memory management - Allocate a string array from inside a function in C -

i have function scans file , returns number of lines along lines in string array, function looks :

int load_lines(char* _file, char** _array){     file *infile;     char line_buffer[bufsiz];     char line_number;      infile = fopen(_file, "r");      ine_number = 0;     while (fgets(line_buffer, sizeof(line_buffer), infile))          ++line_number;      fclose(infile);     _array = malloc (line_number * sizeof(char*));     infile = fopen(_file, "r");     line_number = 0;      while (fgets(line_buffer, sizeof(line_buffer), infile)) {         _array[line_number] = malloc(strlen(line_buffer) + 1);         strcpy(_array[line_number], line_buffer);          //a printf on _array[line_number] works fine here         ++line_number;     }      return line_number; } 

when call this:

char** _array; line_number = load_lines(inname, _array);  _array[0]; 

i segmentation fault since array seems not allocated after return of function.

when pass argument function, function always works on copy of argument.

so in case, load_lines working on copy of _array. original _array not modified:

char** _array = null; printf("%p\n", _array); // prints "0x0000" line_number = load_lines(inname, _array); printf("%p\n", _array); // prints "0x0000" 

to modify _array, need pass pointer it:

int load_lines(char* _file, char*** _array){     ...     (*array) = malloc (line_number * sizeof(char*));     ...     (*array)[line_number] = malloc(strlen(line_buffer) + 1); }  char** _array = null; line_number = load_lines(inname, &_array); 

[however, time find needing triple pointer (i.e. ***), it's time reconsider architecture.]