Memory issue in C where data is being overwritten - c

I've the following program:
// required include statements...
static char ***out;
char* get_parameter(char* key)
{
char *querystr = /*getenv("QUERY_STRING")*/ "abcdefg=abcdefghi";
if (querystr == NULL)
return (void*)0;
char s[strlen(querystr)] ;
strcpy(s, querystr);
const char delim = '&';
const char delim2 = '=';
static size_t size = 0;
if (out == 0)
{
out = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char*));
size = split(s, &delim, out);
}
int i=0;
for (; i<size; i++)
{
if ((*out)[i] != NULL)
{
char ***iout = NULL;
iout = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char*));
int isize = split((*out)[i], &delim2, iout);
if (isize > 1 && ((*iout)[1]) != NULL && strcmp(key, (*iout)[0]) == 0)
{
size_t _size = strlen((*iout)[1]);
char* value = (char*) malloc(_size*sizeof(char));
strcpy(value, (*iout)[1]);
free(iout);
return value;
}
}
}
return (void*) 0;
}
static size_t count(const char *str, char ch)
{
if (str == NULL) return 0;
size_t count = 1;
while (*str)
if (*str++ == ch) count++;
return count;
}
size_t split(const char *const str, const char* delim, char ***out)
{
size_t size = count(str, *delim);
*out = calloc(size, sizeof(char));
char* token = NULL;
char* tmp = (char*) str;
int i=0;
while ((token = strtok(tmp, delim)) != NULL)
{
tmp = NULL;
(*out)[i] = (char*) malloc(sizeof strlen(token));
strcpy((*out)[i++], token);
}
return size;
}
main()
{
char* val = get_parameter("abcdefg");
printf("%s\n", val); // it should prints `abcdefghi`, but it prints `abcd?`
free(val);
}
as appears in the main method, the function get_parameter should prints abcdefghi, but it prints abcd? where ? is a controls character with value of 17.
Why the reset of string is not printed? I think I mis-used the malloc to allocate appropriate space.
Also, is there any tool that I can use to know the internal representation of memory for my pointers?

You're dealing with C-Strings here. You must consider 1 additional byte for the NULL-termination ('\0')
Therefore:
char s[strlen(querystr)] ;
strcpy(s, querystr);
Is incorrect.
strlen will return 4 for string "abcd" but what you want is to allocate space for "abcd\0"
So you need strlen + 1

The lines
out = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char*));
iout = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char*));
are a problem.
sizeof() returns the number of bytes required to store an object of the given type, in this case, the size of a pointer (to a char). malloc() then allocates that many bytes (apparently 4 bytes on your architecture). To fix this, you need to give malloc the desired string length instead of using sizeof.
Additionally, the line
char* value = (char*) malloc(_size*sizeof(char));
has a completely unnecessary use of sizeof(). sizeof(char) is guaranteed by the standard to be 1.

You should use gdb to run your binary step by step and see what's wrong.
Valgrind is a very good tools, it will tell you what's line overwrite in memory, etc..

Related

How do I dynamically create an array of strings using scanf in C

So I have been searching through stack overflow for a little over an hour and I don't understand why this function is giving me a segmentation error. I want to create a string array, scan strings in through scanf, dynamically change the size of each string and return the string array. Can anyone help? Thank you.
char** readScores(int* count) {
int c = 0;
char** arr =(char**)malloc(100 * sizeof(char*));
char* in;
while(scanf("%s", in) != EOF) {
arr[c] = (char*)malloc(strlen(in)+1);
strcpy(arr[c], in);
}
*count = c;
return arr;
}
char* in;
while(scanf("%s", in) != EOF) {
This tells the computer to read from standard input into the char buffer that in points to.
Which does not exist, because in is not initialised to anything (let alone a valid buffer).
I would not use scanf only fgets.
You need to allocate memory dor the arr and for every line referenced by elements of arr
char** readScores(size_t *count) {
size_t lines = 0;
char** arr = NULL, **tmp;
char* in = malloc(MAXLINE), *result;
size_t len;
if(in)
{
do{
result = fgets(in, MAXLINE, stdin);
if(result)
{
len = strlen(in);
tmp = realloc(arr, sizeof(*tmp) * (lines + 1));
if(tmp)
{
arr = tmp;
len = strlen(in);
arr[lines] = malloc(len + (len == 0));
if(arr[lines])
{
if(len) memcpy(arr[lines], in, len - 1);
arr[lines++][len] = 0;
}
else
{
// error handling
}
}
else
{
// error handling
}
}
}while(result);
free(in);
}
*count = lines;
return arr;
}

