Subj : Local character strings
To   : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp
From : Ray Sittig
Date : Thu Sep 22 2005 06:36 pm

I thought when a function is called, local variables go on the stack and are
re-initialized on each call. That doesn't seem to be happening for character
strings as shown in the following short program. Comments/insight
appreciated. Borland C++ 5.02.

Thanks,
Ray

>>>> snip >>>>

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

void main(void);
void PrintText(int version);

void main()
{
PrintText(2);
PrintText(1);
PrintText(2);
printf( "\nPlease press '1' to continue.\n");
while (true)
  {
  if (getche() == '1')
    break;
  }
}

void PrintText(int version)
{
char* MyText[4] =
 {"2 Line Version: Line 1",
   "2 Line Version: Line 2"};
int number_of_lines_to_print;
if (version == 1)
 {
  number_of_lines_to_print = 1;
  // once changed - changed for all subsequent calls
  // therefore MyText not re-initialized
  MyText[0][0] = '1';
  }
else
  number_of_lines_to_print = 2;
printf("Version %d\n", version);
for (int i = 0; i < number_of_lines_to_print; i++)
  printf("%s\n", MyText[i]);
printf("\n");
}

.