I do a lot of embedded C, so I generally avoid dynamically allocating memory, but when I do the way I try to avoid memory leaks is to always try to allocate and

I do a lot of embedded C, so I generally avoid dynamically allocating memory, but when I do the way I try to avoid memory leaks is to always try to allocate and free in the same scope. For example, you malloc in your get_line function but you free in main. I would probably do your line handling in main so the malloc/free are in the same scope. Alternatively, I will sometimes make Create and Destroy functions that do the allocating/freeing but even when I do that I always try to keep the calls within the same scope so it's not easy to loose track of memory. Practically allocating/freeing in the same scope is difficult so it takes a lot of effort to structure your code to accommodate. If you're interested in mission-critical C programming you should check out the JPL C standards: http://lars-lab.jpl.nasa.gov/JPL_Coding_Standard_C.pdf http://lars-lab.jpl.nasa.gov/JPL_Coding_Standard_C.pdf They're a little unrealistic for most non-space projects but it gives you a good idea of how safety-critical software is written in C.