Infinite loop in main()

Question

Why does calling main() inside the body of main() cause an finite loop?

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("\n Sonata Software");
    main();
    return 0;
}

Or, "recursion". It will run until the stack is depleted. Why wonder? Try it. — Mahonri Moriancumer, Jun 13 '14 at 20:19
main is just a function. You can call the same function within itself, it is called recursion. You should search this stuff in the search bar before asking simple questions. — Elias, Jun 13 '14 at 20:19
It's not infinite because it will blow the stack within a few cycles — David Xu, Jun 13 '14 at 20:19
no..it is a finite loop...it will stop after sometime....do watch the output carefully — user3699872, Jun 13 '14 at 20:20
The close-duplicate is wrong. The question is in fact a duplicate of [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24213216/infinite-loop-in-main). — Kerrek SB, Jun 13 '14 at 21:20
@KerrekSB Not really. The user posted the question twice. They are both duplicates of the properly listed question. — JasonMArcher, Jun 13 '14 at 21:29

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 13 '14 at 20:21

0

This "loop" terminates or is "finite" because you keep calling main() from within main(), eventually using up all the stack frame space you have and resulting in a StackOverflow

answered Jun 13 '14 at 20:21

David Xu

5,555
3
28
50

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '14 at 20:32

0

This program will not run. Main is not a userdefined function, that you'll call it as function within main as recursion. It'll show some error.

answered Jun 13 '14 at 20:32

Indranil Mondal

2,799
3
25
40

The rules for C and C++ are different; C allows (or at least, doesn't explicitly forbid) calling `main` from within the program. – John Bode Jun 13 '14 at 21:56

Infinite loop in main()

2 Answers2