Pass argv[1] as a parameter to pthread_create.

Question

I am trying to create a thread that takes the character string form argv[1] and passes it to my function. This is the code I am trying to use to pass it.

if(pthread_create(&thread1, NULL, getMax, &argv[1]) != 0){
    printf("ERROR createing the thread\n");
    return 1;
}

This is my function that i am calling in the pthread_create function.

void * getMax(void * f){
char * fileName = (char*)f;
printf("%s\n\n",fileName);
}

I believe my problem is when I am casting it back to a character pointer. The printf function prints out a couple of random characters. If I call the function passing in a string it works.

pthread_create(&thread1, NULL, getMax, "This Works");

If someone could explain how to cast the argv[1] so that it behaves like a character array that would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Remember that &argv[1] is a char*[], i.e. an array of pointers to characters. Casting it to a char * i.e. pointer to characters is incorrect.

Try:

pthread_create(&thread1, NULL, getMax, argv[1]);