Thread: memory leaks

Hey guys im having some memory problems with my linked lists. Im freeing the memory after it has been allocated so why is it still complaining?

Code:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct node 
{

  int x;
  struct node *next;

}node;


int main(void)
{
   
   node *head = NULL;
   node *conductor = NULL;
   head = malloc(sizeof(struct node));  
   conductor = head;
  

  
 

   if(conductor !=0)
   {
        while(conductor->next !=0)
        {
           conductor = conductor->next;
        }
   }

   conductor->next = malloc(sizeof(struct node));

   conductor = conductor->next;
   
   if(conductor == 0)
   {
      printf("out of memory\n");
   }
   
    
   conductor->next = 0;
   conductor->x = 57;

   conductor = head;

   if(conductor !=0)
  {
   while(conductor->next !=0)
    {
     printf("%d", conductor->x); 
     conductor = conductor->next;
      
    }
  }
   conductor = conductor->next;

   free(head);
   free(conductor);
   return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

You're only free'ing the head and the conductor, not every element of the list. Imagine that you append a certain number of elements to your list:

A->B->C->D->...->Z

head will point to A and conductor will point to another (random) element. If you free them, there will still be N-2 elements left to free if you have N elements in your list.
You need to iterate over all the elements and free them one by one. Don't forget to save the conductor->next in a seperate pointer before freeing or else you lost the link to the next element:

Code:

node *tmp;
while (conductor->next != NULL)
{
tmp = conductor->next;
free(conductor);
conductor = tmp;
}

and please use NULL for pointers, it's easier to read than 0.

Ok i understand that now. But does that mean i would also have to free the head but i would only free that once because that is a node which is only itself. Im still gettin leaks as well

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct node 
{

  int x;
  struct node *next;

}node;


int main(void)
{
   
   node *head = NULL;
   node *conductor = NULL;
   node *tmp;
   head = malloc(sizeof(struct node));  
   conductor = head;
   

   if(conductor !=0)
   {
        while(conductor->next !=0)
        {
           conductor = conductor->next;
        }
   }

   conductor->next = malloc(sizeof(struct node));

   conductor = conductor->next;
   
   if(conductor == 0)
   {
      printf("out of memory\n");
   }
   
    
   conductor->next = 0;
   conductor->x = 57;

   conductor = head;

   if(conductor !=0)
  {
   while(conductor->next !=0)
    {
     printf("%d", conductor->x); 
     conductor = conductor->next;
      
    }
  }
   conductor = conductor->next;
   
   while(conductor->next != NULL)
   {
   tmp = conductor->next;
   free(conductor);
   conductor = tmp;
   }
   free(head);
   return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

How can you start the free'ing process right after you printed the whole list, in which case the conductor is at the end of the list! You have to set the conductor to point to the head before starting to free.

so would i go conductor = head;

Originally Posted by bazzano

so would i go conductor = head;

what do you think ? did you test it ?

yehhh and it says in the leak summary i have 8 bytes which are deffinately leaking? but it now says that both memory allocations have been freed.

sorry guys im still hving some troublei have 1 definate leak 8 bytes in my program not sure where iv deallocated all the nodes

Well, a pointer has 4 bytes already and you have several of them, maybe that's what he's reporting. It can't be a structure since that would be 8 bytes per structure (if int is 4 bytes), so I guess it's the pointers. Try setting them to NULL at the end.

ok kewl

i fixed it i wasnt freeing tmp variable i was freeing the head instead. Yey!