Determine array length in heap?

[BdON003]

Hi,

I am wondering if it is possible to determine how much space has been allocated for a particular pointer so I can determine how many elements are in its range.

The same method used for an array on the stack doesn't seem to work:

unsigned int             *R_offd_i;

posix_memalign((void *)&R_offd_i, 16,  4 * sizeof(*R_offd_i));

printf("In Main: sizeof(R_offd_i) / sizeof(*R_offd_i) = %d / %d\n", sizeof(R_offd_i), sizeof(R_offd_i[0]));

The print statement prints " 4 / 4" which makes sense, but is not what I want.

I will address the obvious point and that is that the size is known when I allocate the space. I am passing R_offd_i to a function and that function needs to know how big it is and passing the size as a parameter is, well, going to make my function look like a complete mess so I am hoping to find another way.

Thanks

[MK27]

passing the size as a parameter is, well, going to make my function look like a complete mess

The answer is no, which is perhaps why it is common to pass a length as a function parameter.

Another option if the program is not threaded is to use a global variable Len, which you can set before the call. This only makes sense if you have a number of functions all of which use a "length" or "size" variable for passing something. But also it would be a little maverick. Len, a little maverick multi-purpose variable.

[BdON003]

Nerds. I hoping there was a 'but' coming after that first statement.

My problem is that my function has 15 such pointers and I need to know the size of them all and they can all have a unique size. What do you call a large group of "little maverick multi-purpose variables"? A Flock? Horde?

Looking at the code, some pointers are not even malloc'd in the calling function but are just the lvalue of another function call. For instance:

unsigned int             *R_offd_i;

R_offd_i = someOtherFunction();

myFunction(R_offd_i, <little tiny mavericks>,...);

Any suggestions on how to go about knowing the size of space allocated to R_offd_i inside myFunction without making global variables that will span many files for each pointer? I am trying to not modify the code outside of myFunction, though I may need to relax that constraint and just hope not to modify code outside of this calling function.

[MK27]

Nerds.

My problem is that my function has 15 such pointers and I need to know the size of them all and they can all have a unique size. What do you call a large group of "little maverick multi-purpose variables"? A Flock? Horde?

Now you're on to something that is almost acceptable.

int *Sizes;

You can malloc and realloc Sizes as an array (so now it has Sizes[2], Sizes[6], etc).

[BdON003]

Thanks for the input. I know what must be done now. I need to just trace back every pointer that I need to where it is initialized and determine the best way to track its size.

[Sebastiani]

I would suggest using a structure, or perhaps something like this.