C-style array declaration in C++

ID

c.maintainability.avoid_c_arrays

Severity

low

Remediation Complexity

medium

Remediation Risk

low

Remediation Effort

medium

Resource

Modernization

Language

C / C++

Description

A C-style array does not carry its size, decays to a pointer, and has no bounds-aware interface. Prefer std::array<T, N> for fixed-size storage or std::vector<T> for dynamic storage, which know their length and interoperate with the standard algorithms.

Rationale

A C-style array does not carry its size, decays to a pointer, and has no bounds-aware interface. Prefer std::array<T, N> for fixed-size storage or std::vector<T> for dynamic storage, which know their length and interoperate with the standard algorithms.

The following code illustrates the pattern detected by this rule:

void f() {
  // FLAGGED: C-style array declaration in C++
  int a[10];

  // FLAGGED: C-style array declaration in C++
  char buf[256];

Remediation

Follow secure coding practices and review the references below for detailed remediation guidance.

Configuration

This detector does not need any configuration.

References