Copying specific number of characters from a string to another

I have a variable length string that I am trying to divide from plus signs and study on:
char string[] = "var1+vari2+varia3";
for (int i = 0; i != sizeof(string); i++) {
memcpy(buf, string[0], 4);
buf[9] = '\0';
}
since variables are different in size I am trying to write something that is going to take string into loop and extract (divide) variables. Any suggestions ? I am expecting result such as:
var1
vari2
varia3
You can use strtok() to break the string by delimiter
char string[]="var1+vari2+varia3";
const char delim[] = "+";
char *token;
/* get the first token */
token = strtok(string, delim);
/* walk through other tokens */
while( token != NULL ) {
printf( " %s\n", token );
token = strtok(NULL, delim);
}
More info about the strtok() here: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/strtok.3.html
It seems to me that you don't just want to want to print the individual strings but want to save the individual strings in some buffer.
Since you can't know the number of strings nor the length of the individual string, you should allocate memory dynamic, i.e. use functions like realloc, calloc and malloc.
It can be implemented in several ways. Below is one example. To keep the example simple, it's not performance optimized in anyway.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <assert.h>
char** split_string(const char* string, const char* token, int* num)
{
assert(string != NULL);
assert(token != NULL);
assert(num != NULL);
assert(strlen(token) != 0);
char** data = NULL;
int num_strings = 0;
while(*string)
{
// Allocate memory for one more string pointer
char** ptemp = realloc(data, (num_strings + 1) * sizeof *data);
if (ptemp == NULL) exit(1);
data = ptemp;
// Look for token
char* tmp = strstr(string, token);
if (tmp == NULL)
{
// Last string
// Allocate memory for one more string and copy it
int len = strlen(string);
data[num_strings] = calloc(len + 1, 1);
if (data[num_strings] == NULL) exit(1);
memcpy(data[num_strings], string, len);
++num_strings;
break;
}
// Allocate memory for one more string and copy it
int len = tmp - string;
data[num_strings] = calloc(len + 1, 1);
if (data[num_strings] == NULL) exit(1);
memcpy(data[num_strings], string, len);
// Prepare to search for next string
++num_strings;
string = tmp + strlen(token);
}
*num = num_strings;
return data;
}
int main()
{
char string[]="var1+vari2+varia3";
// Split the string into dynamic allocated memory
int num_strings;
char** data = split_string(string, "+", &num_strings);
// Now data can be used as an array-of-strings
// Example: Print the strings
printf("Found %d strings:\n", num_strings);
for(int i = 0; i < num_strings; ++i) printf("%s\n", data[i]);
// Free the memory
for(int i = 0; i < num_strings; ++i) free(data[i]);
free(data);
}
Output
Found 3 strings:
var1
vari2
varia3
You can use a simple loop scanning the string for + signs:
char string[] = "var1+vari2+varia3";
char buf[sizeof(string)];
int start = 0;
for (int i = 0;;) {
if (string[i] == '+' || string[i] == '\0') {
memcpy(buf, string + start, i - start);
buf[i - start] = '\0';
// buf contains the substring, use it as a C string
printf("%s\n", buf);
if (string[i] == '\0')
break;
start = ++i;
} else {
i++;
}
}
Your code does not have any sense.
I wrote such a function for you. Analyse it as sometimes is good to have some code as a base
char *substr(const char *str, char *buff, const size_t start, const size_t len)
{
size_t srcLen;
char *result = buff;
if(str && buff)
{
if(*str)
{
srcLen = strlen(str);
if(srcLen < start + len)
{
if(start < srcLen) strcpy(buff, str + start);
else buff[0] = 0;
}
else
{
memcpy(buff, str + start, len);
buff[len] = 0;
}
}
else
{
buff[0] = 0;
}
}
return result;
}
https://godbolt.org/z/GjMEqx

