Where is the temporary object stored?

Question

I was wondering where a temporary object is stored when calling a function that takes a const reference.

In the scenario below, in the foo function we create a temporary std::string object and pass it as an argument to print_name function. Which takes a const reference. Is it stored somewhere on a heap and than gets destroyed as soon as print_name function goes out of scope?

Thanks

void print_name(const std::string& name)
{
      std::cout << name << std::endl;
}

void foo()
{
    print_name( std::string("John") );
}

Didn't catch that they're constructing a `std::string` within the call, you are correct. At first glance I thought they just called the function with a literal. — Cory Kramer, May 12 '15 at 13:33

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '15 at 13:35

0

It's stored on the stack, not the heap. Note however that std::string probably makes use of the heap.

answered May 12 '15 at 13:35

Steve

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`s/it's/it migh be/`; the storage of temporary objects isn't specified by the standard. – The Paramagnetic Croissant May 12 '15 at 13:52
@OP, please don't accept this answer, it's **wrong.** – The Paramagnetic Croissant May 12 '15 at 13:52
It is in general correct. – Steve May 12 '15 at 13:53
no, in the general case, it's **incorrect.** It's correct in *some* special cases. – The Paramagnetic Croissant May 12 '15 at 13:53
1

That's untrue. It is true that the standard doesn't specify the location. It is also true that the logical location for them, and the one used all compilers I've seen,is the stack. – Steve May 12 '15 at 13:57
@TheParamagneticCroissant *"It's correct in* some *special cases"* -- `s/some/most/` or perhaps `s/some/the most common/`. – JaMiT Jun 15 '22 at 03:38

Where is the temporary object stored?

1 Answers1