Char array using pointers is not updating in C-CodePudding

apologies ahead of time as I am VERY new to C and pointers in general. I'm attempting to pass a variable declared in my main sub to another sub in order to have the user input information that will then update the variable value in the main sub. However I must be using pointers incorrectly as I have tried all I can think of but the variables in my main sub are not updating.

// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Prototypes
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void GetUserInfo(char* pstrState)

// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Name: main
// Abstract: This is where the program starts.
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void main()
{   
    //Variables
    char strState;

    //Getting User Info
    GetUserInfo(&strState);

    printf("STATE: %s", strState);
}

// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Name: GetUserInfo
// Abstract: Prompts the user for info and validates the entries
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void GetUserInfo(char* pstrState))
{   
    //Variables
    int intChoice = 0;

    //Getting State by numeric selection - this loop will continue until a selection is made
    printf("STATE:\n");
    while (intChoice != 1 && intChoice != 2)
    {
        printf("Please enter a '1' for OHIO or '2' for KENTUCKY.\n");
        scanf("%d", &intChoice);
    }

    //Assigning state to variable
    if (intChoice == 1)
    {   
        //Building string and terminating
        pstrState = malloc(5);
        pstrState[0] = 'O';
        pstrState[1] = 'H';
        pstrState[2] = 'I';
        pstrState[3] = 'O';
        pstrState[4] = 0;
    }
    else if (intChoice == 2)
    {
        //Building string and terminating.
        pstrState = malloc(9);
        pstrState[0] = 'K';
        pstrState[1] = 'E';
        pstrState[2] = 'N';
        pstrState[3] = 'T';
        pstrState[4] = 'U';
        pstrState[5] = 'C';
        pstrState[6] = 'K';
        pstrState[7] = 'Y';
        pstrState[8] = 0;
    }

CodePudding user response：

char strState; declares a single char. You want char* strState; (pointer to char).

Change GetUserInfo(char* pstrState); to GetUserInfo(char** pstrState);. pstrState is now a pointer to a pointer!

Inside GetUserInfo(char** pstrState); you need to change pstrState to *pstrState.