I was wondering why the following code isnt't working
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
test = "testingonly";
free(test);
}
After thinking about it my assumption was that first i allocate space for 12 chars in memory but the assignment in the next line creates a char array on the stack and the memory address of that is passed to test. So free() tries to release space on the stack which is not allowed. Is that correct?
So what would be the correct approach to save a string on the heap? Is the following a common way?
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
strcpy(test, "testingonly");
free(test);
}
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
test--->|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| (uninitialized memory, heap)
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
test = "testingonly";
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
test + |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+->|t|e|s|t|i|n|g|o|n|l|y|0|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
free(test); // error, because test is no longer pointing to allocated space.
Instead of changing the pointer test, you need to copy the string "testingonly" into the allocated place using e.g. strcpy or use strdup. Note that functions like malloc and strdup return NULL if insufficient memory is available, and thus should be checked.
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
strcpy(test, "testingonly");
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
test--->|t|e|s|t|i|n|g|o|n|l|y|0|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
or
char *test = strdup("testingonly");
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
test--->|t|e|s|t|i|n|g|o|n|l|y|0|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
You answered your question already. Essentially , strcpy is the appropriate way of copying string.
The first version doesn't create a string on the stack, but you're correct that you're not allowed to free it after the assignment. String literals are usually stored in constant/read-only sections of memory. The assignment doesn't copy anything, just makes test point to that area of memory. You cannot free it. You also cannot modify that string.
Your second piece of code is correct and usual. You might want to also look into strdup if your implementation has that.
Well you are correct. Now lets examine first piece of code.
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
Above code is no issues.
test = "testingonly";
Here you modified the pointer test leading to memory leak. And when you try to free you are not freeing actual allocated pointer but one "testingonly" literal pointing to. Literal points to constant memory which cannot be overridden in usual scenarios.
Now about second piece of code, this will work fine as you explicitly copied data from where literal is residing to heap where your test is pointing.
To your second point yes strcpy is a usual way. Other ways are 'memcpy' if you are copying raw bytes.
NOTE: Literals are not stored on stack. But you cannot modify location where literals are stored.
the code
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char *test = (char*) malloc(12*sizeof(char));
strcpy(test, "testingonly");
printf("string is: %s\n",test);
free(test);
return 0;
}
will work
This is for allocating the memory:
char *string;
string = (char *) malloc(15);
This is for saving the data:
strcpy(str, "kavitajain");
printf("String = %s, Address = %u\n", str, str);
Related
I just started to learn memory management in C, and I didn't understand something. I want to allocate memory to a buffer that holds 12 bytes. which is the exact size of Hello World! without null terminator.
Then I want to append a string to the current string with strcat, and of course I cannot do that because I will get core dumped error.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
char mystr[12] = "Hello World!";
# allocate memory to mystr?
char *ptr = (char*) malloc(13 * sizeof(char));
strcat(mystr, "Hello");
return 0;
}
So, I don't know how can I allocate memory to the mystr variable if malloc doesn't take any other arguments except the target size.
I don't know how can I allocate memory to the mystr variable if malloc doesn't take any other arguments except the target size.
It is not possible to allocate extra memory to an array. Instead, what you want to do is allocate a new block of memory, copying the original string into the beginning of that memory (strcpy), then append the rest (strcat):
char *p = (char*) malloc((12 + 5 + 1) * sizeof(char));
strcpy(p, myptr);
strcat(p, "Hello");
12 for the first string, plus 5 for the second, plus one for the null-terminator.
Of course, since you know the final size, you could also simply allocate a big enough array instead of using malloc (and you can also use memcpy, too).
The problem should be that a string in C always end with a NULL character (also noted '\0'), so your string is actually 13 characters long. (That character is always automatically added with string literals and serves at telling where the string stops, because a string doesn't have a fixed length.)
So the strcat tries to read the string Hello world! followed by garbage (since the null-terminator is not included in the string).
P.S.: the error is not the core dumped but the Segmentation fault that precedes it, and this tells you that you are trying to change something in a segment you are not supposed to change (or execute/read something you are not supposed to -- this is a security feature).
Edit: after modifying the string mystr, you also need to change the length you allocate (in the malloc: use 13 * sizeof(char), or more simply here in this case sizeof(mystr)).
P.S. 2: also comments in C are started by //, not # (those are preprocessor directives).
you cant change the size of the array. mystr has to be also dynamically allocated.
