Thread: Pointers and Dynamic memory allocation help needed

This code finds the longest common prefix in two strings.

Code:

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


#define MAX_LENGTH 80


int main ()
{
  char   found_title[] = "The longest prefix is: ";
  char   not_found_title[] = "No common prefix has been found.";
  char   str1[MAX_LENGTH + 1];      /* The first string. */
  int    len1;                      /* Its length. */
  char   str2[MAX_LENGTH + 1];      /* The second string. */
  int    len2;                      /* Its length. */
  int    l_prefix = 0;              /* Length of the common prefix so far. */
  char   prefix[MAX_LENGTH + 1];


  /* Read the first input string and compute its length. */
  printf ("Please enter the first string: ");
  scanf ("%s", str1);
  len1 = strlen (str1);


  /* Read the second input string and compute its length. */
  printf ("Please enter the second string: ");
  scanf ("%s", str2);
  len2 = strlen (str2);


  /* Find the longest common prefix. */
  while (l_prefix + 1 <= len1 && l_prefix + 1 <= len2 &&
         strncmp (str1, str2, l_prefix + 1) == 0)
  {
    l_prefix++;
  }


  /* Print the results. */
  if (l_prefix == 0)
  {
    printf ("%s\n", not_found_title);
  }
  else
  {
    /* Copy the prefix and print it. */
    strncpy (prefix, str1, l_prefix);
    prefix[l_prefix] = '\0';
    printf ("%s%s\n", found_title, prefix);
  }


  return (0);
}

Now I need to edit it so instead of printing out the longest common prefix of the two strings which it receives as two array arguments, it returns a pointer to a new array in which the answer is stored.

I know I should use dynamic memory allocation but I'm not sure if I should use calloc or malloc?

Thanks

It doesn't matter. Which ever one you use, make sure you allocate enough space for the prefix, plus one extra byte for the null. calloc will zero out the bytes for you, malloc will not (there will be garbage in there). Either way, you'll overwrite it with the prefix. And of course, free() it when you're done.

Thanks, can you point me in the right direction to edit the code?

Is this the right idea:

Code:

	//allocate unused space for the array
	pointerData = (char**) calloc (l_prefix, sizeof(char));

You only need pointerData to be a char *, not a char **. Also, don't cast malloc (read this link)

Code:

char *pointerData;
pointerData = calloc(l_prefix, sizeof(char));
strncpy(pointerData, ...);  // just like how you copy into prefix in your current code
// do stuff with pointerData
free(pointerData);