Allocated memory size is not correct.

Hi everybody,

I'm writing a simple program which is declaring an array of strings and allocating some space using malloc(). Then, Im gonna sort it using qsort(), so i need the size of my array, but it always displays wrong size. However, If I declare the array as I define it and initialize it, the real size is returned. I'd appreciate any opinion or comments that may help.
(FYI, I havent programmed in c for 3-4 years and Im not a malloc expert!!!)

if I use this, that would work fine: (Approach 1)

Code:

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    char *S1[] = {"vbhk", "dfgnhd", "dtj6f", "e56u", "qwert", "ertert"};

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But this way, its not working: (Approach 2)

Code:

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    char** S1;
    size_t rows =10;
    size_t cols= 6;
   
    S1 = (char**) malloc(sizeof(char*) * rows);
    for(i=0; i<rows; i++){
        S1[i] = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char) * cols);
    }

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I expect that sizeof(S1) returns 10 and sizeof(char*) returns 6. But they return 1 and 4, respectively.

Anything?

sizeof() on pointers tells you the size of the pointer, NOT how much memory it is pointing to.

Thank you; So what should I do? Hoever I've seen qsort usage on such an array which is fine. so what do you think? Even when I try to qsort it using constants, I encounter Segmentation fault error :
I need to provide those sizes for the follwong function:

Code:

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qsort(S1, stringlen, sizeof(char*), cstring_cmp);

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ramtinraji

Thank you; So what should I do?

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Pay attention to what qsort wants:

qsort( sort_this, how_many_is_this, how_big_is_one_item, my_sort_function )


Quzah.

Thank you very much guys. I solved the problem. You are right Quzah, I just put constant 100 (as in 100 strings) instead of stringlen and it worked!! :D

Thanks again Salem and Quzah. GoodDay :)

Why would you sort on a random constant number like 100 things? For the dynamic array, you have 'rows' amount of char * to sort. In any case, a magic number isn't really going to be the best code, it could seg fault at any time.

My input file consists of 100 lines of ascii text which should be sorted. I have defined my textBuffer as an array of 100 strings and everywhere, loops and etc., its 100. So its not a magic number. However, that'd be great if you have any idea how I can replace it with some variable denoting the size (i mean number of line) of my textBuffer.

There must be someway, any idea?

Count the lines while you read the file.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whiteflags

Count the lines while you read the file.

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Wow, what a completely vague and unrelated response. This thread went from "how do I use qsort" to you turning it into counting lines in a file, which has nothing to do with anything in this thread until you brought it up.


Quzah.