Session-14

Session Overview

Pointers and Arrays

Pointers and Strings
Array of Pointers
Array of Pointers to Strings
Pointers and Functions
Multiple Indirection
Dynamic Memory Allocation

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Arrays

 An Array name is actually a Pointer to the first element in that Array.

 Therefore, if ‘ary’ is a single-dimensional Array, the address of the first Array

element can be expressed as either &ary[0] or simply as ary.
 Similarly, the address of the second Array element can be written as &ary[1] or
as ary+1, and so on.
 In general, the address of the (i+1)th Array element can be expressed as either
&ary[i] or as (ary+i).
 Thus, the address of an Array element can be expressed in two ways:
 By writing the actual Array element preceded by the ampersand sign (&)
 By writing an expression in which the subscript is added to the Array name.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Arrays contd.

 Remember that in the expression (ary+i), ary represents as address, whereas i
represents as integer quantity.
 Moreover, ary is the name of an Array whose elements can be either integers,
characters, floating point, and so on.
 Therefore, the above expression is not a mere addition; it is actually specifying
as address, which is a certain number of memory cells beyond the first.
 The expression (ary+i) is in true sense, a symbolic representation for an address
specification rather than arithmetic expression.
 The number of memory cells associated with an Array element will depend on
the data type of the Array as well as the computer’s Architecture.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Arrays contd.

 However, the user can specify only the address of the first Array element, that
is the name of the Array and the number of Array elements beyond the first,
that is, a value for the subscript.
 The value of i is sometimes referred to as an offset when used in this manner.

 The expression &arry[i] and (ary+i) both represent the address of the ith
element of ary, and so it is logical that *(ary+i) both represent the contents of
that address, that is the value of the ith element of ary.
 Both terms are interchangeable can be used in any particular application as
desired by the programmer.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Arrays contd.

 Single-dimensional main( )
{
 10 element integer Array
int ary[10]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};
 Values are displayed in int i;
two ways for(i=0;i<10;i++)
{
ary[i], *(ary+i) printf(“\ni=%d ary[i]=%d *(ary+i)=%d”, i, ary[i], *(ary+i));
 Addresses are displayed in printf(“&ary[i]=%X ary+i=%X , &ary[i], ary+i);
two ways }
}
&ary[i], ary+i
i=0 ary[i]=1 *(ary+i)=1 &ary[i]=194 ary+i=194
i=1 ary[i]=2 *(ary+i)=2 &ary[i]=196 ary+i=196
i=2 ary[i]=3 *(ary+i)=3 &ary[i]=198 ary+i=198
..... ….. ….. ….. ….
i=9 ary[i]=10 *(ary+i)=10 &ary[i]=1A6 ary+i=1A6

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Arrays contd.

 When assigning a value to an array element such as ary[i], the left side of the
assignment statement can be written as either ary[i] or as *(ary+i).
 Thus, a value may be assigned directly to an Array element or it may be
assigned to the memory area whose address is that of the array element.

 The address of one element cannot be assigned to some other element, though
the value of one Array element can be assigned to another through Pointers.

&ary[2] = &ary[3]; /* not allowed */

ary[2] = ary[3]; /* allowed*/

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Multidimensional Arrays

 As a single dimensional Array can be represented in terms of a Pointer (the
Array name) and an offset (the subscript).
 So, also a multidimensional Array can be represented with an equivalent
Pointer notation.
 This is because a multidimensional Array is actually a collection of single
dimensional Arrays.
 For example, a two-dimensional Array can be defined as a Pointer to a group of
contiguous one-dimensional Arrays.
 A two-dimensional Array declaration can be written as:
data_type (*ptr_var) [expr 2]; instead ofdata_type array [expr 1] [expr 2];

