Thread: Varible is different once returned.

  1. #1
    epoch
    Guest

    Varible is different once returned.

    Hey there,
    I have a varible which is declared inside the scope of a function, of the type const char*. If I printf() the varible it's correct value is displayed and then that varible is returned. If I then printf() the varible which was returned (from another function) the value is just scrambled characters. Could anyone suggest why this is happening?
    Thanks,
    epoch

  2. #2
    Code Goddess Prelude's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    9,897
    You can't return a pointer to a local variable and expect the memory to not be reclaimed when the function returns. In other words, this will not work because the memory for s is reclaimed when the function returns:
    Code:
    #include <iostream>
    
    char *getStr()
    {
      char s[100];
    
      std::cout<<"Enter a string: ";
      std::cin.getline ( s, sizeof s );
    
      return s;
    }
    
    int main()
    {
      std::cout<< getStr() <<std::endl;
    }
    -Prelude
    Last edited by Prelude; 01-03-2003 at 08:23 PM.
    My best code is written with the delete key.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    119
    So, what you can do is return a string object or pass a char array buffer to the function where it is filled
    Code:
    string func(void)
    {
        string s = "special message";
        return s;
    }
    // with this version, you must be sure that the buffer you pass to the
    // function is large enough to hold whatever is going to go in it...
    Code:
    void funct(char *s)
    {
        strcpy(s, "special message");
    }
    -Futura
    If you speak or are learning Spanish, check out this Spanish and English Dictionary, it is a handy online resource.
    What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens. -Thaddeus Golas

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