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Typecasting of pointers in C [closed]

I know a pointer to one type may be converted to a pointer of another type.I have three questions

1. What should kept in mind while typecasting of pointers?

2. What are the exceptions/error may come in resulting pointer?
3. What are best practices to avoid exceptions/errors?

c pointers casting

asked Jan 17 '13 at 7:13

user1871762
42 1 1 8

closed as not a real question by casperOne ♦ Jan 17 '13 at 14:42

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3 Answers

A program well written usually does not use much pointer typecasting. There could be a need
to use ptr typecast for malloc for instance (declared (void *)malloc(...) ), but it is not even
necessary in C (while a few compilers may complain).

int *p = malloc(sizeof(int)); // no need of (int *)malloc(...)

However in system applications, sometimes you want to use a trick to perform binary or
specific operation - and C, a language close to the machine structure, is convenient for that.
For instance say you want to analyze the binary structure of a double (that follows thee IEEE
754 implementation), and working with binary elements is simpler, you may declare

typedef unsigned char byte;

double d = 0.9;
byte *p = (byte *)&d;
int i;
for (i=0 ; i<sizeof(double) ; i++) { ... work with b ... }

You may also use an union, this is an exemple.

A more complex utilisation could be the simulation of the C++ polymorphism, that requires to
store the "classes" (structures) hierarchy somewhere to remember what is what, and perform
pointer typecasting to have, for instance, a parent "class" pointer variable to point at some time
to a derived class (see the C++ link also)

CRectangle rect;
CPolygon *p = (CPolygon *)&rect;
p­>whatami = POLY_RECTANGLE; // a way to simulate polymorphism ...
process_poly ( p );

But in this case, maybe it's better to directly use C++!

Pointer typecast is to be used carefully for well determined situations that are part of the
program analysis - before development starts.

Pointer typecast potential dangers

• use them when it's not necessary - that is error prone and complexifies the program
• pointing to an object of different size that may lead to an access overflow, wrong result...
• pointer to two different structures like s1 *p = (s1 *)&s2; : relying on their size and
alignment may lead to an error

(But to be fair, a skilled C programmer wouldn't commit the above mistakes...)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14373924/typecasting-of-pointers-in-c 07/09/2015
Typecasting of pointers in C - Stack Overflow Page 2 of 3

Best practice

• use them only if you do need them, and comment the part well that explains why it is
necessary
• know what you are doing - again a skilled programmer may use tons of pointer typecasts
without fail, i.e. don't try and see, it may work on such system / version / OS, and may not
work on another one

answered Jan 17 '13 at 8:43

ring0
12.1k 4 25 58

In plain C you can cast any pointer type to any other pointer type. If you cast a pointer to or

from an uncompatible type, and incorrectly write the memory, you may get a segmentation
fault or unexpected results from your application.

Here is a sample code of casting structure pointers:

struct Entity {
int type;
}

struct DetailedEntity1 {
int type;
short val1;
}

struct DetailedEntity2 {
int type;
long val;
long val2;
}

// random code:
struct Entity* ent = (struct Entity*)ptr;

//bad:
struct DetailedEntity1* ent1 = (struct DetailedEntity1*)ent;
int a = ent­>val; // may be an error here, invalid read
ent­>val = 117; // possible invali write

//OK:
if (ent­>type == DETAILED_ENTITY_1) {
((struct DetailedEntity1*)ent)­>val1;
} else if (ent­>type == DETAILED_ENTITY_2) {
((struct DetailedEntity2*)ent)­>val2;
}

As for function pointers - you should always use functions which exactly fit the declaration.
Otherwise you may get unexpected results or segfaults.

When casting from pointer to pointer (structure or not) you must ensure that the memory is
aligned in the exact same way. When casting entire structures the best way to ensure it is to
use the same order of the same variables at the start, and differentiating structures only after
the "common header". Also remember, that memory alignment may differ from machine to
machine, so you can't just send a struct pointer as a byte array and receive it as byte array.
You may experience unexpected behaviour or even segfaults.

When casting smaller to larger variable pointers, you must be very careful. Consider this code:

char* ptr = malloc (16);

ptr++;
uint64_t* uintPtr = ptr; // may cause an error, memory is not properly aligned

And also, there is the strict aliasing rule that you should follow.

edited Jan 17 '13 at 8:29 answered Jan 17 '13 at 7:22

Dariusz
8,978 3 14 48

I think this is oversimplifying things a bit ... You can't freely cast between function pointers and pointers to
data objects for instance. Also, there's no guarantee you'll get a seg fault. – unwind Jan 17 '13 at 8:02

I concur with @unwind. One of the worst things about pointer-casting in C is the fundamental idea itself;
you're wanting to treat something as if it were something it isn't. With the exception of opaque hiding through
void * (aka qsort() type work, and even there the specifics are size-based which you must supply), it is
generally good to avoid it entirely. Finally one of the more subtle problems (and the source of big
headaches), is data alignment, and isn't mentioned at all. – WhozCraig Jan 17 '13 at 8:11

@WhozCraig Thanks for reminding about data alignment. Though it isn't exactly an issue in pointer casting, 
mentioning it may be useful.Dariusz Jan 17 '13 at 8:17
 

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14373924/typecasting-of-pointers-in-c 07/09/2015
Typecasting of pointers in C - Stack Overflow Page 3 of 3

@DariuszWawer it is an enormous issue if the address being stored in the 'cast-to' pointer who's type
requires stricter alignment than the data address it now holds complies with (i.e. casting an unsigned char*
on an odd-memory address to a float * will bus-error on many platforms as soon as you dereference the
float ptr), so we'll have to disagree about that. – WhozCraig Jan 17 '13 at 8:21

@WhozCraig Hey, I'm sensing some flustration or anger in your comment. I'm doing my best here. I added
info from you to the answer. Thanks very much:) – Dariusz Jan 17 '13 at 8:30

You probably need a look at ... the C-faq maintained by Steve Summit (which used to be
posted in the newsgroups, which means it was read and updated by a lot of the best
programmers at the time, sometimes the conceptors of the langage itself).

There is an abridged version too, which is maybe more palatable and still very, very, very,
very useful. Reading the whole abridged is, I believe, mandatory if you use C.

answered Jan 17 '13 at 8:28

Olivier Dulac
2,413 3 16

I do miss having a central place to look/update things at ... Now the knowledge is spread over several
websites, and some have very mistaken answers too... Anyone knows if there is a good (ie "the one
everyone should go to") FAQ wiki site? – Olivier Dulac Jan 17 '13 at 8:30

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14373924/typecasting-of-pointers-in-c 07/09/2015