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Realloc Function, Free Function, Dangling Pointers in C - 1623996352339

The document discusses various memory management functions in C including calloc(), realloc(), free(), and dangling pointers. It provides examples of how each function works, syntax, and what dangling pointers are. Specifically, it demonstrates how a dangling pointer can occur when a pointer continues to point to memory that has been freed without setting the pointer to NULL, which can cause problems.

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keed wild
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74 views

Realloc Function, Free Function, Dangling Pointers in C - 1623996352339

The document discusses various memory management functions in C including calloc(), realloc(), free(), and dangling pointers. It provides examples of how each function works, syntax, and what dangling pointers are. Specifically, it demonstrates how a dangling pointer can occur when a pointer continues to point to memory that has been freed without setting the pointer to NULL, which can cause problems.

Uploaded by

keed wild
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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calloc() function in C:

Another Example:

Output:

realloc() function in C:

If memory is not sufficient for malloc() or calloc(), you can reallocate the memory
by realloc() function. In short, it changes the memory size.

Let’s see the syntax of realloc() function.

Ptr=realloc(ptr, new-size)

For Example:
Output:

free() function in C:

The memory occupied by malloc() or calloc() functions must be released by calling


free() function. Otherwise, it will consume memory until program exit.

Let’s see the syntax of free() function.

free(ptr)

Dangling pointers in C:

The most common bugs related to pointers and memory management is


dangling/wild pointers. Sometimes the programmer fails to initialize the pointer
with a valid address, then this type of initialized pointer is known as a dangling
pointer in C.

Dangling pointer occurs at the time of the object destruction when the object is
deleted or de-allocated from memory without modifying the value of the pointer.
In this case, the pointer is pointing to the memory, which is de-allocated. The
dangling pointer can point to the memory, which contains either the program
code or the code of the operating system. If we assign the value to this pointer,
then it overwrites the value of the program code or operating system
instructions; in such cases, the program will show the undesirable result or may
even crash.

Let’s observe the following example:

1. #include <stdio.h>
2. int main()
3. {
4. int *ptr=(int *)malloc(sizeof(int));
5. int a=890;
6. ptr=&a;
7. free(ptr);
8. return 0;
9. }

The statement int *ptr=(int *)malloc(sizeof(int)); will allocate the memory


with 4 bytes shown in the below image:
The statement free(ptr) de-allocates the memory as shown in the below image
with a cross sign, and 'ptr' pointer becomes dangling as it is pointing to the de-
allocated memory.

If we assign the NULL value to the 'ptr', then 'ptr' will not point to the deleted
memory. Therefore, we can say that ptr is not a dangling pointer, as shown in
the below image:

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