char x[256] vs. char* = malloc(256*sizeof(char));

Question

Someone here recently pointed out to me in a piece of code of mine I am using

char* name = malloc(256*sizeof(char));
// more code
free(name);

Answer 1

This is incorrect - the array declaration does not require a free. Further, if this is within a function, it is allocated on the stack (if memory serves) and is automatically released with the function returns - don't pass a reference to it back the caller!