What Is Dangling Pointer

A pointer pointing to a dead location than it is called dangling pointer. When ever a function returning an integer than specified return type as int. Whenever a function returning an address of integer then specified return type as int(function returns an address).

Example:

#include<stdio.h>                                float *call();                void main()                {                          float *ptr;                          ptr=call();                         clrscr();                         printf("%d",*ptr);                }              float * call()              {                   float z=2.5;                   ++z;                   return &z;              }

           

Output: Randam value Explanation: variable z is local variable. Its scope and lifetime are within the function call hence after returning the address of z variable z became dead and pointer is still pointing ptr is still pointing to that location.

Solution of this problem: Make the variable z is as a static variable.

Posted in: C faq