C++: is push_back(new Object()) a memory leak?

Question

Is the following C++ code a memory leak?

list.push_back(new String("hi"));

As I understand it, push_back from any std collection/container always makes a copy. So if the new string is copied, nothing can ever delete the new'd string right? since there is no reference to it after the push_back...

Am I correct or wrong here?

Thanks.

Jbu

edit: I think I am wrong, since new will return a pointer...we'll always have the pointer to be able to delete the new String

Answer 1

Yes, but not for the reason you think.

Depending on how list is defined and initialized, push_back might throw an exception. If it does, the pointer returned from new is lost, and can never be freed.

But assuming push_back returns successfully, it stores a copy of the pointer returned by new, and so we can free the memory later by calling delete on that copy, so no memory is leaked as long as you do call delete properly.