. I'm new to C and especially new to manually handling memory. So that may be where the problem lies. Thanks ahead of time.
The program:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
// Define structures
typedef struct Contact
{
int id;
char fname[24];
char lname[24];
char number[16];
} Contact;
typedef struct Phonebook
{
Contact* contacts;
int contacts_length;
int id_tracking;
} Phonebook;
// Define prototypes
Phonebook addContact(Phonebook);
Phonebook removeContact(Phonebook); // removeContact() prompts the user for information about whom they want to remove.
void viewContacts(Phonebook);
void exportContacts(Phonebook);
Contact findEntry(int, Phonebook);
Phonebook removeEntry(int, Phonebook); // removeEntry() can be called to explicitly remove the entry with the passed in integer id.
int main()
{
// Define variables
int menuChoice = 0, status = 1;
Phonebook phonebook;
phonebook.contacts = (Contact*) malloc(sizeof(Contact));
// Check memory allocation
if(phonebook.contacts == NULL)
{
printf("\nFatal error: Out of memory... now exiting.");
return;
}
// Handle the user
do
{
// Begin collecting and assigning data
printf("\nContact Menu\n");
printf("\n(1.) Add contact");
printf("\n(2.) Remove contact");
printf("\n(3.) View contacts");
printf("\n(4.) Export contacts");
printf("\n(5.) Exit");
printf("\n\nPlease choose a menu option (enter the number): ");
scanf("%d", &menuChoice);
// Interpret menu choice
switch(menuChoice)
{
case 1:
// Begin adding contact
phonebook = addContact(phonebook);
status = 1;
break;
case 2:
phonebook = removeContact(phonebook);
status = 1;
break;
case 3:
viewContacts(phonebook);
status = 1;
break;
case 4:
exportContacts(phonebook);
status = 1;
break;
case 5:
// Free memory
free(phonebook.contacts);
// See ya!
printf("\nGoodbye!");
status = 0;
break;
default:
printf("I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand that. Please try again.");
status = 1;
break;
}
}
while(status != 0);
// Return 0 for exit
return 0;
}
Phonebook addContact(Phonebook phonebook)
{
// Clear screen first
system("cls");
// Define contact and set random id
Contact entry;
entry.id = phonebook.id_tracking;
phonebook.id_tracking++;
// Obtain information
printf("First name (24 characters max): ");
scanf("%s", &entry.fname);
printf("Last name (24 characters max): ");
scanf("%s", &entry.lname);
printf("Telephone number (recommended format: ###-###-####): ");
scanf("%s", &entry.number);
// Handle memory allocation
if(phonebook.contacts_length > 1)
{
phonebook.contacts = (Contact*) realloc(phonebook.contacts, sizeof(Contact) * (phonebook.contacts_length + 1));
}
// Save the contact to the array and count up
phonebook.contacts[phonebook.contacts_length] = entry;
phonebook.contacts_length++;
printf("Contact saved!\n");
return phonebook;
}
Phonebook removeContact(Phonebook phonebook)
{
// First check to make sure they have saved contacts
if(phonebook.contacts_length < 1)
{
// No contacts saved, tell them
printf("\nYou haven't saved any contacts.\n");
return;
}
// Define variables
int i, chosenId = 0;
// Display contacts with their ids
for(i = 0; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact entry = phonebook.contacts[i];
printf("\n%s, %s (id: %d)", entry.lname, entry.fname, entry.id);
}
// Handle removal
printf("\n\nPlease enter the ID of the contact you would like to remove: ");
scanf("%d", &chosenId);
// Remove
Phonebook updatedPhonebook = removeEntry(chosenId, phonebook);
printf("Contact removed!\n");
return updatedPhonebook;
}
void viewContacts(Phonebook phonebook)
{
// First check to make sure they have saved contacts
if(phonebook.contacts_length < 1)
{
// No contacts saved, tell them
printf("\nYou haven't saved any contacts.\n");
return;
}
// Define variables
int i;
// Display contacts with their ids
for(i = 0; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact entry = phonebook.contacts[i];
printf("\n%s, %s: %s (id: %d)", entry.lname, entry.fname, entry.number, entry.id);
}
printf("\n");
return;
}
/*
* Experimenting with I/O in C
*/
void exportContacts(Phonebook phonebook)
{
// First check to make sure they have saved contacts
if(phonebook.contacts_length < 1)
{
// No contacts saved, tell them
printf("\nYou have no contacts to be exported.\n");
return;
}
// Define and initialize variables
int i;
char outputName[] = "contacts.txt";
FILE *contactFile = fopen(outputName, "w");
// Print message
printf("\nExporting contacts to .txt file... ");
// Print to the file
for(i = 0; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact entry = phonebook.contacts[i];
fprintf(contactFile, "%s, %s (id: %d): %s\n", entry.lname, entry.fname, entry.id, entry.number);
}
// Close the file
fclose(contactFile);
// Done
printf("Done!");
printf("\nData exported to contacts.txt located where this program was launched.");
}
Contact findEntry(int id, Phonebook phonebook)
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact entry = phonebook.contacts[i];
if(entry.id == id)
{
return entry;
}
}
}
Phonebook removeEntry(int id, Phonebook phonebook)
{
// Define variables
int i, positionToFree;
// Search for the index of the entry to remove
for(i = 0; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact entry = phonebook.contacts[i];
if(entry.id == id)
{
positionToFree = i; // This is the position to be freed
}
// We've found what we need, break now
break;
}
// Loop starting at that entry and remove
for(i = positionToFree; i < phonebook.contacts_length; i++)
{
Contact temp = phonebook.contacts[i + 1];
phonebook.contacts[i] = temp;
}
// Count down for contacts_length
phonebook.contacts_length--;
// Return the updated contacts
return phonebook;
}

Answer 1

This sounds like undefined behaviour.
You never initialise phonebook.contacts_length. It could have any value. When you go to add an entry, it's quite possible that the realloc call fails. You don't check the return value, so you wouldn't know.
Bad juju.