can i reuse the dynamically allocated memory inside a function in main()

[vineeshvs]

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




int **transpose(int **x,int m,int n);



main()
{
  int nrows=2,ncolumns=2,i,j,k=0;
  

  //memory allocation for array x
  int **array;
  array = malloc(nrows * sizeof(int *));
  if(array == NULL)
    {
      printf("out of memory\n");
      return 0;
    }

  
  for(i = 0; i < nrows; i++)
    {
      array[i] = malloc(ncolumns * sizeof(int));
      if(array[i] == NULL)
	{
	  printf("out of memory\n");
	  return 0;
	}
    }

 

 


  //define x
  printf("x=\n");
  for(i=0;i<2;i++)
    {
printf("\n");	  
  for(j=0;j<2;j++)	    
    {
      k=k+5;
      array[i][j]=i+j+k;
      printf("%d\t",array[i][j]);
    } 
    }
  printf("\n");






  //memory allocation for x_transpose, (storing the transpose returned by function)

  int **x_transpose;
  x_transpose = malloc(nrows * sizeof(int *));
  if(x_transpose == NULL)
    {
      printf("out of memory\n");
      return 0;
    }

  
  for(i = 0; i < nrows; i++)
    {
      x_transpose[i] = malloc(ncolumns * sizeof(int));
      if(x_transpose[i] == NULL)
	{
	  printf("out of memory\n");
	  return 0;
	}
    }







  //call function
  x_transpose= transpose(array,nrows,ncolumns);






  //display transpose
  printf("x_transpose=\n");
  for(i=0;i<2;i++)
    {
printf("\n");	  
  for(j=0;j<2;j++)	    
    {
      printf("%d\t",x_transpose[i][j]);
    }
    }
}









//function_transpose

int **transpose(int **x,int m,int n)
{
  int nrows=n,ncolumns=m,i,j;

  //memory allocation for y,to store transpose
  int **y;
  y = malloc(nrows * sizeof(int *));
  if(y == NULL)
    {
      printf("out of memory\n");
      return 0;
    }
  for(i = 0; i < nrows; i++)
    {
      y[i] = malloc(ncolumns * sizeof(int));
      if(y[i] == NULL)
	{
	  printf("out of memory\n");
	  return 0;
	}	  
    }




 
  for(i=0;i<m;i++)
    for(j=0;j<n;j++)
      {
	y[i][j]=x[j][i];
      }
  return y;
}

i allocated memory for storing y(transpose of matrix) inside the function. also i allocated memory(for x_transpose) for storing the same result in main program. can reuse the same memory in main also???

[death_oclock]

You don't need to allocate memory for x_transpose. After the line x_transpose= transpose(array,nrows,ncolumns); x_transpose points to the same block of memory that was allocated for y. You do need to free all of this memory before the program closes, however.

[vineeshvs]

ok, then how can i declare x_transpose in main program?

[death_oclock]

You already did. Declaration: int **x_transpose; Initialization: x_transpose= transpose(array,nrows,ncolumns);

[vineeshvs]

k. that helps