give my pointer strlen 0

Is this the best (only?) way to give a fresh char *ptr a strlen of 0?

Code:

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ptr=malloc(0); free(ptr);

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You need at least a buffer of 1. Then just set the first element to 0.

gg

So it has to malloc'd anyway? I might as well just use the free call then.

Just assign "" to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by King Mir

Just assign "" to it.

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oh you're right -- King Mir wins

thanks :)

From the standard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 7.20.3 C99

...
If the size of the space requested is zero, the behavior is
implementation-defined: either a null pointer is returned, or the
behavior is as if the size were some nonzero value, except that the
returned pointer shall not be used to access an object.

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In other words, it could end up pointing anywhere. So strlen() would probably segfault and/or return unpredictable results.

The best way (IMO) is what Codeplug suggested:

Code:

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char * ch = malloc(1);
if(ch == NULL)
{
  /* do something */
}

*ch = '\0';

/* ... do whatever with ch, resize if need be */

free(ch);

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It doesn't have to be on the heap either (which is pretty obvious ;))

Code:

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char nul = '\0';
char * ch = &nul;

/* do whatever with ch */

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