I am somewhat confused by what happens when you call strtok on a char pointer in C. I know that it modifies the contents of the string, so if I call strtok on a variable named 'line', its content will change. Assume I follow the bellow approach: void function myFunc(char* line) { // get a pointer to the original memory block char* garbageLine = line; // Do some work // Call strtok on 'line' multiple times until it returns NULL // Do more work free(garbageLine); } Further assume that 'line' is malloced before it is passed to myFunc. Am I supposed to free the original string after using strtok or does it do the job for us? Also, what happens if 'line' is not malloced and I attempt to use the function above? Is it safer to do the following instead? (Assume the programmer won't call free if he knows the line is not malloced) Invocation char* garbageLine = line; myFunc(line); free(garbageLine); Function definition void function myFunc(char* line) { // Do some work // Call strtok on 'line' multiple times until it returns NULL // Do more work }