reserving continuous block using malloc - c++

Question

I'm trying to learn more about malloc() and need help clarifying the output. I want to reserve 10 bytes of memory and be able to access them individually but they must be in one block. Here is the code:
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main()
{
char neededbytes = 10;
char *p;
p = (char *)malloc(neededbytes * sizeof(char));
if(p==NULL)
{
cout<<"Error! memory not allocated.";
exit(0);
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
{
p[i] = 0;
}
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
{
cout<<"Address at index " << i << " is ";
cout<<&p+i<<endl;
}
}
free(p);
}
The output of the program shows that all addresses are 8 bytes apart. Shouldn't they be only one byte apart? Is there a way for me to know if char consumes 8 bytes on my architecture?

Answer 1

&p+i is the same as (&p)+(i), and since p has type char*, &p has type char**. As a result, adding i will actually add i * sizeof(char *) bytes to the address denoted by &p.
What you want is p + i, which will add i * sizeof(char) bytes to the address stored in p. In other words, you already have a pointer to contiguous data when you use malloc(). Of course, this is C++, so char * is handled specially by std::cout, std::cerr, and the std::ostream class in general. You'd need to do something like static_cast<void *>(p + i) rather than just p + i as you would use in C.
As others have stated, you should avoid using malloc() and free() in C++ when possible; C++ has the new[] and delete[] operators for your purpose.

Answer 2

cout<<&p+i<<endl; should just be cout<<static_cast<void*>(p+i)<<endl;

Answer 3

It's because you are using the address of operator, the offset will be i * sizeof(char *) in that case which on your system is apparently 8 * i bytes.
Try this instead
#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
char neededbytes = 10;
char *p;
p = static_cast<char *>(malloc(neededbytes));
if (p == NULL)
{
cout << "Error! memory not allocated.";
exit(-1);
}
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
p[i] = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
{
cout << "Address at index " << i << " is ";
cout << static_cast<void *>(p + i) << endl;
}
free(p);
}

Answer 4

You could look at the byte alignment of char in your compiler output settings but I bet char is always 1 byte. Try a few changes like this (I think you are accessing the wrong array element at &p+i) :
int main()
{
int neededbytes = 10;
char *p=NULL;
p = malloc(neededbytes * sizeof(char));
if(p==NULL)
{
cout<<"Error! memory not allocated.";
exit(0);
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
{
p[i] = 0;
}
for (int i = 0; i < neededbytes; i++)
{
cout<<"Address at index " << i << " is ";
// Dave cout<<p+i<<endl;
cout<<&(p+i)<<endl;
}
}
free(p);
}
NB: Dave shared the correct syntax of p+i. Thanks Dave

Answer 5

Change cout<<&p+i<<endl; to cout<<static_cast<void*>(p+i)<<endl;.

Answer 6

Here's a site that talks about memory alignment on GNU systems. It will always be 8(16 for 64 bit systems) byte aligned. There are some libc (stdlib.h) functions that can force alignment for you listed there though.
http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Aligned-Memory-Blocks.html