Thread: Array of Pointers help

Hi all,
I am currently stuck in my program. I am trying to create a struct that will have multiple (and dynamic) children. My struct looks like this so far:

Code:

struct DIR{
  char *name;
  int i;
  short type;
  int max_children;
  int current_child;
  struct DIR *child;
};

When I want to traverse down the struct through a particular child the following command does not work folder = temp_folder->child[i]; (where folder was initialized as struct DIR*). The gcc compiler tells me that it is an invalid assignment. Does anyone know how to fix this? Should I change struct DIR* child to struct DIR** child? If so how do I use malloc for it and how do I access individual elements in the array.
Thanks.

Post some code which shows you trying to use that struct, in particular a line of code which actually causes an error message.

In itself, there is nothing wrong with your structure.

Hi,
here is the portion of code that causes the error:

Code:

how folder is initialized elsewhere in the code:
 struct DIR* HOME = (struct DIR*)malloc(sizeof(struct DIR));
 HOME->child = (struct DIR *)malloc( (HOME->max_children) * sizeof (struct DIR) );

void foo(char *d, struct DIR* folder)
{
    struct DIR* temp_folder;
    temp_folder = folder;
    int i;
   
    for(i=0;i<temp_folder->max_children;i++)
	{
	    if(strcmp(temp_folder->child[i].name,d) == 0)
		{
		    folder = temp_folder->child[i];
		    return;
		}
	}

my_functions.c:134: error: incompatible types in assignment
the error occurs at the line - folder = temp_folder->child[i];
For some reason it does not recognize each individual child as its own pointer.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

> For some reason it does not recognize each individual child as its own pointer.
That's because each one isn't a pointer.

> folder = temp_folder->child[i];
Try
folder = &temp_folder->child[i];

But this won't solve your next problem that changing the parameter here will have NO effect on the pointer you used to call this function with.

Also, see the FAQ on why casting malloc is bad in C