malloc an array of struct pointers

arrays, c, malloc, pointers, struct

Solution

`array` is a slightly misleading name. For a dynamically allocated array of pointers, `malloc` will return a pointer to a block of memory. You need to use `Chess*` and not `Chess[]` to hold the pointer to your array.

Chess *array = malloc(size * sizeof(Chess));
array[i] = NULL;

and perhaps later:

/* create new struct chess */
array[i] = malloc(sizeof(struct chess));

/* set up its members */
array[i]->size = 0;
/* etc. */

Problem

I have the following struct: ``` typedef struct _chess { int **array; int size; struct _chess *parent; } chess; ``` and I have: ``` typedef struct _chess *Chess; ``` Now, I want to create an array of dynamic length to store pointers to the chess struct so I do the following: ``` Chess array [] = malloc(size * sizeof(Chess)); ``` This gives me an error: invalid initializer. And if I drop the [] and do this: ``` Chess array = malloc(size * sizeof(Chess)); ``` it compiles without error but when I try to set an element of this array to NULL by doing: ``` array[i]=NULL; ``` I get an error: incompatible types when assigning to type ‘struct _chess’ from type ‘void *’ Any idea what am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Original source