Free, invalid pointer

I have a program, that splits strings based on the delimiter. I have also, 2 other functions, one that prints the returned array and another that frees the array.
My program prints the array and returns an error when the free array method is called. Below is the full code.
#include "stringsplit.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <assert.h>
/* Split string by another string, return split parts + NULL in array.
*
* Parameters:
* str: the string to split
* split: the string to split str with
*
* Returns:
* A dynamically reserved array of dynamically reserved string parts.
*
* For example called with "Test string split" and " ",
* returns ["Test", "string", "split", NULL].
* Or called with "Another - test" and " - ",
* returns ["Another", "test", NULL].
*/
unsigned long int getNofTokens(const char *string) {
char *stringCopy;
unsigned long int stringLength;
unsigned long int count = 0;
stringLength = (unsigned)strlen(string);
stringCopy = malloc((stringLength + 1) * sizeof(char));
strcpy(stringCopy, string);
if (strtok(stringCopy, " \t") != NULL) {
count++;
while (strtok(NULL, " \t") != NULL)
count++;
}
free(stringCopy);
return count;
}
char **split_string(const char *str, const char *split) {
unsigned long int count = getNofTokens(str);
char **result;
result = malloc(sizeof(char *) * count + 1);
char *tmp = malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen(str));
strcpy(tmp, str);
char *token = strtok(tmp, split);
int idx = 0;
while (token != NULL) {
result[idx++] = token;
token = strtok(NULL, split);
}
return result;
}
void print_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (int i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
printf("%s\n", split_string[i]);
}
}
void free_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (int i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
char *currentPointer = split_string[i];
free(currentPointer);
}
free(split_string);
}
Also, do I need to explicitly add \0 at the end of the array or does strtok add it automatically?
There are some problems in your code:
[Major] the function getNofTokens() does not take the separator string as an argument, it counts the number of words separated by blanks, potentially returning an inconsistent count to its caller.
[Major] the size allocated in result = malloc(sizeof(char *) * count + 1); is incorrect: it should be:
result = malloc(sizeof(char *) * (count + 1));
Storing the trailing NULL pointer will write beyond the end of the allocated space.
[Major] storing the said NULL terminator at the end of the array is indeed necessary, as the block of memory returned by malloc() is uninitialized.
[Major] the copy of the string allocated and parsed by split_string cannot be safely freed because the pointer tmp is not saved anywhere. The pointer to the first token will be different from tmp in 2 cases: if the string contains only delimiters (no token found) or if the string starts with a delimiter (the initial delimiters will be skipped). In order to simplify the code and make it reliable, each token could be duplicated and tmp should be freed. In fact your free_split_string() function relies on this behavior. With the current implementation, the behavior is undefined.
[Minor] you use unsigned long and int inconsistently for strings lengths and array index variables. For consistency, you should use size_t for both.
[Remark] you should allocate string copies with strdup(). If this POSIX standard function is not available on your system, write a simple implementation.
[Major] you never test for memory allocation failure. This is OK for testing purposes and throw away code, but such potential failures should always be accounted for in production code.
[Remark] strtok() is a tricky function to use: it modifies the source string and keeps a hidden static state that makes it non-reentrant. You should avoid using this function although in this particular case it performs correctly, but if the caller of split_string or getNofTokens relied on this hidden state being preserved, it would get unexpected behavior.
Here is a modified version:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "stringsplit.h"
/* Split string by another string, return split parts + NULL in array.
*
* Parameters:
* str: the string to split
* split: the string to split str with
*
* Returns:
* A dynamically reserved array of dynamically reserved string parts.
*
* For example called with "Test string split" and " ",
* returns ["Test", "string", "split", NULL].
* Or called with "Another - test" and " - ",
* returns ["Another", "test", NULL].
*/
size_t getNofTokens(const char *string, const char *split) {
char *tmp = strdup(string);
size_t count = 0;
if (strtok(tmp, split) != NULL) {
count++;
while (strtok(NULL, split) != NULL)
count++;
}
free(tmp);
return count;
}
char **split_string(const char *str, const char *split) {
size_t count = getNofTokens(str, split);
