Array of Linked Lists in C: initializing and inserting?

Question

I need to create an array of linked lists (as pictured) and this is what I've made so far:

typedef struct Node {
    int data;
    struct Node *next;
} Node;

int main(void) {
    Node* link[5];
    for(int q = 0; q < 5; q++) {
        link[q] = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
        link[q] = NULL;
    }
}

It's been awhile since I've used linked lists in C, so I've forgotten a lot of the syntax and I'm having trouble visualizing what exactly happens when I code linked lists. If I'm not mistaken, when I call malloc in my code, I'm creating a Node with nothing in it yet?

I want to initialize it to point to NULL. And I did this with

link[q] = NULL;

Am I right in saying this is what it looks like in memory?

|1| -> NULL

|2| -> NULL

|3| -> NULL

---

My next problem would be inserting data into the linked list.

(Referring to the picture): If I want to insert another element into say the 3rd index of the array ([3]-> d -> NULL)

Would this be correct?

Node* newNode = link[3];
newNode->data = 1;
link[3] = newNode;

Thank you for the help!

Answer 1

As far as I understood your program, the following statement is not necessary:

link[q] = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));

since you need to start from NULL pointers, link[q] = NULL; is just fine.

To insert items in the list you should allocate memory for each item, so it should become something like that:

Node* newNode = malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
newNode->data = 1;
newNode->next = link[3];
link[3] = newNode;

It should work, although I did not test it.