I am using GCC 4.8.1 and it doesn't seem to store const variable local to main in DATA segment. Below is code and memory map for 3 such programs:
Code 1:
int main(void)
{ //char a[10]="HELLO"; //1 //const char a[10] = "HELLO"; //2
return 0;
}
MEMORY MAP FOR ABOVE:
text data bss dec hex filename
7264 1688 1040 9992 2708 a.exe
CODE 2:
int main(void)
{
char a[10]="HELLO";
//const char a[10] = "HELLO";
return 0;
}
MEMORY MAP FOR 2:
text data bss dec hex filename
7280 1688 1040 10008 2718 a.exe
CODE 3:
int main(void)
{
//char a[10]="HELLO";
const char a[10] = "HELLO";
return 0;
}
MEMORY MAP FOR 3 :
text data bss dec hex filename
7280 1688 1040 10008 2718 a.exe
I do not see any difference in data segment between 3 codes. Can someone please explain this result to me.
Thanks in anticipation!
If your array is not used by your program so the compiler is allowed to simply optimize out the object.
From the C Standard:
(C99, 5.1.2.3p1) "The semantic descriptions in this International Standard describe the behavior of an abstract machine in which issues of optimization are irrelevant"
and
(C99, 5.1.2.3p3) "In the abstract machine, all expressions are evaluated as specified by the semantics. An actual implementation need not evaluate part of an expression if it can deduce that its value is not used and that no needed side effects are produced (including any caused by calling a function or accessing a volatile object)."
If you compile your program #3 with optimizations disabled (-O0
) or depending on your compiler the object can still be allocated. In your case it does not appear in the data
and rodata
section but in text
section thus the text
section increase.
For example in your third example, in my compiler the resulting code with -O0
is (dumped using objdump -d
):
00000000004004d0 <main>:
4004d0: 55 push %rbp
4004d1: 48 89 e5 mov %rsp,%rbp
4004d4: 48 b8 48 45 4c 4c 4f mov $0x4f4c4c4548,%rax
4004db: 00 00 00
4004de: 48 89 45 f0 mov %rax,-0x10(%rbp)
4004e2: 66 c7 45 f8 00 00 movw $0x0,-0x8(%rbp)
4004e8: b8 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%eax
4004ed: 5d pop %rbp
4004ee: c3 retq
4004ef: 90 nop
0x4f4c4c4548
is the ASCII characters of your string moved in a register and then pushed in the stack.
If I compile the same program with -O3
, the output is simply:
00000000004004d0 <main>:
4004d0: 31 c0 xor %eax,%eax
4004d2: c3 retq
4004d3: 90 nop
and the string does not appear in data
or rodata
, it is simply optimized out.
This is what should happen:
Code 1: nothing is stored anywhere.
Code 2: a
is stored on the stack. It is not stored in .data
.
Code 3 a
is either stored on the stack or in .rodata
, depending on whether it is initialized with a constant expression or not. The optimizer might also decide to store it in .text
(together with the code).
I do not see any difference in data segment between 3 codes.
That's because there should be no difference. .data
is used for non-constant variables with static storage duration that are initialized to a value other than zero.
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