handle.c

PHP_METHOD(Handle, get_array_of_something) {
  if (zend_parse_parameters(ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "") == FAILURE) { 
    RETURN_NULL()
  }

  handle_object *intern = Z_HANDLEO_P(getThis());

  alpm_list_t *list = some_alpm_function(intern->handle);
  if (list == NULL) {
    RETURN_NULL()

  }
  zval array;
  alpm_list_to_zval(list, &array);
  RETURN_ZVAL(array, 0, 0)
}

util.c

#include "util.h"

void alpm_list_to_zval(alpm_list_t *list, zval *array) {
    alpm_list_t *item;
    char *tmp;

    array_init(array);

    for (item = list; item; item = alpm_list_next(item)) {
        tmp = malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen((char *)item->data));
        strcpy(tmp, (char *)item->data);
        add_next_index_string(array, tmp);
    }
}