Pset5: load hashtable - constantly giving seg fault

Question

I'm trying to load my dictionary into memory in order to program my spellchecker. While compiling "speller.c" works fine, my execution ./speller returns a seg fault and I just can't seem to get the hang of it.

Could you help me find my mistake?

bool load(const char *dictionary)
{
    // Initialize each value in hash table to NULL.
    for(int i = 0; i < HASH_SIZE; i++)
    {
        hashtable[i] = NULL;
    }   

    //open dictionary file and store in local pointer
    FILE *fp = fopen(dictionary, "r");
    if (fp == NULL)
    {
        printf("Could not open %s.\n", dictionary);
        unload();
        return 1;
    }

    //populate linkedlist with dictionary's words
    while(fscanf(fp, "%s" , buffer) != EOF)
    {
        //create new node & assign memory to it
        node *l_node = malloc(sizeof(node));
        l_node->next = NULL;

        //check if malloc successfully assigned memory to new node
        if(l_node == NULL)
        {
            unload();
            return false;
        }

        //copy current word of dictionary into current node
        strcpy(l_node->word, buffer);

        //hash function: modulo of first char in word provides index for hashtable array
        int bucket_index = hash_function(l_node->word);

        //fill node into linked list -> determine which bucket of hashtable to use EXAMPLE FOR FIRST LETTER!!
        if (hashtable[bucket_index] == NULL)
        {
            hashtable[bucket_index] = l_node;
        }
        else
        {
            node *current_first_element = hashtable[bucket_index];
            l_node->next = current_first_element;
            hashtable[bucket_index] = l_node;
        }
    }        
    return false;
}

Answer 1

You forget to fclose the dictionary, but else...

l_node->next = NULL; would be a bad idea before testing if l_node == NULL.

Make sure your buffer variable and word property both can handle a word of the maximum length (remember the final null terminator, so at least char[LENGTH+1]).

Also, ensure hash_function returns numbers in the right range for hashtable.

You can find the line responsible for the segfault by using debug50 and stepping through the code, line by line.