passing array of structures to/from function

[ElderGeek]

Hello.

I'm pretty new to C, and having a problem which I suspect this has to do with how I'm handling (or not handling) pointers. I have an array of dirent structures which I am passing to a function. The function fills the structures with information on subdirectories in a given directory.

In the function itself, I can step through the array of structures and print to the console the list of directory names. However, when I try to do so from the calling program I get a Segmentation Fault. Snippets from my code are posted below.

Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

#include <dirent.h>
 
int main(void)
{
struct dirent     **sEvents;        // structure containing event directory names
int        iResult;        // return value
int        iDirMax;        // number of event directories
int        iDirCtr;        // directory counter
int        GetDirectoryList();    // function to return list of directories
 
// get directory list
iResult = GetDirectoryList(&sEvents, &iDirMax);
 
fprintf(stdout, "Number of Directories = %d\n", iDirMax);
 
for (iDirCtr = 0; iDirCtr < iDirMax; iDirCtr++)
    {
    // THIS GIVES Segmentation Fault..................................
    fprintf(stdout, "Event Directory: %s\n", sEvents[iDirCtr]->d_name);
    }
 
return 0;
}
 
int GetDirectoryList(struct dirent **sEvents, int *iMax)
{
char        cSOD[512];        // path to parent directory
int        iCtr;            // counter
 
// get the list of event directories
*iMax = scandir (cSOD, &sEvents, DirFilter, alphasort);
if (*iMax >= 0)
    {
    for (iCtr = 0; iCtr < *iMax; iCtr++)
        {
        // THIS PRINTS OK...........................................
        fprintf(stdout, "EventDirectory %s\n", sEvents[iCtr]->d_name);
        }
    }
 
return 0;
}
 
 

[ElderGeek]

Nope -- I didn't know about the -Wall flag. I will use it from now on... thanks for the tip!

[JosAH]

Nope -- I didn't know about the -Wall flag. I will use it from now on... thanks for the tip!

Read gcc's manual page; it has all sorts of nifty little flags that can reduce the
code size, speed thing up etc. etc. I always use that -Wall flag despite the
fact that gcc whines about a lot of things then, and I mean *a lot*. It does
improve your code quality though if you manage to keep gcc's mouth shut ;-)

kind regards,

Jos

[ElderGeek]

Well, I'm all for anything that will improve the quality of my code, especially when learning a new language. I'm also going to drop you a private message... please watch for it.

Thanks!

[JosAH]

Well, I'm all for anything that will improve the quality of my code, especially when learning a new language. I'm also going to drop you a private message... please watch for it.

Thanks!

I just replied.

kind regards,

Jos