Free dynamically allocated memory from 2D array within a struct

Question

I have a pointer to a struct and one of the objects in the struct is a int **. The double pointer is used to dynamically allocate memory for a 2d array. I am having trouble figuring out how to free the memory for this array. Any ideas?

struct time_data {
    int *week;
    int *sec;
    int **date;
};
typedef struct time_data time_data;

time_data *getTime(time_data *timeptr, int rows, int cols) {
    int i = 0;
    time_data time;

    // allocate memory for time.date field
    time.date = (int **)malloc(rows*(sizeof(int *))); // allocate rows
    if(time.date == NULL)
        printf("Out of memory\n");
    for(i=0; i<rows; i++) {
        time.date[i] = (int *)malloc(cols*sizeof(int));
        if(time.date[i] == NULL)
            printf("Out of memory\n");
    }
    timeptr = &time;
    return timeptr;
}

int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
    time_data *time = NULL;
    int rows = 43200, cols = 6;
    int i;
    time = getTime(time, rows, cols);

    for(i=0; i<rows; i++)
        free(time->date[i]); // problem here
    free(time->date);

}

Modified Version (in case anyone else has similar issue)

    struct time_data {
    int *week;
    int *sec;
    int **date;
};
typedef struct time_data time_data;

time_data *getTime(int rows, int cols) {
    int i = 0;
    time_data *time = malloc(sizeof(*time));

    // allocate memory for time.date field
    time->date = (int **)malloc(rows*(sizeof(int *))); // allocate rows
    if(time->date == NULL)
        printf("Out of memory\n");

    for(i=0; i<rows; i++) {
        time->date[i] = (int *)malloc(cols*sizeof(int));
        if(time->date[i] == NULL)
            printf("Out of memory\n");
    }
    return time;
}

int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
    time_data *time = NULL;
    int rows = 43200, cols = 6;
    int i;
    time = getTime(rows, cols);

    for(i=0; i<rows; i++)
        free(time->date[i]); // problem here
    free(time->date);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Your freeing is ok, but you have a severe error

timeptr = &time;
return timeptr;

you are returning the address of a local variable.

The local variable is allocated in the stack frame of the function, and once the function returns, the data will no longer exist.

You should use malloc for that too

timeptr = malloc(sizeof(*timeptr));

and also you must return an int from main()