Thread: malloc sizeof struct

How can I use malloc to create memory instead of assigning the pointer below to an instance of this struct?

Code:

     struct fraction {
         int numerator;
         int denominator;
        };

     struct fraction *stanford;

I am looking to do something like below but I know this dont work

Code:

  
     stanford = (int *) malloc(sizeof());

So for now I am stuck doing it this way:

Code:

     
     struct fraction thistime;
     
     stanford = &thistime;

And then the goal is to do something like below using malloc (very basic for now):

Code:

     stanford->numerator = 100;
     stanford->denominator = 200;
    
      printf("%d is stanford numerator and %d\n", stanford->numerator);

That works great and I will check for null as you advised.

If I dont free stanford (which I will always do) what are some of the problems that could occur? Also if I did not check for null and memory was not available what type of problems could arise? Thanks.

A good habit to get into when calling malloc/calloc is to use the dereferenced variable you're allocating as the object of the sizeof operator; i.e.,

Code:

struct fraction *stanford = malloc(sizeof(*stanford));