Optimizing Array Element Removal in C with realloc

Learn how to efficiently delete the last element of a dynamic array in C using `realloc` instead of manual copying and reallocation. --- This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/79490811/ asked by the user 'Safarov Arthur' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/29920923/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/79490821/ provided by the user 'dbush' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/1687119/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions. Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Is this truly best way to delete last element in C? Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l... The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license. If anything seems off to you, please feel free to drop me a comment under this video. --- Introduction When working with dynamic arrays in C, removing the last element often involves resizing the array. A common approach manually copies the existing elements to a new, smaller array — but this can be inefficient. This post discusses more optimized ways to delete the last element of a dynamically allocated array. The Common Approach: Manual Copying A typical method is to: Allocate a new smaller array Copy the all but last elements from the original array Free the original array Replace the original pointer with the new array [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] While this works, it involves unnecessary copying and extra memory allocations. The Optimized Solution: Using realloc The C standard library provides realloc, which adjusts the size of an allocated memory block: It tries to resize the existing block without moving it If needed, it moves the block and copies data internally Using realloc directly avoids manual copying and extra malloc/free calls: [[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]] Benefits of using realloc Simplifies code Potentially better performance Handles memory resizing internally Note: Always check the return value of realloc. Summary For deleting the last element of a dynamically allocated array in C: Avoid manual allocation and copying whenever possible Use realloc to resize the array efficiently Ensure correct error handling for realloc failures This approach makes your code cleaner and improves performance with fewer memory operations.