char **result = malloc(sizeof(*result) * (count + 1));
char *tmp = strdup(str);
char *token = strtok(tmp, split);
size_t idx = 0;
while (token != NULL && idx < count) {
result[idx++] = strdup(token);
token = strtok(NULL, split);
}
result[idx] = NULL;
free(tmp);
return result;
}
void print_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
printf("%s\n", split_string[i]);
}
}
void free_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
free(split_string[i]);
}
free(split_string);
}
Here is an alternative without strtok() and without intermediary allocations:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "stringsplit.h"
size_t getNofTokens(const char *str, const char *split) {
size_t count = 0;
size_t pos = 0, len;
for (pos = 0;; pos += len) {
pos += strspn(str + pos, split); // skip delimiters
len = strcspn(str + pos, split); // parse token
if (len == '\0')
break;
count++;
}
return count;
}
char **split_string(const char *str, const char *split) {
size_t count = getNofTokens(str, split);
char **result = malloc(sizeof(*result) * (count + 1));
size_t pos, len, idx;
for (pos = 0, idx = 0; idx < count; pos += len, idx++) {
pos += strspn(str + pos, split); // skip delimiters
len = strcspn(str + pos, split); // parse token
if (len == '\0')
break;
result[idx] = strndup(str + pos, len);
}
result[idx] = NULL;
return result;
}
void print_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
printf("%s\n", split_string[i]);
}
}
void free_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
free(split_string[i]);
}
free(split_string);
}
EDIT After re-reading the specification in your comment, there seems to be some potential confusion as to the semantics of the split argument:
if split is a set of delimiters, the above code does the job. And the examples will be split as expected.
if split is an actual string to match explicitly, the above code only works by coincidence on the examples given in the comment.
To implement the latter semantics, you should use strstr() to search for the split substring in both getNofTokens and split_string.
Here is an example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "stringsplit.h"
/* Split string by another string, return split parts + NULL in array.
*
* Parameters:
* str: the string to split
* split: the string to split str with
*
* Returns:
* A dynamically reserved array of dynamically reserved string parts.
*
* For example called with "Test string split" and " ",
* returns ["Test", "string", "split", NULL].
* Or called with "Another - test" and " - ",
* returns ["Another", "test", NULL].
*/
size_t getNofTokens(const char *str, const char *split) {
const char *p;
size_t count = 1;
size_t len = strlen(split);
if (len == 0)
return strlen(str);
for (p = str; (p = strstr(p, split)) != NULL; p += len)
count++;
return count;
}
char **split_string(const char *str, const char *split) {
size_t count = getNofTokens(str, split);
char **result = malloc(sizeof(*result) * (count + 1));
size_t len = strlen(split);
size_t idx;
const char *p = str;
for (idx = 0; idx < count; idx++) {
const char *q = strstr(p, split);
if (q == NULL) {
q = p + strlen(p);
} else
if (q == p && *q != '\0') {
q++;
}
result[idx] = strndup(p, q - p);
p = q + len;
}
result[idx] = NULL;
return result;
}
void print_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
printf("%s\n", split_string[i]);
}
}
void free_split_string(char **split_string) {
for (size_t i = 0; split_string[i] != NULL; i++) {
free(split_string[i]);
}
free(split_string);
}
When debugging, take note of values that you got from malloc, strdup, etc. Let's call these values "the active set". It's just a name, so that we can refer to them. You get a pointer from those functions, you mentally add it to the active set. When you call free, you can only pass values from the active set, and after free returns, you mentally remove them from the set. Any other use of free is invalid and a bug.
You can easily find this out by putting breakpoints after all memory allocations, so that you can write down the pointer values, and then breakpoints on all frees, so that you can see if one of those pointer values got passed to free - since, again, to do otherwise is to misuse free.
This can be done also using "printf" debugging. Like this:
char *buf = malloc(...); // or strdup, or ...
fprintf(stderr, "+++ Alloc %8p\n", buf);
And then whenever you have free, do it again:
fprintf(stderr, "--- Free %8p\n", ptr);
free(ptr);
In the output of the program, you must be able to match every +++ with ---. If you see any --- with a value that wasn't earlier listed with a +++, there's your problem: that's the buggy invocation of free :)
I suggest using fprintf(stderr, ... instead of printf(..., since the former is typically unbuffered, so if your program crashes, you won't miss any output. printf is buffered on some architectures (and not buffered on others - so much for consistency).

