Destroy function with Single linked list

Question

Still having problems understanding how to free the memory for a single linked list. I went over the presentation and put together this snippet of code:

void destroy(sllnode* head)
{
// *base case* if you've reached a null pointer, stop
if(head == NULL)
{
    return;
}

// *recusive case*
else
{
    // destroy the rest of the list
    return destroy(head->next);

    // Free the current node
    free(head);

    return;
}

}

I still get memory leaks with this so I know I'm not doing something right. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Look at this part of the code:

else
{
    return destroy(head->next);
    free(head);
    return;
}

The free(head); statement will never execute because the call to destroy() in the previous line has a return attached to it. Because of that return, the code will always recursively return to the prior calling code rather than execute the free.

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