Allocating memory for a Structure in C

user_257906 0
Viewed 109770

I'm tasked to create a program which dynamically allocates memory for a structure. normally we would use

x=malloc(sizeof(int)*y);

However, what do I use for a structure variable? I don't think its possible to do

struct st x = malloc(sizeof(struct));

Could someone help me out? Thanks!

malloc structure c
7 Answers

My favorite:

#include <stdlib.h>

struct st *x = malloc(sizeof *x);

Note that:

  • x must be a pointer
  • no cast is required
  • include appropriate header
user_666920

You're not quite doing that right. struct st x is a structure, not a pointer. It's fine if you want to allocate one on the stack. For allocating on the heap, struct st * x = malloc(sizeof(struct st));.

David_Thornley_141480

struct st* x = malloc( sizeof( struct st ));

user_1066710

It's exactly possible to do that - and is the correct way

Assuming you meant to type

struct st *x = malloc(sizeof(struct st));

ps. You have to do sizeof(struct) even when you know the size of all the contents because the compiler may pad out the struct so that memebers are aligned.

struct tm {
  int x;
  char y;
}

might have a different size to 

struct tm {
  char y;
  int x;
}
mgb_108970

This should do:

struct st *x = malloc(sizeof *x);
user_2276650

struct st *x = (struct st *)malloc(sizeof(struct st));

user_2312240

I believe, when you call sizeof on a struct type, C recursively calls sizeof on the fields of the struct. So, struct st *x = malloc(sizeof(struct st)); only really works if struct st has a fixed size. This is only significant if you have something like a variable sized string in your struct and you DON'T want to give it the max length each time.

In general,

struct st *x = malloc(sizeof(struct st));

works. Occasionally, you will run into either variable sized structs or 'abstract' structs (think: abstract class from Java) and the compiler will tell you that it cannot determine the size of struct st. In these cases, Either you will have to calculate the size by hand and call malloc with a number, or you will find a function which returns a fully implemented and malloc'd version of the struct that you want.

user_2393330
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