Dynamic Memory Allocation in C

Dynamic Memory Allocation in C | There are 4 library functions defined under for dynamic memory allocation in C programming.

• malloc() :- Allocates requested size of bytes and returns a pointer first byte of allocated space.
• calloc() :- Allocates space for an array element, 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() used to allocate memory to structures (user-defined data types).
On successful allocation, it returns the base address of memory block. On failure, it returns the NULL pointer.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

struct student
{
     int id;
     char name[20];
     float fee;
};
struct student *ptr;

int main()
{
     ptr=(struct student*) malloc(sizeof(struct student));

     /*check memory is allocated or not*/
     if(ptr==NULL)
         {
             printf("Memory not allocated\n");
             exit(1);
         }

     else
         {
             printf("Enter Student details (Student Id, Name & fee):\n");
             scanf("%d,%s,%f",&ptr->id,ptr->name,&ptr->fee);

             printf("\n\nStudent details is:\n");
             printf("%d,%s,%.2f",ptr->id,ptr->name,ptr->fee);
         }

     return 0;
}

Output:-

Enter Student details (Student Id, Name & fee):
1204,amelia,1205.2
Student details is:
1204,amelia,1205.02

Calloc() allocates memory to arrays. On success, it allocates ( n * size ) bytes and returns base address. On failure, it returns the NULL pointer.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main()
{

     int n, i, *arr;

     printf("Enter size of array: ");
     scanf("%d",&n);

     /*allocate memory using calloc()*/
     arr= (int*) calloc(n, sizeof(int));

     /*check memory is allocated or not*/
     if(arr==NULL)
     {   
         printf("Memory not allocated.");
         exit(0);
     }

     else
     {
         printf("Array elements are:\n");
         for(i=0; i<n; i++)
         {
             printf("%d\t",*(arr+i));
         }
     }

     return 0;
 }

Output:-

Enter size of array: 3
Array elements are:
0 0 0

Notice:- when we initialize memory dynamically with calloc() than all elements of array initialize with “0“.

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