Segmentation fault while processing argv - c

Question

This procedure should convert a string that contains a set of double numbers separated by comma (e.g. 7.2,9.5,-5.515) to a vector of double type.
void ToDoubleVec(int d,const char* commaSeparated,double *result)
{
int i;
result[0]=atof(strtok(commaSeparated,","));
for(i=1;i<d;i++)
result[i]=atof(strtok(NULL,","));
}
Here is the snippet of program that calls it:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
int main(int argc,char** argv)
{
...
int i,dim=atoi(argv[1]);
double *lower;
lower = malloc(dim*sizeof(double));
ToDoubleVec(dim,argv[2],lower);
...
}
Debugger's output:
40 lower = malloc(dim*sizeof(double));
(gdb) s
42 ToDoubleVec(dim,argv[2],lower);
(gdb) s
ToDoubleVec (d=2, commaSeparated=0x7fffffffe9d3 "2.3,-62.1", result=0x603010) at testPSO.c:11
11 result[0]=atof(strtok(commaSeparated,","));
(gdb) s
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x00007ffff77f56bb in ?? () from /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
Why doesn't it work? I was sure that I've allocated enough memory for the array and also parameters seems to be passed correctly.

Answer 1

You can reduce your code to this SSCCE (Short, Self-Contained, Correct Example), which crashes nicely when you leave out #include <string.h> and does not compile cleanly when you add #include <string.h>:
segv.c: In function ‘ToDoubleVec’:
segv.c:8:5: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘strtok’ [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
segv.c:8:20: warning: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
segv.c:14:20: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
Code:
#include <stdlib.h>
//#include <string.h>
static void ToDoubleVec(int d, const char* commaSeparated, double *result)
{
int i;
result[0] = atof(strtok(commaSeparated, ","));
for (i = 1; i < d; i++)
result[i] = atof(strtok(NULL, ","));
}
int main(void)
{
int dim = 2;
double *lower = malloc(dim*sizeof(double));
char arg[] = "7.2,9.5,-5.515";
ToDoubleVec(dim, arg, lower);
}
Passing the return value from a function such as strtok() which can return a null pointer directly to a function such as atof() which does not tolerate null pointers is foolhardy; it leads to crashes. If everything is correct, you'll be OK; if not, you'll crash and burn.
The unchecked memory allocation is a similar problem; you didn't even check that dim was non-zero (and non-negative) before doing the memory allocation in the original.
#include <assert.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
static void ToDoubleVec(int d, char *commaSeparated, double *result)
{
int i;
char *number = strtok(commaSeparated, ",");
if (number != 0)
{
result[0] = atof(number);
for (i = 1; i < d; i++)
{
number = strtok(NULL, ",");
if (number != 0)
result[i] = atof(number);
}
}
}
int main(void)
{
int dim = 2;
double *lower = malloc(dim*sizeof(double));
char arg[] = "7.2,9.5,-5.515";
assert(lower != 0);
ToDoubleVec(dim, arg, lower);
}
You could — and in one version of the code I did — add error printing to report if the tests on number failed. But the crash is caused by the implicit declaration of strtok() as returning int and not char *.

Answer 2

I have tried to compile your code, and the compiler warned me that strtok() takes as input a char* and not a const char*. Then I have tried this code, and it is working correctly:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
void ToDoubleVec(int d, char* commaSeparated,double *result);
int main(int argc,char** argv)
{
int i,dim=atoi(argv[1]);
double *lower;
lower = malloc(dim*sizeof(double));
ToDoubleVec(dim,argv[2],lower);
for (i=0; i<dim; ++i) {
printf("%f\n", lower[i]);
}
return 0;
}
void ToDoubleVec(int d, char* commaSeparated,double *result)
{
int i;
result[0]=atof(strtok(commaSeparated,","));
for(i=1;i<d;i++)
result[i]=atof(strtok(NULL,","));
}
So try to change const char* to char*, and check the input you pass to your program, maybe it is not correct and this could be the problem.