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Multidimensional Arrays

 In these declarations data_type refers to the data type of the Array, ptr_var is
the name of the pointer variable, exp1 is a positive valued integer expressions
that indicate the maximum number of Array elements.
 Note the parentheses that surround the Array name and the preceding asterisk
in the pointer version of each declaration.
 These parentheses must be present; else the definition would represent an
Array of pointers rather than a pointer to a group of Arrays.
 For example, if ary is a two dimensional array having 10 rows and 20 columns, it
can be declared as
int (*ary) [20]; instead of int ary [10] [20];

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Multidimensional Arrays

int (*ary) [20]; 20 Columns

ary
ary + 2 will point
to this row

*(*(ary+3) + 8);
instead of
ary [3][8];

ary[3][8] int ary [10] [20];

same as *(ary[3]+8)
same as *(*(ary+3)+8)
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Strings

 Strings are nothing but single dimensional character Arrays.

 Arrays and Pointers are closely related.

 Suppose we wish to store “Hello”. char str[]=“Hello”

 We may either store it in a String (or) char *p=“Hello”
 We may ask the C compiler to store it at some location in memory and assign the
address of the String in a char pointer.
main( )
 There is a difference in usage of two forms. {
char str1[]=“Hello”;
char str2[];
 For example, we cannot assign a String to another,
char *s=“Good Morning”;
whereas, we can assign a char pointer to another char *q;
str2=str1; /* error */
char pointer. q=s; /* valid */
}
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Strings contd.

 Once a String has been defined it cannot be initialized main( )
{
to another set characters. char str1[]=“Hello”;
char *p=“Hello”;
 Unlike Strings, such an operation is perfectly valid with str1=“Bye”; /* error */
char pointers P=“Bye”; /* valid */
}
 In another case, Consider the case of the function strchr( )

 This function takes as arguments a String and a character to be searched for in that
String.
ptr_str = strchr(str1,’a’);
 Therefore in the Pointer variable ptr_str will be
assigned the address of the first occurrence of the character ‘a’ in the String str.

 This is not the position in the String, from 0 to the end of the String but the address,
from where the String starts to the end of the String.
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Strings example

 A pointer variable ptr is set main( )
{
to hold address returned by char a, str[80], *ptr, *strchr();
strchr() printf(“\n Enter a Sentence”);
gets(str);
 Program prints the printf(“\n Enter Character to search for: ”);
a=getche();
address of start of the String, ptr=strchr(str,a);
the address of the character, printf(“\n Position of first occurrence (starting from 0)”);
printf(“is: %d”, ptr - str);
the character’s position
}
relative to the start of String
Enter a Sentence: We are learning Pointers
Enter character to search for: P
Position of first occurrence (starting from 0) is: 16
The relative position is the difference between the two addresses, the address of the start
of the String and the address where the character’s first occurrence is found.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers

 The way there can be an Array of ints or an Array of floats, similarly there can
be an Array of Pointers.
 Since a Pointer variable always contains an address, an Array of Pointers would
be nothing but a collection of addresses.
 The addresses present in the Array of Pointers can be addresses of isolated
variables or addresses of Array elements or any other addresses.
 All rules that apply to an ordinary Array apply to the Array of Pointers as well.

int *ptr_ary[10];  The declaration creates an Array named ptr_ary containing

10 elements, each of which is of the type int *.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers contd.

main( )
{
char *arr[4]; /* Array of integer Pointers */
int i=31,j=5,k=19,l=71,m; i j k l
arr[0] = &i; 31 46 5 83
arr[1] = &j; 6500 6502 6504 6506
arr[2] = &k;
arr[3] = &l;
arr[0] arr[0] arr[2] arr[3]
for(m=0;m<=3;m++) 6500 6502 6504 6506
{ 6508 6510 6512 6514
printf(“%d”,*(arr[m]));
}
}

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers contd.

 A multi-dimensional Array can be expressed in terms of an Array of Pointers
rather than as a Pointer to a group of contiguous Arrays.
 In general, a two dimensional Array can be defined as a one-dimensional Array
of Pointers as:
data_type *ary[exp 1]; data_type ary[exp 1] [exp 2];
rather than
 The Array name and its preceding asterisk are not enclosed in Parentheses in
this type of declaration.
 A right to left rule first associates the pairs of square brackets with ary, defining
the named object (ary) as an Array.
 The preceding asterisk then establishes that the Array will contain Pointers.

