Pointers, Memory allocation and

File Handling

Presented by Group C8
• 37 - Sanket Bhosle 38 - Anurag Bhujbal
• 39 - Prathamesh Bhujbal 40 - Kshitij Bhure
• 41 - Dhananjay Bile 42 - Ayush Billade
• Guide’s name – Amol Bhosle
 Outline

 Pointers and its application

 Call by value
 Call by Reference
 Passing arrays to a function in C
 Dynamic memory allocation
 File Handling
What is a pointer ?

 Pointers (pointer variables) are special variables that are used to

store addresses rather than values. 
 This variable can be of type int, char, array, function, or any
other pointer. 
 The size of the pointer depends on the architecture.
However, in 32-bit architecture the size of a pointer is 2 byte.
How to Use Pointers?

 There are a few important operations, which we will do with the help of pointers very
frequently. 
 (a) We define a pointer variable,
 (b) assign the address of a variable to a pointer  
 (c) access the value at the address available in the pointer variable. This is done by
using unary operator * that returns the value of the variable located at the address
specified by its operand.
How do we Declare a Pointer

 The pointer in c language can be declared using * (asterisk symbol). It is also known as
indirection pointer used to dereference a pointer.
1. int *a; //pointer to int  
2. char *c; //pointer to char
3. float *s; //pointer to float  
4. double *db; //pointer to double
Understanding pointer with help of Ex

 Program to implement the use of pointers :

Output:
Understanding pointers

• This figure explains more about how the pointers works

 Usage of pointers

 Pointer to array:

 Pointer to a function:

 Pointer to structure:
Advantage of pointer

 Pointer reduces the code and improves the performance, it is used to retrieving strings, trees,

etc. and used with arrays, structures, and functions.
 We can return multiple values from a function using the pointer.
 It makes you able to access any memory location in the computer's memory.
 Dynamic memory allocation : we can dynamically allocate memory using malloc() and calloc() functions
where the pointer is used.
 Pointers are widely used in arrays, functions, and structures. It reduces the code and improves the
performance.
 Call By Value

 Here values of actual parameters will be copied to formal parameters and these two different parameters stores
values in different locations.

int x = 10, y=20; int fun(int x, int y)

fun(x,y); {
Printf(“x=%d, y = %d”,x,y); x= 20;
y= 10; }
10 20

x y 20 10
x y
Output: x = 10 , y = 20
CALL BY REFERENCE

 Here both the actual and formal parameter refers to same memory location .Therefore , any changes made to
the formal formal parameters will get reflected to actual parameters.

 Here instead of passing values, we pass address

Example
int fun(int *ptr1, int *ptr2)
int x = 10, y=20; {
*ptr1 = 20 ;
fun(&x, &y); *ptr2 = 10;
}

x y x y ptr1 ptr2

20 10 10 20 1000 2000

1000 2000 1000 2000

Program
o #include <stdio.h>
o void swap(int *x, int *y) {
o int main () { o int temp;

o temp = *x;
o *x = *y;
o int a = 100; o *y = temp;
o o  Output
int b = 200;
o return;
o o }
o printf("Before swap, value of a : %d\n", a );
o printf("Before swap, value of b : %d\n", b );
o
o /* calling a function to swap the values */
o swap(&a, &b);
o
o printf("After swap, value of a : %d\n", a );
o printf("After swap, value of b : %d\n", b );
o
o return 0;
o }
 Passing arrays to a function in C :

1) Passing Individual Array Elements:

Passing array elements to a function is similar to passing variables to function.

Example :

Output
Passing Arrays to Functions
Example :
Output :
Pass Multidimensional Arrays to a Function
Example:

Output :
Basics of Dynamic Memory
Allocation:
Static memory allocation:

 Memory allocated during compile time is called as static memory .

 The memory allocated is fixed during run time.

 Example:
Disadvantages of static memory allocation:

 Size is fixed and the user cannot increase or decrease the size of the array at run time.
 If values stored is less than the size specified then there will be wastage of memory.
 If the values stored are more than the size specified then the program may crash or misbehave.
Dynamic memory allocation:

 The process of allocating memory at the time of execution is called as dynamic memory allocation.

 Built in functions :
1. malloc()
2. calloc()
3. realloc()
4. free() .
What is malloc() ?

