Re: C basics

[Dave McKenzie <davemck@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

According to the ctime() doc,

"The asctime() and ctime() functions... may use a common, statically
allocated buffer to hold the return string.  Each call to one of these
functions may destroy the result of the previous call."

So evidently there's just one buffer, which is reused.  It probably gets
freed by the runtime when the program ends.

Instead, the ctime_r() function does what you suggest: you pass the
function a pointer to your own buffer, where it puts the result.

--Dave

Boris wrote:
> Just wondering...
> how, for example, a function like ctime() works. It looks like it allocates 
> char[25] every time it's called without ever freeing the memory. Wouldn't it 
> be more correct to take a pointer to an output parameter and let the calling 
> program deal with the memory allocation?
>
> Thanks
> Boris.