return a struct pointer from a function

Question

struct DataInformation
{
    char *Name;
    int Number;
};

DataInformation *GetDataList()
{
    int count = 3;
    DataInformation *data;
    data = (DataInformation *)malloc(count * sizeof(DataInformation));

    data[0].Name = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * 6);
    data[0].Name = (char *)"first";
    data[0].Number = 1;
    data[1].Name = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * 7);
    data[1].Name = (char *)"second";
    data[1].Number = 2;

    for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++)
    {
        std::cout << "function: " << data[i].Name << std::endl;
    }

    return data;
}

int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
    DataInformation * list = GetDataList();    

    return 0;
}

Does anyone can help me, why it cannot work?

Answer 1

Hi @June Lin ,

I suggest you describe the problem you're having in detail.

I modified your code and now the program runs without any errors and warnings. You could also find that the list has been assigned a value through the for loop.

Is this the result you want?

#include<iostream>  
  
struct DataInformation  
{  
    char* Name;  
    int Number;  
};  
DataInformation* data;  
DataInformation* GetDataList()  
{  
      
    int count = 3;  
      
    data = new DataInformation[count];  
  
      
    data[0].Name = (char*)"first";  
    data[0].Number = 1;  
      
    data[1].Name = (char*)"second";  
    data[1].Number = 2;  
  
   
  
    return data;  
}  
  
int main(int argc, char const* argv[])  
{  
    GetDataList();  
    DataInformation* list = data;  
    for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++)  
    {  
        std::cout << "function: " << list[i].Name << std::endl;  
    }  
    free(list);  
     
    return 0;  
}  

Best regards,

Elya

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