 The malloc() or “memory allocation” method in C is used to dynamically allocate a single large block of

memory with the specified size. It returns a pointer of type void which can be cast into a pointer of any form.
It doesn’t Initialize memory at execution time so that it has initialized each block with the default garbage
value initially. 
 If space is insufficient, allocation fails and returns a NULL pointer.

 Syntax: ptr = (cast-type*)malloc(byte-size)

 Example: ptr = (int*)malloc(100*sizeof(int));

Program:
 Output :
What is calloc() ?

 The calloc() or “contiguous allocation” method in C is used to dynamically allocate the specified number of

blocks of memory of the specified type. it is very much similar to malloc() but has two different points and
these are:
 It initializes each block with a default value ‘0’.
 It has two parameters or arguments as compare to malloc().
 If space is insufficient, allocation fails and returns a NULL pointer.

 Syntax : ptr = (cast-type*)calloc(n, element-size);

 Example: ptr = (float*)calloc(25,sizeof(float));

Program:

 Output:
What is realloc() ?

 The realloc() or “re-allocation” method in C is used to dynamically change the memory allocation of a

previously allocated memory. In other words, if the memory previously allocated with the help of malloc or
calloc is insufficient, realloc can be used to dynamically re-allocate memory. re-allocation of memory
maintains the already present value and new blocks will be initialized with the default garbage value.
 If space is insufficient, allocation fails and returns a NULL pointer.

 Syntax: ptr = realloc(ptr, newSize);

 Example: int *ptr = (int *)malloc(sizeof(int));

 ptr = (int *)realloc(ptr, 2*sizeof(int));

Program:

 Output:
What is free() ?

The memory occupied by malloc() or calloc() functions must be

released by calling free() function. Otherwise, it will consume
memory until program exit.

Syntax : free(ptr)  
Example

int main ()
{
int *ptr = (int*)malloc(4*size of (int));
…..
free(ptr);
}
Program:

o #include<stdio.h>  
o #include<stdlib.h>  
o int main(){  
o  int n,i,*ptr,sum=0;    
 Output
o     printf("Enter number of elements: ");    
o     scanf("%d",&n);    
o     ptr=(int*)malloc(n,sizeof(int));  //memory allocated using malloc    
o    
o     printf("Enter elements of array: ");    
o     for(i=0;i<n;++i)    
o     {    
o         scanf("%d",ptr+i);    
o         sum+=*(ptr+i);    
o     }    
o     printf("Sum=%d",sum);    
o     free(ptr);
o ptr = NULL;  
o return 0;  
o }     
File Handling

 Creation of the new file

File I/O
 Opening an existing file 
 Reading data from the file
 Writing data to the file
 Moving data to a specific location on the file
 Deleting the file
Types of files and syntax

1. Text Files - Normal text files whose contents can be read as plain text
2. Binary Files – Bin files that store data in binary form i.e. 0’s and 1’s which cannot be read as
plain text

Declaration of a file:
File *fptr;
Functions for File Handling

No. Function Description

1 fopen() opens new or existing file
2 fprintf() write data into the file
3 fscanf() reads data from the file
4 fputc() writes a character into the file

5 fgetc() reads a character from file

6 fclose() closes the file

7 fseek() sets the file pointer to given
position
Functions for File Handling

No. Function Description

8 fputw() writes an integer to file
9 fgetw() reads an integer from file
10 ftell() returns current position
11 rewind() sets the file pointer to the beginning
of the file
Opening a File : fopen()

 Used to open a file

 Syntax :
File *fptr
fptr = fopen(“file_name”, “mode”)

 Above function accepts 2 parameters – file name and mode in which file is to be opened (Both the
parameters are strings)
Modes

Mode Description
r opens a text file in read mode
w opens a text file in write mode
a opens a text file in append mode
r+ opens a text file in read and write mode
w+ opens a text file in read and write mode
a+ opens a text file in read and append mode
rb opens a binary file in read mode
wb opens a binary file in write mode
ab opens a binary file in append mode
rb+ opens a binary file in read and write mode
wb+ opens a binary file in read and write mode
ab+ opens a binary file in read and append mode
 Important Points

 Always close a file using int fclose( FILE *fp ); syntax

 EOF – End of File
 If file doesn’t exist then fopen() returns NULL
 For writing and appending, if file doesn’t exist then it will be created.
Writing data on a file

Input: Output:

Text file:
Example

Input: Output:

Text file:
Applications of File Handling

1. Bank Management System

2. Contact Management System
3. Employee Record Management System
4. Student Record Management System
Thank you!