 Remember that, the last(rightmost) expression is omitted when defining an

Array of Pointers, whereas the first (leftmost) expression is omitted when
defining a pointer to a group of Arrays. 15
26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers contd.

 In an Array expressed in this manner, an individual Array element within the n-
dimensional Array can be accessed by a single use of the indirection operator, *
 Consider a two-dimensional Array ary having 10 rows and 20 columns. In this
case, ary can be defined as a single-dimensional Array by writing :
 Here ary[0] points to the beginning of the first row, ary[1] points to the
beginning of the second row, and so on.
 In this kind of definition, the number of elements in each row is not specified
explicitly.
int *ary[10];
 An individual Array element, such as ary[3][8] can be accessed by:
*(ary[3]+8); which refers toary[3][8];

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers to Strings

 Pointer Arrays provide a convenient method for storing Strings.

 As Strings are character Arrays, each Array element (of the Pointer Array) is a
character-type Pointer that indicates the beginning of a separate String.
 Thus, an n-element Array can point to n different Strings.

 Referring to its corresponding pointer each String can be accessed.

 Suppose that the following Strings are to be stored in a Character-type Array:

Dennis , Ritchie, Computer, Programming
These Strings can be stored in a two-dimensional, character type Array as

char name[4][14];

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers to Strings

 Note that name contains 10 rows, to accommodate the 4 Strings.

 Each row must be large enough to store at least 10 Characters, as well as the
null character (\0) at the end.
 To provide for larger Strings, each String is defined to have at least 14
characters.
 A better way to do this is to define a 4-element of Pointers, that is,
char *name[4]; D e n n i s
name[1] R i t c h i e
C o m p u t e r
name[3] P r o g r a m m i n g

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Array of Pointers to Strings

main( )
{
char *names[ ]= Dennis\0 Ritchie\0 Computer\0 Programming\0
{ 6500 6507 6515 6524
“Dennis”,
“Ritchie”, names[] 35 needed
“Computer”, Instead of 44
6500 6507 6515 6524
“Programming”
6608 6610 6612 6614
};
}
Efficient use of available memory
 names[] is an Array of Pointers. It contains base addresses of respective names.
 Base address of “Dennis” is stored in names[0], and so on.
 Thus after the end of each String, a null character is inserted, and from next
memory location next String follows.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Pointers and Functions

main( )
 Using Call by Reference intelligently we
can make a function return more than {
one value at a time, which is not int radius;
possibly ordinarily. float area, perimeter;
printf(“\n Enter a radius of a circle”);
 We have been able to indirectly return scanf(“%d”,&radius);
two values from a called function, and areaperi(radius, &area, &perimeter);
hence, have overcome the limitation printf(“\n Area =%f”, area);
of the return statement. printf(“\n Perimeter =%f”, perimeter);
}
areaperi(int r, float *a, float *p)
Output: {
Enter radius of a circle : 5 *a=3.14 * r *r;
Area = 78.500000 *p=2 * 3.14 *r;
Perimeter = 31.400000 }
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Multiple Indirection

 It is possible to have a Pointer to another Pointer that points to the target value.

 This is called Multiple indirection or Pointers to Pointers.

 In this case, the value of the normal Pointer is the address of the variable that
contains the desired value.
 In case of a Pointer to a Pointer, the first Pointer contains the address of the
second Pointer, which points to the variable that contains the desired value.
 Excessive indirection is difficult to follow and prone to conceptual errors.

