You’ve tagged this as C++ as well as C.
If you’re using C++ things are a lot easier. The standard template library has a template called vector which allows you to dynamically build up a list of objects.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <vector>
typedef std::vector<char*> words;
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
words myWords;
myWords.push_back("Hello");
myWords.push_back("World");
words::iterator iter;
for (iter = myWords.begin(); iter != myWords.end(); ++iter) {
printf("%s ", *iter);
}
return 0;
}
If you’re using C things are a lot harder, yes malloc, realloc and free are the tools to help you. You might want to consider using a linked list data structure instead. These are generally easier to grow but don’t facilitate random access as easily.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
typedef struct s_words {
char* str;
struct s_words* next;
} words;
words* create_words(char* word) {
words* newWords = malloc(sizeof(words));
if (NULL != newWords){
newWords->str = word;
newWords->next = NULL;
}
return newWords;
}
void delete_words(words* oldWords) {
if (NULL != oldWords->next) {
delete_words(oldWords->next);
}
free(oldWords);
}
words* add_word(words* wordList, char* word) {
words* newWords = create_words(word);
if (NULL != newWords) {
newWords->next = wordList;
}
return newWords;
}
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
words* myWords = create_words("Hello");
myWords = add_word(myWords, "World");
words* iter;
for (iter = myWords; NULL != iter; iter = iter->next) {
printf("%s ", iter->str);
}
delete_words(myWords);
return 0;
}
Yikes, sorry for the worlds longest answer. So WRT to the “don’t want to use a linked list comment”:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
typedef struct {
char** words;
size_t nWords;
size_t size;
size_t block_size;
} word_list;
word_list* create_word_list(size_t block_size) {
word_list* pWordList = malloc(sizeof(word_list));
if (NULL != pWordList) {
pWordList->nWords = 0;
pWordList->size = block_size;
pWordList->block_size = block_size;
pWordList->words = malloc(sizeof(char*)*block_size);
if (NULL == pWordList->words) {
free(pWordList);
return NULL;
}
}
return pWordList;
}
void delete_word_list(word_list* pWordList) {
free(pWordList->words);
free(pWordList);
}
int add_word_to_word_list(word_list* pWordList, char* word) {
size_t nWords = pWordList->nWords;
if (nWords >= pWordList->size) {
size_t newSize = pWordList->size + pWordList->block_size;
void* newWords = realloc(pWordList->words, sizeof(char*)*newSize);
if (NULL == newWords) {
return 0;
} else {
pWordList->size = newSize;
pWordList->words = (char**)newWords;
}
}
pWordList->words[nWords] = word;
++pWordList->nWords;
return 1;
}
char** word_list_start(word_list* pWordList) {
return pWordList->words;
}
char** word_list_end(word_list* pWordList) {
return &pWordList->words[pWordList->nWords];
}
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
word_list* myWords = create_word_list(2);
add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "Hello");
add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "World");
add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "Goodbye");
char** iter;
for (iter = word_list_start(myWords); iter != word_list_end(myWords); ++iter) {
printf("%s ", *iter);
}
delete_word_list(myWords);
return 0;
}