Thread: ERROR: Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.

Hi,
I'm writting a C program for my university assignment in data structures. The program uses the radix(bucket) sort method to sort strings. One of the requirements is to use linked lists in sorting. I got no compile error,but when I runed the program I got an error that says: Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.

It also refers to the location of the problem which is in the function isLast , here's the code :

Code:

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

#define MAXSIZ 15
#define number_of_alpha 53

 typedef struct Node{
    char word[MAXSIZ];       // to hold the string
    struct node *next;         // to point to the next node
}Node;


typedef struct Node *PtrToNode;     // Pointer to a node (typedef)
typedef PtrToNode Position;             // Pointer to a node
typedef PtrToNode List;                    // Pointer that points to the header node

void Sort();
void add( char*,List);
void moveNode(List,List,Position);
void moveBack (Position,List);
Position findPrevious(Position,List);
int isLast(Position);
void print(List);
int empty(List);

and the implementation of isLast :
int isLast(Position p)        //parameter p points to a node
{
    return p->next == NULL;    
}

I actually called this funtion in the add function in order to determine the last node.
But I can't figure out the reason of this error , any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

How is the return value from isLast() being used by the add() function?

Here is the implementation of the add function and the isEmpty function:

Code:

void add( char* string, List header)
{
    Position tmpNode;
    Position p;
    p = header;
    tmpNode = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
    if(tmpNode == NULL)
        exit(0);
    strcpy(tmpNode->word,string);


      if(isEmpty(header))
       p->next = tmpNode;

       else
       {
           while(!isLast(p))
           p = p->next;

           p->next = tmpNode;
           tmpNode->next = NULL;
       }
}

int isEmpty(List header)
{
    return (header->next == NULL);
}

so is there a way to check the last node ?

Yep! it'd blow up for adding the header node unless you check if header == NULL instead of header->next == NULL or refer to Salem's last post.

Do you mean to change function isEmpty to the following:

Code:

int empty(List header)
{
    return (header == NULL);
}

If so, I tried it but it still gives me an error.

Code:

typedef struct Node *PtrToNode;     // Pointer to a node (typedef)

Ugh...hiding pointers, although a common practice, is a bad idea, particularly when you're learning.

What error? Still a seg fault?

Yes it's the seg fault.
Well, it's that the header node is an element of an array. I declared an array of type struct node and each element of the array is considered a header node to a linked list. When I add nodes, I link an element of the array ( a header ) to that new node.

So according to what itCbitC is saying, how can I add the header node before adding the next node?

rags_to_riches why do you it's a bad idea ?

Originally Posted by Christine

... how can I add the header node before adding the next node?

Code:

if (header is NULL)
    p = header = tmpNode;
<rest of code>

Because it hides the true nature of the code. Call me a purist, but I like to know exactly what I'm working with. Fewer errors as a result.

aha I understand what you're saying.

Ok I fixed the problem by creating a new funtion that initializes the linked list; adds the header node. But now it gave me the same error in another location.
Here is the location of the error:

Code:

Position findPrevious(Position p, List src)
{
    Position S;
    S = src;
    if(S != NULL)
    {
        while( S->next != NULL  && S->next!= p )    // Here is the location of error
        S=S->next;
    }

    return S;
}

The aim of this funtion is to find the previous node of the node we're working on.
But why is it giving me the error again? As you can see I checked the pointer S if it's NULL before chkecking S->next.

There is nothing wrong with that code, however, you can still get a seg fault if S contains some other invalid address besides NULL (e.g. 0x1234). I would suspect that somewhere, your list is being built incorrectly or it's being corrupted.