Defect Report #158
Submission Date: 16 Oct 95
Submittor: BSI
Source: Clive D.W. Feather
Question
Submitted to BSI by Clive D.W. Feather clive@sco.com.
In this Defect Report, identifiers lexically identical to those
declared in standard headers refer to the identifiers declared in those
standard headers, whether or not the header is explicitly mentioned.
This Defect Report has been prepared with considerable help from
Mark Brader, Jutta Degener, Ronald Guilmette, and a person whose
employment conditions require anonymity. However, except where stated,
opinions expressed or implied should not be assumed to be those of any
person other than myself.
Defect Report UK 006: Null pointer conversions
The C Standard does not define semantics for the explicit
conversion of null pointer constants and for the implicit conversion of
null pointers.
Subclause 6.2.2.3 reads in part:
If a null pointer constant is assigned to or compared for equality
to a pointer, the constant is converted to a pointer of that type.
Such a pointer, called a null pointer, is guaranteed to compare unequal
to a pointer to any object or function.
Two null pointers, converted through possibly different sequences
of casts to pointer types, shall compare equal.
Given the definitions:
void * p = 0;
int * i = 0;
does the standard guarantee that the expression p ==
i always evaluates to 1? The last quoted sentence only covers
casts, and not the implicit conversions of that comparison. Conversely,
do the expressions
(int *)0 or 1 ? 0 : (int *)0 yield
null pointers of type
(int *)? The quoted text does not cover the case of a
null pointer constant being converted other than by assignment or in a
test for equality, yet expressions such as these are widely used.
Suggested Technical Corrigendum:
In subclause 6.2.2.3, change:
Two null pointers, converted through possibly different sequences
of casts to pointer types, shall compare equal.
to:
Conversion of a null pointer to another pointer type yields a
null pointer of that type. Any two null pointers shall compare equal.
Alternatively, a common term could be introduced to more
conveniently describe the various forms of pointer that cannot be
dereferenced. In this case, replace the last two paragraphs of
subclause 6.2.2.3 with:
For each pointer type, there exist values which can participate
in assignment and equality operations, but which cause undefined
behavior if dereferenced. These are referred to as undereferenceable.
An undereferenceable pointer compares unequal to any other value of
the same pointer type. For each pointer type, one particular
undereferenceable pointer value is called the null pointer.
[Footnote: Since there is only one such value, all null pointers of the
same type compare equal.]
An integral constant expression with the value 0, or such an
expression cast to type void *, is called a null
pointer constant. If a null pointer constant is assigned to or
compared for equality with an object of pointer type, or cast to
pointer type, then it is converted to the null pointer of that type.
Conversion of a null pointer to another pointer type produces the null
pointer of that type.
If the answer to
Defect Report #155 is that unique means
different each time, then replace the last two sentences of
subclause 7.10.3 with:
If the size of the space requested is zero, an undereferenceable
pointer is returned. It is implementation-defined whether this is
always a null pointer or whether the implementation attempts to produce
a value distinct from any other undereferenceable pointer. Any pointer
value returned by an allocation can be passed to the free function; if
the value is not a null pointer, it becomes indeterminate. [Footnote: A
subsequent allocation may return a pointer value with the same bit
pattern, but a strictly conforming program can't detect this.] The
value of a pointer that refers to any part of a freed object is also
indeterminate.
Response
Does the Standard guarantee that p == i? Yes.
Does (int *) 0 yield a null pointer of type int *? Yes.
Does 1 ? 0 : (int *) 0 yield a null pointer of type int *? Yes.
The intent of the part of Subclause 6.2.2.3 that you quote is to state that a null pointer results
when a null pointer constant is converted to a pointer. By singling out assignment and
comparison, the Standard is misleadingly specific. This should be clarified in the
Standard.
Future Change
In Subclause 6.2.2.3
Change
"If a null pointer constant is assigned to or compared for equality
to a pointer, the constant is converted to a pointer of that type.
Such a pointer, called a null pointer, is guaranteed to compare
unequal to a pointer to any object or function.
Two null pointers, converted through possibly different sequences
of casts to pointer types, shall compare equal."
To
"The result of converting a null pointer constant to a pointer
type is called a null pointer. A null pointer is guaranteed
to compare unequal to a pointer to any object or function.
Conversion of a null pointer to another pointer type yields
a null pointer of that type. Any two null pointers shall compare
equal."
In Subclause 6.3.9
Add a new paragraph after the first paragraph in Semantics
"If a null pointer constant is compared for equality to a pointer,
the constant is converted to the type of the pointer."
Previous Defect Report
< - >
Next Defect Report