copying a string to another string in C

char *stringcopywithpointer( const char *source)
{
int ii = 0;
int len = strlen(source) +1;
char *dest = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*len);
while(*source != '\0')
{
// dest[ii++] = *source++;
*dest++ = *source++;
}
// dest[ii] = '\0';
*dest = '\0';
printf("\n copied string = %s", dest1);
return dest;
}
I want to copy source string to destination string.
The above api is returning null.
If I use array of character (this I have commented) then this api works to me.
Please help me to understand the difference between
dest[ii++] = *source++
and
*dest++ = *source++;
You're incrementing dest during the while loop. You need to keep hold of a pointer to the start of the buffer to return from the function.
char *stringcopywithpointer( const char *source)
{
int ii = 0;
int len = strlen(source);
char *copy = malloc(len+1);
char* dest = copy;
while(*source != '\0')
{
*dest++ = *source++;
}
*dest = '\0';
printf("\n copied string = %s", copy);
return copy;
}
Note that you could save some code by using strcpy
char *stringcopywithpointer( const char *source)
{
int len = strlen(source);
char *copy = malloc(len+1);
strcpy(copy, source);
return copy;
}
and you could reduce this to a single line if you have access to the non-standard strdup
char *stringcopywithpointer( const char *source)
{
return strdup(source);
}
My opinion:
Avoid allocate memory in called function, better allot memory before calling a function
char *dest = ( char* ) malloc( sizeof( char ) * len ); // doesn't looks great
Irrespective of the machine, sizeof( char ) is always 1 byte. Less redundant is sizeof( char ) * len. Optimal would be malloc( sizeof( source ) ).
Pointers and arrays are related
You can either use
dest[i] = src[i];
*dst++ = *src++;
or
// assuming dst memory allocate by caller
while ( *dst++ = *src++);
1)
printf("\n copied string = %s", dest1);
should be
printf("\n copied string = %s", dest);
This could be a typo
2)
You can change:
while(*source != '\0')
{
*dest++ = *source++;
}
by
while(*dest++ = *source++);
3)
Concerning difference between dest[ii++] = *source++ and *dest++ = *source++;
There is no difference and should work if dest is defined in this way
char *dest = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*len);
If your array is define in this way:
char dest[len];
Then there is difference
You should not return an allocated string. This can easily lead to a memory leak.
Instead you should consider passing allocated memory into your function to copy it.
You can use your return value to return an error if anything went wrong.
This would change your signature to.
int stringcopywithpointer( char * dest, const char *source)
to make your code a little bit more versitile you could implement vargs and your signature would be:
int stringcopywithpointerf( char * dest, const * format, ... );
This is actually the already existing function sprintf.
int sprintf( char * dest, const * format, ... );
There are also secure variants of the function available and premade. You may want to consider using one of those.
If this is homework related take a look at this function:
char * myscpy(const char * SRC){
size_t size = strlen( SRC ) + 1 ;
char * START;
char * DST = ( char * ) malloc( size );
START = DST;
do
{
*DST = *SRC;
DST++;
SRC++;
}while( *SRC != 0 );
*DST = *SRC;
return START;
}
You likely want to add errorchecks to it like you had them in place (malloc etc.) in your original post.
"Please help me to understand the difference between dest[i++] and *dest++"
dest[i++] does not increment the pointer but the index to the pointer.
*dest++ increments the pointer after its original contendt was accessed.
Add char *dest1 = dest; right after malloc and then return dest1 and that will work.
Other possible change: replace while loop with post-condition loop (i.e. copy the zero byte first, then check if it was the end).
may be you need to add this line
char *stringcopywithpointer( const char *source)
{
int ii = 0;
int len = strlen(source) +1;
char *ptr = NULL;
char *dest = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*len);
/** No Error Checking for malloc is a strict no no **/
if(dest == NULL)
return NULL;
/** hold the dest adress in ptr as we are incrementing dest **/
ptr = dest;
while(*source != '\0')
{
// dest[ii++] = *source++;
*dest++ = *source++;
}
// dest[ii] = '\0';
*dest = '\0';
//printf("\n copied string = %s", dest1); ??
printf("\n copied string = %s", ptr); // ptr will have our copied String
/** so return ptr not dest **/
return ptr;
}

Why does realloc fail on repeated calls where as allocating a big chunk using malloc works?