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
const char *ptr = "Hello World!";
const char *ptr2 = "hello";
char *mystr = malloc(strlen(ptr)+1);
strcpy(mystr, ptr);
mystr = realloc(mystr, strlen(mystr) + strlen(ptr2) + 1);
strcat(mystr, ptr2);
return 0;
}
I'm writing my own strcpy due to the fact that the default one in string.h only accept a const char * as a source string to copy from.
I'm trying this very basic prototype (yes, the return isn't meaningful, I'm just trying things):
int copyStrings(char * dest, char * source){
int i=0;
while(source[i]!='\0'){
dest[i]=source[i];
i++;
}
dest[i]='\0';
return 0;
}
and it gives me SIGSEGV, Segmentation Fault error in gdb, at the line dest[i]=source[i], right at the first character. I'm pretty sure dest[i] isn't a string literal, so I should be able to modify it.
What am I doing wrong?
EDIT: here's the calling
int main(){
char * str = (char*)malloc((int)sizeof(double));
char * str2 = (char *)malloc((int)sizeof(int));
str = "hello";
str2 = "hey jude";
copyStrings(str2, str);
free(str);
free(str2);
return 0;
}
This is assigning a string literal to str2 - the very thing that you claim you aren't doing. This is actually the cause of your segfault.
str2 = "hey jude";
It also is causing a memory leak as prior to this, you malloc'd some memory and assigned it to str2 as well. But not enough memory to hold the string. Typically an int is 4 bytes and you need 9 bytes to store that string.
What you want to do is this, which allocates as many bytes as there are in the string, plus an extra one to store the \0 terminating character at the end.
str2 = malloc(strlen("hey jude")+1);
strcpy(str2,"hey jude");
or on some systems you can use POSIX function strdup() which effectively does the job of the above in one handy function call.
str2 = strdup("hey jude");
Let's go at it line by line and see where it goes wrong:
int main(){
char * str = (char*)malloc((int)sizeof(double));
char * str2 = (char *)malloc((int)sizeof(int));
str = "hello";
str2 = "hey jude";
copyStrings(str2, str);
free(str);
free(str2);
return 0;
}
int main(){ - this is an improper definition of main. Should be int main(int argc, char **argv)
char * str = (char*)malloc((int)sizeof(double)); - defines str, then allocates (probably) 8 bytes of memory and assigns its address to str. malloc takes a size_t argument, so the cast (int)sizeof(double) is incorrect. Also, in C the return value of malloc should never be cast. So this line should be char * str = malloc(sizeof(double));
char * str2 = (char *)malloc((int)sizeof(int)); - all the same problems as the preceding line. Should be char *str2 = malloc(sizeof(int));
str = "hello"; - causes a memory leak, because the memory you JUST ALLOCATED two lines earlier is now irretrievably lost. You've got two options here - either don't allocate the memory when defining str or free it first. Let's do the latter:
free(str);
str = "hello";
str2 = "hey jude"; - same problem, similar solution:
free(str2);
str2 = "hey jude";
copyStrings(str2, str); - here you're telling your routine to copy the constant string "hello" over the top of the constant string "hey jude". This will work fine on some systems, but will blow up on other systems. The question is in the treatment of the constant string "hey jude". If it's stored in modifiable memory the code will work just fine. If it's stored in memory which is marked as being unmodifiable, however, it will blow up. It seems that the latter is the case on your system. To fix this you probably want to go back to the previous line and change it to
str2 = malloc(20);
That's more memory than you'll need, but it will work just fine.
free(str); - you're attempting to free the constant string "hello", which is not dynamically allocated memory. This needed to be done prior to the assignment str = "hello";.
free(str2; - same problem as above. This needed to be done prior to the assignment str2 = "hey jude";.
} - correct
Best of luck.
This question already has answers here:
Difference between char[] and char * in C [duplicate]
(3 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I think I know the answer to my own question but I would like to have confirmation that I understand this perfectly.
I wrote a function that returns a string. I pass a char* as a parameter, and the function modifies the pointer.
It works fine and here is the code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
void get_file_name(char* file_name_out)
{
char file_name[12+1];
char dir_name[50+12+1];
strcpy(file_name, "name.xml");
strcpy(dir_name, "/home/user/foo/bar/");
strcat(dir_name, file_name);
strcpy(file_name_out, dir_name); // Clarity - equivalent to a return
}
int main()
{
char file_name[100];
get_file_name(file_name);
printf(file_name);
return 0;
}
But if I replace char file_name[100]; by char *filename; or char *filename = "";, I get a segmentation fault in strcpy().
I am not sure why ?
My function takes a char* as a parameter and so does strcpy().
As far as I understand, char *filename = ""; creates a read-only string. strcpy() is then trying to write into a read-only variable, which is not allowed so the error makes sense.
