When to use malloc for char pointers

Question

I'm specifically focused on when to use malloc on char pointers

char *ptr;
ptr = "something";
...code...
...code...
ptr = "something else";

Would a malloc be in order for something as trivial as this? If yes, why? If not, then when is it necessary for char pointers?

Answer 1

As was indicated by others, you don't need to use malloc just to do:

const char *foo = "bar";

The reason for that is exactly that *foo is a pointer — when you initialize foo you're not creating a copy of the string, just a pointer to where "bar" lives in the data section of your executable. You can copy that pointer as often as you'd like, but remember, they're always pointing back to the same single instance of that string.

So when should you use malloc? Normally you use strdup() to copy a string, which handles the malloc in the background. e.g.

const char *foo = "bar";
char *bar = strdup(foo); /* now contains a new copy of "bar" */
printf("%s\n", bar);     /* prints "bar" */
free(bar);               /* frees memory created by strdup */

Now, we finally get around to a case where you may want to malloc if you're using sprintf() or, more safely snprintf() which creates / formats a new string.

char *foo = malloc(sizeof(char) * 1024);        /* buffer for 1024 chars */
snprintf(foo, 1024, "%s - %s\n", "foo", "bar"); /* puts "foo - bar\n" in foo */
printf(foo);                                    /* prints "foo - bar" */
free(foo);                                      /* frees mem from malloc */

Answer 2

Use malloc() when you don't know the amount of memory needed during compile time. In case if you have read-only strings then you can use const char* str = "something"; . Note that the string is most probably be stored in a read-only memory location and you'll not be able to modify it. On the other hand if you know the string during compiler time then you can do something like: char str[10]; strcpy(str, "Something"); Here the memory is allocated from stack and you will be able to modify the str. Third case is allocating using malloc. Lets say you don'r know the length of the string during compile time. Then you can do char* str = malloc(requiredMem); strcpy(str, "Something"); free(str);

Answer 3

malloc is for allocating memory on the free-store. If you have a string literal that you do not want to modify the following is ok:

char *literal = "foo";

However, if you want to be able to modify it, use it as a buffer to hold a line of input and so on, use malloc:

char *buf = (char*) malloc(BUFSIZE); /* define BUFSIZE before */
// ...
free(buf);

Answer 4

malloc for single chars or integers and calloc for dynamic arrays. ie pointer = ((int *)malloc(sizeof(int)) == NULL), you can do arithmetic within the brackets of malloc but you shouldnt because you should use calloc which has the definition of void calloc(count, size)which means how many items you want to store ie count and size of data ie int , char etc.

Answer 5

Everytime the size of the string is undetermined at compile time you have to allocate memory with malloc (or some equiviallent method). In your case you know the size of your strings at compile time (sizeof("something") and sizeof("something else")).