How to get the real and total length of char * (char array)?

Question

For a char [], I can easily get its length by:

char a[] = \"aaaaa\";
int length = sizeof(a)/sizeof(char); // length=6

However,

Answer 1

If the char * is 0-terminated, you can use strlen

Otherwise, there is no way to determine that information

Answer 2

• In C++:

Just use std::vector<char> which keep the (dynamic) size for you. (Bonus, memory management for free).

Or std::array<char, 10> which keep the (static) size.

• In pure C:

Create a structure to keep the info, something like:

typedef struct {
    char* ptr;
    int size;
} my_array;

my_array malloc_array(int size)
{
    my_array res;
    res.ptr = (char*) malloc(size);
    res.size = size;
    return res;
}

void free_array(my_array array)
{
    free(array.ptr);
}

Answer 3

when new allocates an array, depending on the compiler (i use gnu c++), the word in front of the array contains information about the number of bytes allocated.

The test code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int
main ()
{
    int arraySz;
    char *a;
    unsigned int *q;

    for (arraySz = 5; arraySz <= 64; arraySz++) {

        printf ("%02d - ", arraySz);

        a = new char[arraySz];
        unsigned char *p = (unsigned char *) a;

        q = (unsigned int *) (a - 4);
        printf ("%02d\n", (*q));

        delete[] (a);

    }
}

on my machine dumps out:

05 - 19
06 - 19
07 - 19
08 - 19
09 - 19
10 - 19
11 - 19
12 - 19
13 - 27
14 - 27
15 - 27
16 - 27
17 - 27
18 - 27
19 - 27
20 - 27
21 - 35
22 - 35
23 - 35
24 - 35
25 - 35
26 - 35
27 - 35
28 - 35
29 - 43
30 - 43
31 - 43
32 - 43
33 - 43
34 - 43
35 - 43
36 - 43
37 - 51
38 - 51
39 - 51
40 - 51
41 - 51
42 - 51
43 - 51
44 - 51
45 - 59
46 - 59
47 - 59
48 - 59
49 - 59
50 - 59
51 - 59
52 - 59
53 - 67
54 - 67
55 - 67
56 - 67
57 - 67
58 - 67
59 - 67
60 - 67
61 - 75
62 - 75
63 - 75
64 - 75

I would not recommend this solution (vector is better), but if you are really desperate, you could find a relationship and be able to conclude the number of bytes allocated from the heap.