 A variable that is a Pointer to a Pointer must be declared. Placing an additional

asterisk in front of the variable name does this.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Multiple Indirection

 For example, the following declaration tells the compiler that fl_ptr is a Pointer to
a Pointer type float. float **fl_ptr;
 fl_ptr is not a Pointer to a floating point number but rather a Pointer to a float
Pointer.
 To access the target value indirectly pointed to by a Pointer to a Pointer, the
asterisk operator has to be applied twice.
main( )
{
int x, *ptr, **p_ptr; p_ptr ptr X
x=10; 1005 1010 10
ptr=&x; 1000 1005 1010
p_ptr=&ptr;
printf(“%d”, **p_ptr);
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Dynamic Memory Allocation

 An Array name is actually a Pointer to the first element of the Array.

 It is possible to define the Array as a Pointer variable rather than the

conventional Array.
 However, if an Array is declared conventionally, it results in a fixed block of
memory being reserved at the beginning of the program execution.
 Where this does not occur if the Array is represented as a Pointer variable.

 As a result the use of Pointer variable to represent an Array requires some sort of
initial memory assignment before the Array elements are processed.
 Such memory allocations are generally done using the malloc() library function.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Dynamic Memory Allocation contd.

 Consider an example, A single-dimensional integer array ary having 20 elements
can be defined as int *ary; instead of int ary[20];
 However, ary will not be automatically assigned a memory block when it is
defined as a Pointer variable, though a block of memory enough to store 10
integer quantities will be reserved in advance if ary is defined as an Array.
 Either value has to be assigned to each element of ary at the time of initialization
or memory has to be assigned to it.
ary = (int *) malloc(20*sizeof(int));
 If ary is defined as a Pointer, sufficient memory can be assigned as shown above.

 malloc() returns a Pointer of type Void. However, since ary is a Pointer to type int,
type casting is necessary. In the above statement (int *) casts malloc so as to
return a Pointer to type int.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Dynamic Memory Allocation contd.

 This will reserve a block of memory whose size (in bytes) is equivalent to the size
of integer Array, ary.
 Here a block of memory for 20 integers is allocated. The number 20 is multiplied
by the return value of the function sizeof(int).
 As we know that 2 bytes are required to store an integer, the computer reserves
40 bytes of memory for the Array ary.
 The function malloc() returns a Pointer which is the address location of the
starting point of the memory allocated.
 If enogh memory space does not exist, malloc() returns NULL value.
 The allocation of memory in this manner, that is as and when required in a
program is known as Dynamic Memory Allocation.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Dynamic Memory Allocation contd.

 A C program can store information in the Main memory in 2two primary ways.
 Global and Local variables (storage is fixed, programmer knows the amount of
memory needed for every situation in advance.)
 Dynamic Memory Allocation System (storage of information is allocated from the pool
of free memory as and when needed)

 On contrast with malloc(), free() function releases the memory pointed to by the
Pointer, and make memory available for further allocation.
 Remember that free() can only be called with a Pointer that was previously
allocated with the Dynamic allocation system’s functions.
 Using an invalid pointer in the call to free() will probably destroy the memory
management and cause a system crash.

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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Session 14

Pointers Dynamic Memory Allocation example

#include <stdio.h> Contd..
#include<malloc.h> for(i=0;i<2;i++)
#include<conio.h> {
main() clrscr();
{ printf("\nMarks for Student %d are \n\n", i+1);
int i,j, (*stud_mk)[10]; for(j=0;j<3;j++)
stud_mk = (int *) malloc(2*3*sizeof(int)); {
for(i=0;i<2;i++) printf("\n%d Subject %d ",j+1,
{ *(*stud_mk+i)+j);
printf("\n Enter marks for Student %d\n", i+1); }
for(j=0;j<3;j++) getch();
{ }
printf("\n%d Subject ",j+1); free(stud_mk);
scanf("%d", *(stud_mk+i)+j); }
}
getch(); 3 marks for 2 students are read,
} Memory is allocated using malloc( ) function
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]
 Next Session
Fighting with Files

Thank You
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26 Jul 2013 Prepared by: Lakshmi Rajeswara Rao.P [email protected]