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deleting pointers to pointers

Started by mirirom Nov 30, 2003 at 12:32 PM 2 replies 350+ views

Original Post

Nov 30, 2003 at 12:32 PM

hi, i just want to double check my logic on this. basically i have an object that contains a pointer to an array of pointers. when the destructor of this object is called, i (obviously) want to be sure that i first delete each elements heap memory prior to deleting the pointers on the heap. for example...

class Item{//...};


class foo{
   Item** pItemList;
   Item()
   {//...build an itemList}

   ~Item()
   {
      for(int x=0; x < itemCount; x++)
      {
         delete itemList[x];  //delete heap mem at element x    

      }
      delete[] itemList;
   }   
};

am i on track with this? pointers to pointers to... always confuse me a bit. ..:: mirirom ::..

Koen

Nov 30, 2003 at 12:41 PM

You didn''t say how you did allocate the memory, but your code is probably correct (considering "Item** pItemList;"). Just keep in mind that for every new there should be a delete.

sphinx23

Nov 30, 2003 at 12:42 PM

this should work, but: why don''t you use std::vector ?
its much cleaner to use and the memory work has allready been done for you

mirirom

Nov 30, 2003 at 12:59 PM

thx guys, much appreciated. and yep, memory within the array is being allocated dynamically, e.g.


void appendItem()
{
  extendArray(itemList);  //extending logic call

  Item* pTemp = new Item();  //new Item on heap

  itemList[itemCount++] = pTemp;  //new pointer at current index

}

as for std::vector, i wish i could use it, but i''m testing myself for a final exam. thanks again!

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