Unexpected results when incrementing pointers in a nested loop in C
I'm dealing with I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but I'm working with strange behavior when trying to increment a pointer inside a nested loop while manipulating a 1D array that I intend to treat as a 2D matrix..... The expected behavior is that the pointer should traverse the array correctly, but instead, I'm getting inconsistent results and occasional segmentation faults. Here's the relevant code snippet: ```c #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #define ROWS 3 #define COLS 4 int main() { int *matrix = malloc(ROWS * COLS * sizeof(int)); for (int i = 0; i < ROWS * COLS; i++) { matrix[i] = i + 1; } int *ptr = matrix; for (int i = 0; i < ROWS; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < COLS; j++) { printf("%d ", *ptr); ptr++; if (ptr - matrix >= ROWS * COLS) { printf("\nExceeded array bounds!\n"); return 1; } } printf("\n"); } free(matrix); return 0; } ``` When I run this code, I sometimes get the output I expect, but other times the program crashes with a segmentation fault. I suspect that the question is related to how I'm incrementing the `ptr` pointer. I've already checked that my memory allocation is correct, and I've added a boundary check inside the nested loop, but it seems like there’s still a logical behavior. Is there something I'm overlooking in terms of pointer arithmetic or memory handling? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! For context: I'm using C on macOS. Am I missing something obvious? This is my first time working with C latest.