best way to return (char *)

[Chris Torek]

In article <7800013 at gistdev> joe at gistdev.UUCP writes:
>... Suppose I am writing a function that is going to construct a
>character string, and is going to return a pointer to that string.
>What is the best way to do this so that your pointer is sure
>to be valid when used?

What you are asking is not `How does one go about returning an object
of type pointer-to-char?', but rather `Where should one allocate space
for the characters?'.  This question does not have a single best answer;
there is not sufficient information here to choose one.  Most of the
approaches you listed are reasonable in some contexts, although if I
am right in my interpretation of this one:

>    .	Don't worry about it at all -- nothing is going to trash your memory
>	at the pointed-to address before you can actually use it.

it is a bad idea.  (My interpretation is that you mean something like

	char *fn() {
		char buf[SIZE];		/* but this is automatic storage */
		...
		return (buf);
	}

This approach is particularly dangerous precisely because it often
works.)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris at mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris