create a BST of string . error - c++

Question

Inserting just one node to the tree works fine, but on inserting the 2nd node onwards, the program crashes. Here is the code:
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
struct node
{
char* key;
node *left, *right;
};
// A utility function to create a new BST node
node *newNode(const char* item)
{
node *temp =new node;
strcpy(temp->key,item);
temp->left = temp->right = NULL;
return temp;
}
// A utility function to do inorder traversal of BST
void inorder(node *root)
{
if (root!= NULL)
{
inorder(root->left);
cout<<root->key<<endl;
inorder(root->right);
}
}
/* A utility function to insert a new node with given key in BST */
node* insert(node* tnode,const char* key)
{
/* If the tree is empty, return a new node */
if (tnode == NULL)
return newNode(key);
/* Otherwise, recur down the tree */
if (strcmp(key,tnode->key) < 0)
tnode->left = insert(tnode->left, key);
else if (strcmp(key,tnode->key) > 0)
tnode->right = insert(tnode->right, key);
/* return the (unchanged) node pointer */
return tnode;
}
// Driver Program to test above functions*/
int main()
{
node *root = NULL;
char* word[]={"elephant","hi","little","nil",NULL};
root = insert(root,word[0]); //works fine
for(int i=1;word[i];i++)
insert(root,word[i]);
// print inoder traversal of the BST
inorder(root);
return 0;
}
after:
root = insert(root,word[0]);
inorder(root);
o/p: elephant
on inserting 2nd node
crashes

Answer 1

You're not initialising the key array that item will get copied into. Try this:
node *newNode(const char* item)
{
node *temp = new node();
temp->key = new char[strlen(item) + 1];
strcpy(temp->key,item);
temp->left = temp->right = NULL;
return temp;
}
That said, there are some more problems with your code, like no destructors etc. I'd strongly recommend reading some good books/tutorials on programming in C++.