How will I free the nodes allocated in another function?
struct node {
int data;
struct node* next;
};
struct node* buildList()
{
struct node* head = NULL;
struct node* second = NULL;
struct node* third = NULL;
head = malloc(sizeof(struct node));
second = malloc(sizeof(struct node));
third = malloc(sizeof(struct node));
head->data = 1;
head->next = second;
second->data = 2;
second->next = third;
third->data = 3;
third->next = NULL;
return head;
}
I call the buildList function in the main()
int main()
{
struct node* h = buildList();
printf("The second element is %d\n", h->next->data);
return 0;
}
I want to free head, second and third variables.
Thanks.
Update:
int main()
{
struct node* h = buildList();
printf("The element is %d\n", h->next->data); //prints 2
//free(h->next->next);
//free(h->next);
free(h);
// struct node* h1 = buildList();
printf("The element is %d\n", h->next->data); //print 2 ?? why?
return 0;
}
Both prints 2. Shouldn't calling free(h) remove h. If so why is that h->next->data available, if h is free. Ofcourse the 'second' node is not freed. But since head is removed, it should be able to reference the next element. What's the mistake here?
An iterative function to free your list:
void freeList(struct node* head)
{
struct node* tmp;
while (head != NULL)
{
tmp = head;
head = head->next;
free(tmp);
}
}
What the function is doing is the follow:
check if head
is NULL, if yes the list is empty and we just return
Save the head
in a tmp
variable, and make head
point to the next node on your list (this is done in head = head->next
free(tmp)
variable, and head
just points to the rest of the list, go back to step 1