Basic and Advance Programming Question:
Download Questions PDF

What is a dangling pointer in programming?

Answer:

A dangling pointer arises when you use the address of an object after
its lifetime is over. This may occur in situations like returning
addresses of the automatic variables from a function or using the
address of the memory block after it is freed. The following
code snippet shows this:

class Sample
{
public:
int *ptr;
Sample(int i)
{
ptr = new int(i);
}

~Sample()
{
delete ptr;
}
void PrintVal()
{
cout << "The value is " << *ptr;
}
};

void SomeFunc(Sample x)
{
cout << "Say i am in someFunc " << endl;
}

int main()
{
Sample s1 = 10;
SomeFunc(s1);
s1.PrintVal();
}In the above example when PrintVal() function is
called it is called by the pointer that has been freed by the
destructor in SomeFunc.

Download Programming Interview Questions And Answers PDF

Previous QuestionNext Question
Differentiate between a template class and class template in programming?Differentiate between the message and method in programming?