What would happen if you don't use the appropriate kind of delete for a malloc?

Asked May 21 '14 at 23:34

Active May 21 '14 at 23:49

Viewed 69 times

I was just wondering what would happen if I did something like this:

int main()
{
  char *foo;
  foo = new char[200];
  //do stuff with foo
  delete foo;
}

Since foo is allocated as an array, I know that I should use the array delete[], but what would be the effect of the above code? Could this cause a memory leak or some sort of other bad behavior?

edited May 21 '14 at 23:49

asked May 21 '14 at 23:34

user1747719

Its unpredictable. It could do anything from "nothing" to making your screen turn blue, to making your speakers start garbling. – Icemanind May 21 '14 at 23:36
1

What happens when you borrow money from bank 1 and pay it back to bank 2 instead? – user541686 May 21 '14 at 23:36
1

@icemanind ... or your fridge exploding nowadays ;) ... – πάντα ῥεῖ May 21 '14 at 23:37
1

@πάνταῥεῖ -- True. Lets just hope this kind of thing isn't used in something like the Cruz Missile or something – Icemanind May 21 '14 at 23:38
@icemanind One reason why some embedded systems don't even have a general-purpose heap. – Jonathon Reinhart May 21 '14 at 23:39
@icemanind Drones, drones, they're everywhere around and get more and more :-/ ... – πάντα ῥεῖ May 21 '14 at 23:40
3

The pointer is declared as `int *`, but the memory is allocated as `new char[]`. This will not even compile. – AnT stands with Russia May 21 '14 at 23:41
@AndreyT woops, typo. let me fix that – user1747719 May 21 '14 at 23:49

What would happen if you don't use the appropriate kind of delete for a malloc?

0 Answers0