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carrayspointersmallocfree

How to free an array of char-pointer?


I use this Method to convert values from a list into an array for use in an execvp()-Systemcall:

char **list2argarray(struct shellvalue *values, int count)
{
    char **array = (char **)malloc((count + 1) * sizeof(char *));
    int i = 0;

    while (values)
    {
        char *word = values->word;

        array[i] = (char *)malloc(sizeof(word) + 1);
        strcpy(array[i], word);
        values = values->next;
        i++;
    }
    array[i] = NULL;
    return array;
}

What is a proper way to free such Arrays? I tried it with things like

void freeargpointer(char **array, int count)
{
    int i = 0;

    while (*array)
    {
        free(*array);
        (*array)++;
    }
}

But everytime when i reach the free-syscall, while debugging, the programm crashes with errors like this one:

free(): invalid next size (fast): 0x000000000060c180 ****


Solution

  • The problem is that (*array)++ doesn't give you the next pointer you allocated, so you can't free it. Your free routine should be:

    void freeargpointer(char** array)
    {
        int i;
    
        for ( i = 0; array[i]; i++ )
            free( array[i] );
    
        free( array );
    }
    

    Or, similarly,

    void freeargpointer(char** array)
    {
        char **a;
    
        for ( a = array; *a; a++ )
            free( *a );
    
        free( array );
    }
    

    NOTE: I removed the count argument since it is unnecessary.