stack getting corrupted....

Okay here is one of the questions that i wanted to figure out. C does not have any array bounds checking as in Java and this can many a times lead to buffer overrun or the program space getting corrupted. I have this program

[insert]

Code:

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

struct name
{
        char arr[20];
        int age;
};


int main(void)
{

        struct name n;
        struct name *np;
        struct name **npp;

        np = &n;
        npp = &np;
       
        printf("\n Enter your name.");
        scanf("%s", n.arr);

        printf("\n Enter your age.");
        //scanf("%d", &np->age);
        scanf("%d", &n.age);

        //printf("\n Your name is %s", np->arr);
        //printf("\n Your age is %d", np->age);

        printf("\n Your name is %s", (*npp)->arr);
        printf("\n Your age is %d", (*npp)->age);

        return 0;
}

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Now if i enter more than 20 chars in the arr what does it do? Does it overwrite the memory adjacent to those 20 spaces that the arr has in its possession. Also if i do so at the end of the program completion i get the message

"Stack aroudn the variable n was corrupted"

So is this an indication of the fact that i have done a buffer overrun. Also how do i implement bound checking so that these mistakes can be avoided.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roaan

Now if i enter more than 20 chars in the arr what does it do? Does it overwrite the memory adjacent to those 20 spaces that the arr has in its possession.

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Yes. It's sometimes possible to find bits of one string in another when you do this.

But is there any hack around so that i can implement run time check on my own without letting the user play havoc with my program ?

scanf_s, _scanf_s_l, wscanf_s, _wscanf_s_l (CRT)

Security enhanced versions of CRT functions are available to address this very issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roaan

But is there any hack around so that i can implement run time check on my own without letting the user play havoc with my program ?

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Yeah, that would be normal to do in C. You can limit the amount taken by scanf() for example:

Code:

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scanf("%49s",input);

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Basically, it's like leaving your lover in that Paul Simon song -- there's a thousand ways...except abachler's, which are non-standard.

> But is there any hack around so that i can implement run time check on my own without letting the user play havoc with my program ?
Yes, you always use fgets() to read into a temporary buffer first. You then analyse and validate the input (say it's length) before copying it to it's final destination.