return char pointer which is malloc'ed in function

[Khookie]

Hi everyone

I'm not sure whether this is good practice or not, so I thought I'll
ask.

I've got a function that returns a char pointer, which is malloc'ed in
the function itself, as per below code. It's basically a singly
linked list of strings that are concatenated into a big string.

My question is - since you have to know to free it yourself (usage
below), is this considered bad practice? Or should the user of the
function know?

Function:
char* string_list_con cat(string_list *list) {
char* result = malloc(list->length + 1);
char* result_ptr = result;

// Create string
string_node *node = list->bol;
while (node != list->eol) {
char* string_node_ptr = node->string;
while(*string_n ode_ptr != '\0') {
*result_ptr = *string_node_pt r;
string_node_ptr ++;
result_ptr++;
}
node = node->next;
}
*result_ptr = '\0';
return result;
}

Usage:
char* result = string_list_con cat(list);
printf("Output is: %s\n", result);
free(result);

Cheers

Chris

[Joachim Schmitz]

"Chris Dollin" <ch**********@h p.comschrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:fj******** **@tadcaster.hp l.hp.com...

Khookie wrote:

>I've got a function that returns a char pointer, which is malloc'ed in
the function itself, as per below code. It's basically a singly
linked list of strings that are concatenated into a big string.

My question is - since you have to know to free it yourself (usage
below), is this considered bad practice? Or should the user of the
function know?

(answer below)

>>
Function:
char* string_list_con cat(string_list *list) {
char* result = malloc(list->length + 1);

That can't be right: I think you have a missing multiplication by
`sizeof *result`.

Which here is 1 anyway, sizeof(char)...

Bye, Jojo

[Chris Dollin]

Joachim Schmitz wrote:

>>char* string_list_con cat(string_list *list) {
char* result = malloc(list->length + 1);

That can't be right: I think you have a missing multiplication by
`sizeof *result`.

Which here is 1 anyway, sizeof(char)...

Colour me idiotic: I kept seeing `result` there as `char **`. Thanks, Jojo.
Apologies to Khookie (and everyone else) for inflicting my Stupidity Of
The Day [1] on them.

[1] Please let it be the only one.

--
Chris "glasses - check; keys - check; king - check, BOOM" Dollin

Hewlett-Packard Limited registered no:
registered office: Cain Road, Bracknell, Berks RG12 1HN 690597 England

[regis]

Joachim Schmitz wrote:

"Chris Dollin" <ch**********@h p.comschrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:fj******** **@tadcaster.hp l.hp.com...

>>Khookie wrote:

>>>I've got a function that returns a char pointer, which is malloc'ed in
the function itself, as per below code. It's basically a singly
linked list of strings that are concatenated into a big string.

My question is - since you have to know to free it yourself (usage
below), is this considered bad practice? Or should the user of the
function know?

(answer below)

>>>Function:
char* string_list_con cat(string_list *list) {
char* result = malloc(list->length + 1);

That can't be right: I think you have a missing multiplication by
`sizeof *result`.

Which here is 1 anyway, sizeof(char)...

one would have expected that list->length
is the number of nodes of the list, instead of
the sum of strlen() applied to all node->string of the list...