Question

A memory leak exists in the following function. The trouble I am having is knowing how, when, where, and what to delete. Here is the code:

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>

void someFunc(double** ppDoubleArray, int length)
{
    double* pNewDoubleArray = new double[length];

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        pNewDoubleArray[i] = 3 * i + 2;
    }

    *ppDoubleArray = pNewDoubleArray;
}
int main()
{
    double dbls[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
    double* pArray = dbls;

    int length = sizeof dbls / sizeof dbls[0];

    std::cout << "Before..." << std::endl;

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        std::cout << pArray[i] << ", ";
    }

    std::cout << std::endl;

    someFunc(&pArray, length);

    std::cout << "After..." << std::endl;

    //Expected series is: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        std::cout << pArray[i] << ", ";
    }

    std::cout << std::endl;

    while(true){ }

    return 0;
}

As you can see, I tried what to delete the new array I allocated after I had used it. It actually makes sense that this didn’t work, but I am not sure what to do here..

Added delete[] pArray:

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>

void someFunc(double** ppDoubleArray, int length)
{
    double* pNewDoubleArray = new double[length];

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        pNewDoubleArray[i] = 3 * i + 2;
    }

    *ppDoubleArray = pNewDoubleArray;
}
int main()
{
    double dbls[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
    double* pArray = dbls;

    int length = sizeof dbls / sizeof dbls[0];

    std::cout << "Before..." << std::endl;

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        std::cout << pArray[i] << ", ";
    }

    std::cout << std::endl;

    someFunc(&pArray, length);

    std::cout << "After..." << std::endl;

    //Expected series is: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        std::cout << pArray[i] << ", ";
    }

    delete[] pArray;

    std::cout << std::endl;

    while(true){ }

    return 0;
}

Does this solve any, if at all memory leaks in this situation?

Answer 1

You are allocating & deleting an array in the function. And you are also returning it.

int main()
{

// This one is allocated on the stack, so it will be deleted when exiting main()

    double dbls[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

    double* pArray = dbls;

    //...

// Your function allocates some memory now pointed at by pArray

    someFunc(&pArray, length);

    std::cout << "After..." << std::endl;

    //Expected series is: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        std::cout << pArray[i] << ", ";
    }

    std::cout << std::endl;

    while(true){ }

// Your forgot to delete the memory allocated by your function!!! Memory leak!!!

    return 0;
}