Dynamic Memory Allocation in C

As you know, you have to declare the size of an array before you use it. Hence, the array you declared may be insufficient or more than required to hold data. To solve this issue, you can allocate memory dynamically.

Dynamic memory management refers to manual memory management. This allows you to obtain more memory when required and release it when not necessary.

There are 4 library functions defined under <stdlib.h> for dynamic memory allocation.

Function	Use of Function
malloc()	Allocates requested size of bytes and returns a pointer first byte of allocated space
calloc()	Allocates space for an array elements, initializes to zero and then returns a pointer to memory
free()	deallocate the previously allocated space
realloc()	Change the size of previously allocated space

malloc()

The name malloc stands for "memory allocation".

The function malloc() reserves a block of memory of specified size and return a pointer of type void which can be casted into pointer of any form.

Syntax of malloc()
ptr = (cast-type*) malloc(byte-size)

Here, ptr is pointer of cast-type. The malloc() function returns a pointer to an area of memory with size of byte size. If the space is insufficient, allocation fails and returns NULL pointer.

ptr = (int*) malloc(100 * sizeof(int));

This statement will allocate either 200 or 400 according to size of int 2 or 4 bytes respectively and the pointer points to the address of first byte of memory.

calloc()
The name calloc stands for "contiguous allocation".

The only difference between malloc() and calloc() is that, malloc() allocates single block of memory whereas calloc() allocates multiple blocks of memory each of same size and sets all bytes to zero.

Syntax of calloc()
ptr = (cast-type*)calloc(n, element-size);
This statement will allocate contiguous space in memory for an array of n elements. For example:
ptr = (float*) calloc(25, sizeof(float));
This statement allocates contiguous space in memory for an array of 25 elements each of size of float, i.e, 4 bytes. 

free()

Dynamically allocated memory created with either calloc() or malloc() doesn't get freed on its own. You must explicitly use free() to release the space.

syntax of free()
free(ptr);

This statement frees the space allocated in the memory pointed by ptr. 

realloc()

If the previously allocated memory is insufficient or more than required, you can change the previously allocated memory size using realloc().

Syntax of realloc()

ptr = realloc(ptr, newsize);

Here, ptr is reallocated with size of newsize.

Example #1: Using malloc() and free()

Write a C program to find sum of n elements entered by user. To perform this program, allocate memory dynamically using malloc() function.

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

int main()

{

int num, i, *ptr, sum = 0;

printf("Enter number of elements: ");

scanf("%d", &num);

ptr = (int*) malloc(num * sizeof(int)); //memory allocated using malloc

if(ptr == NULL)

{

printf("Error! memory not allocated.");

exit(0);

}

printf("Enter elements of array: ");

for(i = 0; i < num; ++i)

{

scanf("%d", ptr + i);

sum += *(ptr + i);

}

printf("Sum = %d", sum);

free(ptr);

return 0;

}

Example #2: Using calloc() and free()

Write a C program to find sum of n elements entered by user. To perform this program, allocate memory dynamically using calloc() function.

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

int main()

{

int num, i, *ptr, sum = 0;

printf("Enter number of elements: ");

scanf("%d", &num);

ptr = (int*) calloc(num, sizeof(int));

if(ptr == NULL)

{

printf("Error! memory not allocated.");

exit(0);

}

printf("Enter elements of array: ");

for(i = 0; i < num; ++i)

{

scanf("%d", ptr + i);

sum += *(ptr + i);

}

printf("Sum = %d", sum);

free(ptr);

return 0;

}

Find Largest Element Using Dynamic Memory Allocation - calloc()

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int i, num;
float *data;
printf("Enter total number of elements(1 to 100): ");
scanf("%d", &num);
// Allocates the memory for 'num' elements.
data = (float*) calloc(num, sizeof(float));
if(data == NULL)
{
printf("Error!!! memory not allocated.");
exit(0);
}
printf("\n");
// Stores the number entered by the user.
for(i = 0; i < num; ++i)
{
printf("Enter Number %d: ", i + 1);
scanf("%f", data + i);
}
// Loop to store largest number at address data
for(i = 1; i < num; ++i)
{
// Change < to > if you want to find the smallest number
if(*data < *(data + i))
*data = *(data + i);
}
printf("Largest element = %.2f", *data);
return 0;
}

Example #3: Using realloc()

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

int main()

{

int *ptr, i , n1, n2;

printf("Enter size of array: ");

scanf("%d", &n1);

ptr = (int*) malloc(n1 * sizeof(int));

printf("Address of previously allocated memory: ");

for(i = 0; i < n1; ++i)

printf("%u\t",ptr + i);

printf("\nEnter new size of array: ");

scanf("%d", &n2);

ptr = realloc(ptr, n2);

printf("Address of newly allocated memory: ");

for(i = 0; i < n2; ++i)

printf("%u\t", ptr + i);

return 0;

}

Programs to try

Try the example programs