free function - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using the free Function in C

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are writing a small program in C that creates a dynamic array to store some numbers. After using the array, you need to clean up the memory to keep your program healthy and avoid memory leaks.

🎯 Goal: You will create a dynamic array using malloc, then use the free function to release the memory when you are done.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a pointer variable to hold dynamically allocated memory for an array of integers

Allocate memory for 5 integers using malloc

Use the free function to release the allocated memory

Print a message confirming the memory has been freed

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Dynamic memory management is important in programs that need flexible storage, like games, databases, or any software handling variable data sizes.

💼 Career

Understanding how to allocate and free memory safely is a key skill for C programmers working in systems programming, embedded systems, or performance-critical applications.

1

Create a pointer for dynamic memory

Declare a pointer variable called numbers of type int * and set it to NULL.

C

# Declare the pointer variable 'numbers' and set it to NULL
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use int *numbers = NULL; to declare a pointer that points to nothing yet.

2

Allocate memory for 5 integers

Use malloc to allocate memory for 5 integers and assign it to the pointer numbers.

C

#include 
#include 

int *numbers = NULL;

// Allocate memory for 5 integers
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use malloc(5 * sizeof(int)) to allocate space for 5 integers.

3

Free the allocated memory

Use the free function to release the memory pointed to by numbers.

C

#include 
#include 

int *numbers = NULL;

numbers = malloc(5 * sizeof(int));

// Free the allocated memory
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Call free(numbers); to release the memory.

4

Print confirmation message

Write a printf statement to display the message "Memory has been freed.".

C

#include 
#include 

int *numbers = NULL;

numbers = malloc(5 * sizeof(int));

free(numbers);

// Print confirmation message
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use printf("Memory has been freed.\n"); to show the message.