allocate memory for constant string?

[slenkar]

I have a struct

struct animation 
{
 char *name;
}

I am entering the animation names manually, e.g. "standstill"

I want to allocate memory depending on the size of the constant string so my function is:

char* dynamic_str_pointer(const char *my_string)
{
return (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * (strlen(my_string)+1));
}

I am calling it like this:

animation a;
a.name=dynamic_str_pointer("standstill");

but the compiler doesnt like it, it just says there are multiple definitions of the function (but there are not)

[Salem]

Post your exact error messages.

Though my guess is that you've put the code in a header file, and included that header file in several source files.

I hope your dynamic_str_pointer has a NULL check (for malloc) and a strcpy as well.

[slenkar]

oh yes I did include it in multiple source files
after fixing it, I cant seem to print the string

printf("anim name %s\n",a.name);

it just doesnt print anything after anim name

[Salem]

Like I said, did you also COPY the string, as well as allocating space for it.

[slenkar]

ohh ok thanks!