TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
PULCHOWK CAMPUS

Subject: C-Programming

Experiment Number: 9

Title: POINTERS AND DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION

Date: 14th August,2021

Submitted By: Submitted To:

Name: Nikesh Ranabhat Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering

Program: BAS

Checked By:

Roll: 077BAS025
 POINTERS AND DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION

BACKGROUND THEORY

Pointer:

Pointer is a variable that represents the location of a data item rather than the value. A pointer variable
of particular type can hold the address of its own type only.

Why is pointer useful?

 Pointers are useful as they are more efficient in handling arrays and data tables.
 It can be used to return multiple values from a function via function arguments.
 It allows passing a function as argument to other functions.
 The use of pointer arrays to character strings results in saving of data storage space in memory.
 It provides an efficient way for manipulating dynamic data structures, linked lists, queues,
stacks and trees.

Pointer variable declaration:

The general syntax of pointer declaration is,

datatype *pointer_name;

Copy

The data type of the pointer and the variable to which the pointer variable is pointing must be the
same.

Pointer Initialization:

Pointer Initialization is the process of assigning address of a variable to a pointer variable. It contains the
address of a variable of the same data type. In C language address operator & is used to determine the address
of a variable. The & (immediately preceding a variable name) returns the address of the variable associated with
it.
int a = 10;

int *ptr; //pointer declaration

ptr = &a; //pointer initialization

Pointer expression:

Pointers are valid operands in arithmetic expressions, assignment expressions and comparison
expressions. However, not all the operators normally used in these expressions are valid with pointer
variables.

Arithmetic operations on pointer variables:

Declaring variables as :

int a,b,*p,*q;

1. A pointer variable can be assigned the address of an ordinary variable(eg. p=&a)

2. A pointer variable can be assigned the content of another pointer variable provided both
pointer point to objects of same data type.(eg. p=q)
3. An integer quantity can be added to or subtracted from a pointer variable. (eg. p+5, q-1, q++, --
p)
4. A pointer variable can be assigned a null value. (eg. p=NULL)
5. One pointer variable can be subtracted from another provided both pointer point to elements of
same array.
6. Two pointer variables can be compared provided both pointer point to element of the same data
type.

Following operations are not allowed on pointer variables:

1. Pointer variables cannot be multiplied or divided by a constant.

2. Two pointer variables cannot be added.

Dynamic memory allocation:

C dynamic memory allocation refers to performing manual memory management for dynamic
memory allocation in the C programming language via a group of functions in the C standard library,
namely malloc, realloc, calloc and free.
Malloc ():

The malloc() function takes a single parameter, which is the size of the requested memory area in
bytes. It returns a pointer to the allocated memory. If the allocation fails, it returns NULL. The
prototype for the standard library function is like this:

void *malloc(size_t size);

Calloc():

The calloc() function does basically the same job as malloc(), except that it takes two parameters – the
number of array elements and the size of each element – instead of a single parameter (which is the
product of these two values). The allocated memory is also initialized to zeros. Here is the prototype:

void *calloc(size_t nelements, size_t elementSize);

Realloc():

The realloc() function resizes a memory allocation previously made by malloc(). It takes as parameters
a pointer to the memory area and the new size that is required. If the size is reduced, data may be lost.
If the size is increased and the function is unable to extend the existing allocation, it will automatically
allocate a new memory area and copy data across. In any case, it returns a pointer to the allocated
memory. Here is the prototype:

void *realloc(void *pointer, size_t size);

Free():

The free() function takes the pointer returned by malloc() and de-allocates the memory. No indication
of success or failure is returned. The function prototype is like this:

void free(void *pointer);

1.Run the program, observe the output and comment on that.

SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void main()

int a,b;

printf("Address of a: %u",&a);

printf("\nAddress of b: %u",&b);

getch();

OUTPUT:
SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void main()

int *p,*q;

int a,b;

p=&a;

q=&b;

printf("Address of a=%u\n",&a);

printf("Address of b=%u\n",&b);

printf("Value of p=%u\n",p);

printf("Value of q=%u\n",q);

printf("Enter value of a and b:");

scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);

printf("The value pointed by p is %d\n",*p);

printf("The value pointed by q is %d\n",*q);

printf("a+b=%d\n",a+b);

printf("*p+*q=%d",*p+*q);

getch();

}
OUTPUT:

2.WAP to find larger of two numbers using function and pointer. Here pass two numbers from
main() to a function that finds the larger. Display the larger one from main() without using
return statement.

SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void largest(int *,int *);

int main()

int a,b;

printf("\nEnter any two numbers : ");

scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);

largest(&a,&b);

printf("\nThe larger number is: %d",a);

getch();

return 0;

}
void largest(int *p,int*q){

if (*p<*q)

*p=*q;

OUTPUT:

3. Run the program and observe the output:

SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void main()

float marks[5];

int i;

printf("%d",marks);

printf("Address of different array elements:");

for (i=0;i<5;i++)

printf("Address of element %d is %u\n",i,&marks[i]);

getch();

}
OUTPUT:

4. This program asks the required size of array to the user and displays the addresses of
allocated blocks.

SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <alloc.h>

void main()

int n,i;

float *address;

printf("Enter the number of elements:")

scanf("%d",&n);

address=(float *)calloc(n,sizeof(float));

if (address=NULL)

printf("Memory can not be allocated");

exit();

}
 for (i=0;i<n;i++){

printf("\nAddress of %d block %d",i,(address+i));

free(address);

OUTPUT:
5.Solve all the problems of one dimensional array of exercise eight using the concept of dynamic
memory allocation.

1.Source code:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void main()

int i, num[6]={4,5,3,2,15};

for (i=0;i<6;i++){

printf("%d",*(num+i));

getch();

OUTPUT:
 2. SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

void main()

int i,num[6];

printf("Enter members of array");

for (i=0;i<6;i++)

scanf("%d",(num+i)); //doesn't need ampersand

for (i=0;i<6;i++)

printf("%d",*(num+i));

getch();

return 0;

OUTPUT:
3. SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

int main(){

int i,arr[5],sum=0;

for (i=0;i<5;i++){

printf("\nEnter the %dth term of the array.",i+1);

scanf("%d",(arr+i));

for (i=0;i<5;i++){

if ((*(arr+i)%10==0) && (*(arr+i)%15!=0)){

sum+=*(arr+i);

printf("\nThe sum of numbers divisible by 10 and not by 15 is %d",sum);

getch();

return 0;

OUTPUT:

4. SOURCE CODE:
#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

int main()

int *arr,n,sum=0; //setting up a pointer from where to allocate

printf("\nEnter the number of terms in the array you want.");

scanf("%d",&n);

arr=(int*)malloc(n*sizeof(int));

for (int i=0;i<n;i++){

printf("\nEnter the %dth term",i+1);

scanf("%d",arr+i); // no need to use ampersand since its address anyway

//to add corresponding terms;

for (int i=0;i<(n/2);i++){ //running the loop upto midpoint or near midpoint

sum+=(*(arr+i)+*(arr+n-i-1));

printf("\nThe sum is: %d",sum);

getch();

return 0;

OUTPUT:
5. SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <conio.h>

int main()

int arr[5],i,high,low;

for (i=0;i<5;i++){

printf("\nEnter the %dth term",i+1);

scanf("%d",arr+i);

high=*arr;

low=*arr;

for (i=0;i<5;i++){

if (*(arr+i)>high)

high=*(arr+i);
 if (*(arr+i)<low)

low=*(arr+i);

printf("\nThe highest number is %d\nThe lowest number is %d",high,low);

getch();

return 0;

OUTPUT:
6. SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <conio.h>

int func(int *arr,int n){

int temp;

for (int i=0;i<n;i++)

for(int j=i+1;j<n;j++){

if (*(arr+j)>*(arr+i)){

temp=*(arr+i);

*(arr+i)=*(arr+j);

*(arr+j)=temp;

int main()

int *arr,n;

printf("\nEnter the number of terms that you want to enter.");

scanf("%d",&n);

arr=(int*)malloc(n*sizeof(int));

for (int i=0;i<n;i++){

printf("\nEnter the %dth term",i+1);

scanf("%d",arr+i);
 }

func(arr,n);

printf("\nIn descending order");

for (int i=0;i<n;i++){

printf("%d\t",*(arr+i));

getch();

return 0;

OUTPUT:
7. SOURCE CODE:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <conio.h>

#include <math.h>

int main()

int *arr,n;

printf("\nEnter the number of terms you want to add");

scanf("%d",&n);

arr=(int*)malloc(n*sizeof(int));

for (int i=0;i<n;i++){

printf("\nEnter the %dth element",i+1);

scanf("%d",arr+i);

for (int i=0;i<n;i++){

*(arr+i)=pow(*(arr+i),3);

printf("%d\t",*(arr+i));

getch();

return 0;

}
OUTPUT:

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION:

In exercise 9 of C programming, we understood about pointers, C dynamic memory allocation and

their importance. The usage of pointers and functions like malloc, calloc, realloc and free were also
discussed.

CONCLUSION:

Hence, the focused objective to understand the importance of pointers and dynamic memory allocation
was achieved successfully.