I am trying to read in from stdin (passing in value from a file). I am reading each character from the string and storing it into a dynamically allocated string pointer. When needed I realloc the memory. I am trying to get as many characters as possible. Though I can limit it to 100,000 chars. But the realloc fails after some iteration. But if I specify a chunk size big, say 1048567 during the first initialization in malloc, I am able to read the string completely. Why is this?
Below is my program:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int display_mem_alloc_error();
enum {
CHUNK_SIZE = 31 //31 fails. But 1048567 passes.
};
int display_mem_alloc_error() {
fprintf(stderr, "\nError allocating memory");
exit(1);
}
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
int numStr; //number of input strings
int curSize = CHUNK_SIZE; //currently allocated chunk size
int i = 0; //counter
int len = 0; //length of the current string
int c; //will contain a character
char *str = NULL; //will contain the input string
char *str_cp = NULL; //will point to str
char *str_tmp = NULL; //used for realloc
str = malloc(sizeof(*str) * CHUNK_SIZE);
if (str == NULL) {
display_mem_alloc_error();
}
str_cp = str; //store the reference to the allocated memory
scanf("%d\n", &numStr); //get the number of input strings
while (i != numStr) {
if (i >= 1) { //reset
str = str_cp;
len = 0;
curSize = CHUNK_SIZE;
}
c = getchar();
while (c != '\n' && c != '\r') {
*str = (char *) c;
//printf("\nlen: %d -> *str: %c", len, *str);
str = str + 1;
len = len + 1;
*str = '\0';
c = getchar();
if (curSize / len == 1) {
curSize = curSize + CHUNK_SIZE;
//printf("\nlen: %d", len);
printf("\n%d \n", curSize); //NB: If I comment this then the program simply exits. No message is displayed.
str_tmp = realloc(str_cp, sizeof(*str_cp) * curSize);
if (str_tmp == NULL) {
display_mem_alloc_error();
}
//printf("\nstr_tmp: %d", str_tmp);
//printf("\nstr: %d", str);
//printf("\nstr_cp: %d\n", str_cp);
str_cp = str_tmp;
str_tmp = NULL;
}
}
i = i + 1;
printf("\nlen: %d", len);
//printf("\nEntered string: %s\n", str_cp);
}
str = str_cp;
free(str_cp);
free(str);
str_cp = NULL;
str = NULL;
return 0;
}
Thanks.
When you realloc
str_tmp = realloc(str_cp, sizeof(*str_cp) * curSize);
if (str_tmp == NULL) {
display_mem_alloc_error();
}
//printf("\nstr_tmp: %d", str_tmp);
//printf("\nstr: %d", str);
//printf("\nstr_cp: %d\n", str_cp);
str_cp = str_tmp;
str_tmp = NULL;
you let str_cp point to the new block of memory, but str still points into the old, now freed block. Thus when you access what str points to in the next iteration, you invoke undefined behaviour.
You need to save the offset of str with respect to str_cp, and after the reallocation, letstr point into the new block at its old offset.
And *str = (char *) c; is wrong, although there is a nonzero chance of it being functionally equivalent to the correct *str = c;.
*str = (char *) c;
This line is wrong.
str is a pointer to char and *str is a char but you are assigning a pointer to char to a char. This cannot be done in C.
Moreover:
scanf("%d\n", &numStr);
The \n in scanf call probably does not what you expect:
http://c-faq.com/stdio/scanfhang.html
And also:
str = str_cp;
free(str_cp);
free(str);
You have a double free here. After the assignment str and str_cp will have the same value so doing:
free(str_cp);
free(str);
is as if you do:
free(str);
free(str);
which is undefined behavior (you cannot free twice).

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