Odd Error message

Hello,

I am pretty proficient with C++. However, I am new to plain C programming.

I am attempting to compile the following code on a UNIX system. For some reason I get error messages indicated in the first code block. The second code block is my code. Can someone point out what I am doing wrong? The error messages don't seem to make sense.

Code:

"secImg.c", line 20: syntax error before or at: char
"secImg.c", line 23: undefined symbol: i
"secImg.c", line 23: undefined symbol: buf

Code:

#include <stdio.h>		//for printf
#include <fcntl.h>		//for file open operations
#define FILE_NAME_SIZE 256	//for the size of a character

main(int args, char * argv[])
{
	char * nameBuff = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * 100);
	
	if(nameBuff != NULL)
		strcpy(nameBuff, "malloc worked\n");
	
	else
		printf("malloc failed to allocate memory\n");
	
	printf(nameBuff);	
	free(nameBuff);
	
	char * buf = (char *)malloc(FILE_NAME_SIZE);
	int i;
	
	while(i = read(0, buf, FILE_NAME_SIZE))
	{ write(1, buf, i); }
	
	return 0;

}

Im pretty sure the compiler is complaining about the declerations of the int i, and char buf, in C they should be made at the top of any set of { brace.

Also you are using strcpy without including <string.h>, and you should also include <stdlib.h>.

>>For some reason I get error messages indicated in the first code block.
That reason would be that C is not C++, unless you use the latest and greatest C standard you'll have a hard time declaring variables anywhere except at the beginning of a block. :-)

You should also include stdlib.h and string.h to avoid undefined behavior from your use of malloc and strcpy. Undefined behavior is yucky. ;-)

Code:

#include <stdio.h>//for printf
#include <fcntl.h>//for file open operations
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#define FILE_NAME_SIZE 256//for the size of a character

main(int args, char * argv[])
{
  int i;
  char * buf;
  char * nameBuff = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * 100);
  
  if(nameBuff != NULL)
    strcpy(nameBuff, "malloc worked\n");
  
  else
    printf("malloc failed to allocate memory\n");
  
  printf(nameBuff);
  free(nameBuff);
  
  buf = (char *)malloc(FILE_NAME_SIZE);
  
  while(i = read(0, buf, FILE_NAME_SIZE))
  { write(1, buf, i); }
  
  return 0;
  
}

A few remarks.

1. Don't forget to free buf at the end of main().
2. Free and print nameBuff only if malloc() worked.
3. Also check buf, could be NULL.