But what happens when I write char *filename; ? My guess is that enough space to fit a pointer to a char is allocated on the stack, so I could write only one single character where my file_name_out points. A call to strcpy() would try to write at least 2, hence the error.
It would explain why the following code compiles and yields the expected output:
void foo(char* a, char* b)
{
*a = *b;
}
int main()
{
char a = 'A', b = 'B';
printf("a = %c, b = %c\n", a, b);
foo(&a, &b);
printf("a = %c, b = %c\n", a, b);
return 0;
}
On the other hand, if I use char file_name[100];, I allocate enough room on the stack for 100 characters, so strcpy() can happily write into file_name_out.
Am I right ?
As far as I understand, char *filename = ""; creates a read-only
string. strcpy() is then trying to write into a read-only variable,
which is not allowed so the error makes sense.
Yes, that's right. It is inherently different from declaring a character array. Initializing a character pointer to a string literal makes it read-only; attempting to change the contents of the string leads to UB.
But what happens when I write char *filename; ? My guess is that
enough space to fit a pointer to a char is allocated on the stack, so
I could write only one single character into my file_name_out
variable.
You allocate enough space to store a pointer to a character, and that's it. You can't write to *filename, not even a single character, because you didn't allocate space to store the contents pointed to by *filename. If you want to change the contents pointed to by filename, first you must initialize it to point to somewhere valid.
I think the issue here is that
char string[100];
allocates memory to string - which you can access using string as pointer
but
char * string;
does not allocate any memory to string so you get a seg fault.
to get memory you could use
string = calloc(100,sizeo(char));
for example, but you would need to remember at the end to free the memory with
free(string);
or you could get a memory leak.
another memory allocation route is with malloc
So in summary
char string[100];
is equivalent to
char * string;
string = calloc(100,sizeo(char));
...
free(string);
although strictly speaking calloc initializes all elements to zero, whereas in the string[100] decalaration the array elements are undefined unless you use
string[100]={}
if you use malloc instead to grad the memory the contents are undefined.
Another point made by #PaulRooney is that char string[100] gives memory allocation on the stack whereas calloc uses the heap. For more information about the heap and stack see this question and answers...
char file_name[100]; creates a contiguous array of 100 chars. In this case file_name is a pointer of type (char*) which points to the first element in the array.
char* file_name; creates a pointer. However, it is not initialized to a particular memory address. Further, this expression does not allocate memory.
char *filename;
Allocate nothing. Its just a pointer pointing to an unspecified location (the value is whatever was in that memory previously). Using this pointer will never work as it probably points outside the memory range your program is allowed to use.
char *filename = "";
Points to a piece of the programs data segment. As you already said it's read only and so attempting to change it leads to the segfault.
In your final example you are dealing with single char values, not strings of char values and your function foo treats them as such. So there is no issue with the length of buffers the char* values point to.
Below is my code
#import <stdio.h>
#import <string.h>
int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
char *str = "First string";
char *str2 = "Second string";
strcpy(str, str2);
return 0;
}
It compiles just fine without any warning or errors, but when I run the code I get the error below
Bus error: 10
What did I miss ?
For one, you can't modify string literals. It's undefined behavior.
To fix that you can make str a local array:
char str[] = "First string";
Now, you will have a second problem, is that str isn't large enough to hold str2. So you will need to increase the length of it. Otherwise, you will overrun str - which is also undefined behavior.
To get around this second problem, you either need to make str at least as long as str2. Or allocate it dynamically:
char *str2 = "Second string";
char *str = malloc(strlen(str2) + 1); // Allocate memory
// Maybe check for NULL.
strcpy(str, str2);
// Always remember to free it.
free(str);
There are other more elegant ways to do this involving VLAs (in C99) and stack allocation, but I won't go into those as their use is somewhat questionable.
As #SangeethSaravanaraj pointed out in the comments, everyone missed the #import. It should be #include:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
There is no space allocated for the strings. use array (or) pointers with malloc() and free()
Other than that
#import <stdio.h>
#import <string.h>
should be
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
NOTE:
anything that is malloc()ed must be free()'ed
you need to allocate n + 1 bytes for a string which is of length n (the last byte is for \0)
Please you the following code as a reference
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
//char *str1 = "First string";
char *str1 = "First string is a big string";
char *str2 = NULL;
if ((str2 = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen(str1) + 1)) == NULL) {
printf("unable to allocate memory \n");
return -1;
}
strcpy(str2, str1);
printf("str1 : %s \n", str1);
printf("str2 : %s \n", str2);
free(str2);
return 0;
}
str2 is pointing to a statically allocated constant character array. You can't write to it/over it. You need to dynamically allocate space via the *alloc family of functions.
string literals are non-modifiable in C
Your code attempts to overwrite a string literal. This is undefined behaviour.
