What is the return type of malloc()?

Exams:

MAKAUT BTech CSE, 2017 (Marks: 1)

Answer:

void* (void type pointer).

Explanation

The malloc() is used to allocate memory at run-time. This is called dynamic memory allocation.

Both malloc(), and calloc() are used to get a chunk of free memory from the Operating System. These functions return the starting address of such a chunk or block of memory. The program code needs to typecast this chunk as per it’s needs.

Example:

The following code snippet shows how a node is created for a singly linked linear list.

// Code to define a simple node structure for a Singly Linked Linear List
struct NODE{
char data;
struct NODE *ptr;
}
typedef struct NODE node;

// Function to create a new node. The node is loaded with the given value in 
// the data field and Null in the link field by default.
node* createNode(char value){
    node* temp;
    temp = (node *)malloc(sizeof(node));
    if( temp==NULL )
        return NULL;
    temp->data = value;
    temp->ptr = NULL;
    return temp;
}