Thread: uninitialized local variable 'XXXXXX' used

Hi Guys,

This is proabably some stupid error on my part, but I can't seem to see why the following piece of code isn't working:

Code:

char *starthour, *startmin;

		ifstream starttime;
		starttime.open ("starttime.txt", ios::in);
		if (starttime.is_open()) 
		{
			starttime >> starthour;
			starttime >> startmin;
			starttime.close();
		}

The warning I am getting is the following:

Code:

warning C4700: uninitialized local variable 'starthour' used

The same for the majority of the variables in the code.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Well you declared a pointer, but you didn't make it point at any actual memory (that's uninitialised).
Then you try and cin a string to wherever it happens to be pointing.

Some random memory location, but it won't be a good idea to do so.

If you just want a variable to store a string in, you could declare an array of an arbitrary size -- say

Code:

char starthour[80];

But of course, such buffers can always overflow, no matter how large you make them . . . so an alternative solution is to use std::string. You may want to look into it.

[edit] BTW: that is definitely C++ code, so consider posting in the C++ forum next time, not the C forum. [/edit]

Hi,

I needed to use char * for some of the other functions I was using. For instance strcat was giving out if it didn't have it.

What you said Salem got me thinking and adding in the following two lines of code fixed the problem.

Code:

starthour=(char*)(malloc(sizeof(char)));
startmin=(char*)malloc(sizeof(char));

Thanks for the help anyway. Sorry for posting on the wrong forum. I thought I was in the C++.

Originally Posted by Brownie

Hi,

I needed to use char * for some of the other functions I was using. For instance strcat was giving out if it didn't have it.

What you said Salem got me thinking and adding in the following two lines of code fixed the problem.

Code:

starthour=(char*)(malloc(sizeof(char)));
startmin=(char*)malloc(sizeof(char));

Thanks for the help anyway. Sorry for posting on the wrong forum. I thought I was in the C++.

Do you think that ONE char is sufficient for the data being entered?

Also, you seem to be using C++ style input, so you probably should be using new instead of malloc.

--
Mats

Hi mats,

So you are suggesting something like the following:

Code:

starthour = new char[10];

From the small tests I have been doing on the code, the one char seems to be sufficient, but thanks for the suggestion. Could cause problems later on.

Originally Posted by Brownie

Hi mats,

So you are suggesting something like the following:

Code:

starthour = new char[10];

Yes, that would be fine for up to 9 characters entered.

From the small tests I have been doing on the code, the one char seems to be sufficient, but thanks for the suggestion. Could cause problems later on.

So, you are not actually entering ANYTHING in the string (as the string termination zero would be taking up the ONE character space you have), or are you relying on the fact that whatever comes AFTER the single character, when it gets overwritten, is not harmful to your program at this time?

--
Mats

I am entering stuff into the string. It's nothing big, so the 9 characters will handle it.

Previously I was relying on the fact that what was being overwritten was not harming the computer.

For instance strcat was giving

you do not need strcat when using std::string