Question

I’m relatively new to C++ memory management, and I’m getting this weird error of heap corruption (plus an automatic breakpoint in Visual Studio before it). Here is the offending code:

z_world::z_world(char* name)
{
    unsigned int i, skip;
    char tmp;

    //Load data from file
    std::string* data = loadString(name);

    //Base case if there is no world data
    tiles = NULL;

    w = 0;
    h = 0;

    if(data->length() > 0) {
        //Set up the 'tiles' array
        for(i = 0; i < data->length(); i++) {
            if(data->at(i) == '\n')
                h++;
            if(h == 0)
                w++;
        }
        tiles = new int[data->length()-h];

        //Load Data
        skip = 0;
        for(i = 0; i < data->length(); i++) {
            if(data->at(i) == '\n') {
                skip++;
                printf("\n");
                continue;
            }
            tmp = data->at(i);
            tiles[i+skip] = atoi(&tmp);
            printf("%i ",tiles[i+skip]);
        }
    }
    delete data;
}

Here’s where I load in the string:

std::string* loadString(char* name)
{
    ifstream in(name);
    std::string* input = new string();

    while(in) {
        std::string line;
        getline(in,line);
        input->append(line);
        input->append("\n");
    }

    in.close();

    return input;
}

I get the breakpoint and error inside of “delete data;”, which makes me think that “data” gets deleted somewhere before that, but I can’t find where it would. For reference, this method is to create an object that contains world data for a game in the form of a virtual 2D integer array (for the ID’s of the tiles).

Answer 1

Youre problem is probably here:

tiles[i+skip] = atoi(&tmp);

Problem 1:
It should be -skip

tiles[i - skip] =

Problem 2:
The atoi() command is being used incorrectly (tmp does not contain a string). But also I don’t think atoi() is the appropriate method. I think what you are looking for is simple assignment. The conversion from char to int is automatic:

 tiles[i - skip] = tmp;

Problem 3:
You are not using objects correctly. In this situation there is no need to generate dynamic objects and create a mess with dynamic memory management. It would be simpler to just to create automatic objects and pass those back normally:

std::string* loadString(char* name)
      //   ^  Don't do this.



std::string loadString(std::string const& name)
//  ^^^^^^^  return a string by value.
//           The compiler will handle memory management very well.

In general you should not be passing pointers around. In the few situations where you do need pointers they should be held within a smart pointer object or containers (for multiple objects) so that their lifespan is correctly controlled.