How do I free memory dynamically allocated in a C function for use with MATLAB Coder?

I am currently trying to convert an existing MATLAB project into C code using MATLAB Coder, and have been using the guidance provided here to write and call C implementations for unsupported functions, such as fullfile. The article linked shows how to have matlab check whether we are running in MATLAB or not to decide whether to run the C file or just use the MATLAB built-in function.

I created a basic implementation of fullfile in C, but since I will not know the string sizes until runtime, the character array for the return values is dynamically allocated with malloc. The problem is, I expect this will result in a memory leak, since the return value is never freed. However, I'm not certain how I can instruct MATLAB Coder to free that allocated char array once it's done being used. Will this cause a memory leak? If so, how can I prevent it from happening by properly freeing allocated memory while still providing the return value?

My c-implementation of fullfile is copied below:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
/*
This simplified implementation of fullfile simply concatenates two strings with a '/' inbetween.
For example, fullfile_impl("/home/user", "mydir") would output "/home/user/mydir".
*/
char * fullfile_impl(char *a, char *b)
{
	int length = strlen(a) + strlen(b) + 1;

	char* returnString = malloc(length);
	while(*a){
		*returnString = *a;
		a++;
		returnString++;
	}
	*returnString = '/';
	returnString++;

	while(*b){
		*returnString = *b;
		b++;
		returnString++;
	}
	*returnString = '\0';
	returnString -= (length);
    return returnString;
}

Answer 1

[Aghamarsh Varanasi]

Hi,

I understand that you are using MATALB Coder to generate MATLAB equivalent C code. According to my understanding, MATLAB coder automatically frees the memory while using dynamic memory as soon as it is not in use. When calling a function with dynamic memory allocation, the memory can be freed after the execution of the function call. Hence memory leak might not take place.