Other Alias
dynarr, dynarr_resize, dynarr_freeSYNOPSIS
#include <publib.h>
void dynarr_init(struct dynarr *da, size_t elsize);
int dynarr_resize(struct dynarr *da, size_t newsize);
void dynarr_free(struct dynarr *da);
DESCRIPTION
These functions make it easier to use dynamic arrays, i.e., arrays that are allocated with malloc(3) and resized with realloc(3). Below is a typical code fragment for implementing a dynamic array that is resized as more input is read.
char *p, *line; size_t alloc, len; len = 0; alloc = 1024; if ((line = malloc(alloc)) == NULL) abort(); while (fgets(line + len, alloc-len, stdin) != NULL) { len = strlen(line); alloc += 1024; if ((p = realloc(alloc)) == NULL) abort(); alloc = p; }
(The error handling is intentionally simplified.) Below is the above fragment with the dynarr(3).
struct dynarr da; dynarr_init(&da); while (fgets((char *)da.data + da.used, da.alloc-da.len, stdin) != NULL) { da.used = strlen(da.data); if (dynarr_resize(&da, da.alloc + 1024) == -1) abort(); }
The code is a bit simpler, and all the memory allocation details and most of the error checking code is hidden away.
The dynamic array is represented by a struct dynarr:
struct dynarr { void *data; size_t alloc, used; };
The interface to the dynamic allocation has intentionally been made unopaque.
dynarr_init initializes a struct dynarr to be an empty array, dynarr_resize sets its size to be newsize, and dynarr_free frees the array (it will become an empty array again).