Synopsis

(Mandatory) The pointers returned by the Standard Library functions localeconv, getenv, setlocale or, strerror shall only be used as if they have pointer to const-qualified type.

Enabled by default

Yes

Severity/Certainty

High/High

Full description

The pointer returned by localeconv, getenv, setlocale or, strerror is assigned to a non-const type.

Coding standards

Code examples

The following code example fails the check and will give a warning:

#include <stdlib.h>

void example(void) {
    char *s = getenv("MY_VAR");
    *s = 'A';
}

The following code example passes the check and will not give a warning about this issue:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

void example(void) {
    char *str = getenv("MY_VAR");
    char *copy_of_str = (char *)malloc(strlen(str) + 1);
    *copy_of_str = 'A';
}