There are several ways to fix this:
use malloc() then strcpy() then free();
turn str into an array and use strcpy();
use strdup().
this is because str is pointing to a string literal means a constant string ...but you are trying to modify it by copying .
Note : if it would have been an error due to memory allocation it would have been given segmentation fault at the run time .But this error is coming due to constant string modification or you can go through the below for more details abt bus error :
Bus errors are rare nowadays on x86 and occur when your processor cannot even attempt the memory access requested, typically:
using a processor instruction with an address that does not satisfy
its alignment requirements.
Segmentation faults occur when accessing memory which does not belong to your process, they are very common and are typically the result of:
using a pointer to something that was deallocated.
using an uninitialized hence bogus pointer.
using a null pointer.
overflowing a buffer.
To be more precise this is not manipulating the pointer itself that will cause issues, it's accessing the memory it points to (dereferencing).
Let me explain why you do you got this error "Bus error: 10"
char *str1 = "First string";
// for this statement the memory will be allocated into the CODE/TEXT segment which is READ-ONLY
char *str2 = "Second string";
// for this statement the memory will be allocated into the CODE/TEXT segment which is READ-ONLY
strcpy(str1, str2);
// This function will copy the content from str2 into str1, this is not possible because you are try to perform READ WRITE operation inside the READ-ONLY segment.Which was the root cause
If you want to perform string manipulation use automatic variables(STACK segment) or dynamic variables(HEAP segment)
Vasanth
Whenever you are using pointer variables ( the asterix ) such as
char *str = "First string";
you need to asign memory to it
str = malloc(strlen(*str))
None of the mentioned solution, worked for me as I couldn't find where the error was coming from. So, I simply deleted my node_modules and re-installed it. And the error disappeared; my code started working again
I'm specifically focused on when to use malloc on char pointers
char *ptr;
ptr = "something";
...code...
...code...
ptr = "something else";
Would a malloc be in order for something as trivial as this? If yes, why? If not, then when is it necessary for char pointers?
As was indicated by others, you don't need to use malloc just to do:
const char *foo = "bar";
The reason for that is exactly that *foo is a pointer — when you initialize foo you're not creating a copy of the string, just a pointer to where "bar" lives in the data section of your executable. You can copy that pointer as often as you'd like, but remember, they're always pointing back to the same single instance of that string.
So when should you use malloc? Normally you use strdup() to copy a string, which handles the malloc in the background. e.g.
const char *foo = "bar";
char *bar = strdup(foo); /* now contains a new copy of "bar" */
printf("%s\n", bar); /* prints "bar" */
free(bar); /* frees memory created by strdup */
Now, we finally get around to a case where you may want to malloc if you're using sprintf() or, more safely snprintf() which creates / formats a new string.
char *foo = malloc(sizeof(char) * 1024); /* buffer for 1024 chars */
snprintf(foo, 1024, "%s - %s\n", "foo", "bar"); /* puts "foo - bar\n" in foo */
printf(foo); /* prints "foo - bar" */
free(foo); /* frees mem from malloc */
malloc is for allocating memory on the free-store. If you have a string literal that you do not want to modify the following is ok:
char *literal = "foo";
However, if you want to be able to modify it, use it as a buffer to hold a line of input and so on, use malloc:
char *buf = (char*) malloc(BUFSIZE); /* define BUFSIZE before */
// ...
free(buf);
Use malloc() when you don't know the amount of memory needed during compile time. In case if you have read-only strings then you can use const char* str = "something"; . Note that the string is most probably be stored in a read-only memory location and you'll not be able to modify it. On the other hand if you know the string during compiler time then you can do something like: char str[10]; strcpy(str, "Something"); Here the memory is allocated from stack and you will be able to modify the str. Third case is allocating using malloc. Lets say you don'r know the length of the string during compile time. Then you can do char* str = malloc(requiredMem); strcpy(str, "Something"); free(str);
malloc for single chars or integers and calloc for dynamic arrays. ie pointer = ((int *)malloc(sizeof(int)) == NULL), you can do arithmetic within the brackets of malloc but you shouldnt because you should use calloc which has the definition of void calloc(count, size)which means how many items you want to store ie count and size of data ie int , char etc.
Everytime the size of the string is undetermined at compile time you have to allocate memory with malloc (or some equiviallent method). In your case you know the size of your strings at compile time (sizeof("something") and sizeof("something else")).