How can I create a dynamically sized array of structs?

You’ve tagged this as C++ as well as C.

If you’re using C++ things are a lot easier. The standard template library has a template called vector which allows you to dynamically build up a list of objects.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <vector>

typedef std::vector<char*> words;

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

        words myWords;

        myWords.push_back("Hello");
        myWords.push_back("World");

        words::iterator iter;
        for (iter = myWords.begin(); iter != myWords.end(); ++iter) {
                printf("%s ", *iter);
        }

        return 0;
}

If you’re using C things are a lot harder, yes malloc, realloc and free are the tools to help you. You might want to consider using a linked list data structure instead. These are generally easier to grow but don’t facilitate random access as easily.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

typedef struct s_words {
        char* str;
        struct s_words* next;
} words;

words* create_words(char* word) {
        words* newWords = malloc(sizeof(words));
        if (NULL != newWords){
                newWords->str = word;
                newWords->next = NULL;
        }
        return newWords;
}

void delete_words(words* oldWords) {
        if (NULL != oldWords->next) {
                delete_words(oldWords->next);
        }
        free(oldWords);
}

words* add_word(words* wordList, char* word) {
        words* newWords = create_words(word);
        if (NULL != newWords) {
                newWords->next = wordList;
        }
        return newWords;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

        words* myWords = create_words("Hello");
        myWords = add_word(myWords, "World");

        words* iter;
        for (iter = myWords; NULL != iter; iter = iter->next) {
                printf("%s ", iter->str);
        }
        delete_words(myWords);
        return 0;
}

Yikes, sorry for the worlds longest answer. So WRT to the “don’t want to use a linked list comment”:

#include <stdio.h>  
#include <stdlib.h>

typedef struct {
    char** words;
    size_t nWords;
    size_t size;
    size_t block_size;
} word_list;

word_list* create_word_list(size_t block_size) {
    word_list* pWordList = malloc(sizeof(word_list));
    if (NULL != pWordList) {
        pWordList->nWords = 0;
        pWordList->size = block_size;
        pWordList->block_size = block_size;
        pWordList->words = malloc(sizeof(char*)*block_size);
        if (NULL == pWordList->words) {
            free(pWordList);
            return NULL;    
        }
    }
    return pWordList;
}

void delete_word_list(word_list* pWordList) {
    free(pWordList->words);
    free(pWordList);
}

int add_word_to_word_list(word_list* pWordList, char* word) {
    size_t nWords = pWordList->nWords;
    if (nWords >= pWordList->size) {
        size_t newSize = pWordList->size + pWordList->block_size;
        void* newWords = realloc(pWordList->words, sizeof(char*)*newSize); 
        if (NULL == newWords) {
            return 0;
        } else {    
            pWordList->size = newSize;
            pWordList->words = (char**)newWords;
        }

    }

    pWordList->words[nWords] = word;
    ++pWordList->nWords;


    return 1;
}

char** word_list_start(word_list* pWordList) {
        return pWordList->words;
}

char** word_list_end(word_list* pWordList) {
        return &pWordList->words[pWordList->nWords];
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

        word_list* myWords = create_word_list(2);
        add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "Hello");
        add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "World");
        add_word_to_word_list(myWords, "Goodbye");

        char** iter;
        for (iter = word_list_start(myWords); iter != word_list_end(myWords); ++iter) {
                printf("%s ", *iter);
        }

        delete_word_list(myWords);

        return 0;
}