strtok segfaults in CLI but not in GDB

[Pietro Cerutti]

Hello,
here I have a strange problem with a real simple strtok example.

The program is as follows:

### BEGIN STRTOK ###

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

char *tok;

tok = strtok(input1, " ");
if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);

tok = strtok(NULL, " ");
if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);

return(0);

}

### END STRTOK ###
Now, when I run it from the command line, I get a bus error:

### BEGIN COMMAND LINE OUTPUT ###

gcc -ggdb -Wall -o strtok strtok.c
./strtok

Bus error (core dumped)
Exit 138

### END COMMAND LINE OUTPUT ###

When I run it step by step in GDB, the program terminates normally:

### BEGIN DEBUGGER OUTPUT ###

gdb ./strtok

GNU gdb 6.1.1 [FreeBSD]
[snip]GDB copyright and bla bla[/snip]
(gdb) break main
Breakpoint 1 at 0x8048570: file strtok.c, line 6.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/piter/strtok

Breakpoint 1, main () at strtok.c:6
6 char *input1 = "Hello, World!";
(gdb) next
10 tok = strtok(input1, " ");
(gdb)
11 if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);
(gdb)
Hello,
13 tok = strtok(NULL, " ");
(gdb)
14 if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);
(gdb)
World!
16 return(0);
(gdb)
18 }
(gdb)
0x08048485 in _start ()
(gdb)
Single stepping until exit from function _start,
which has no line number information.

Program exited normally.
(gdb)

### END DEBUGGER OUTPUT ###

Is there something I'm missing wrt C and/or strtok, or it's rather a
problem related to my environment (in which case I'll be happy to post
in the right newsgroup) ?

Thanx in advance

--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key ID:
http://gahr.ch/pgp

[Ian Collins]

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

Hello,
here I have a strange problem with a real simple strtok example.

The program is as follows:

### BEGIN STRTOK ###

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

char *tok;

tok = strtok(input1, " ");

strtok alters its input. You are passing it a string literal, modifying
a string literal invokes the demons of undefined behavior. Don't.

--
Ian Collins.

[Richard Heathfield]

Pietro Cerutti said:

Hello,
here I have a strange problem with a real simple strtok example.

The program is as follows:

### BEGIN STRTOK ###

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

char *tok;

tok = strtok(input1, " ");

strtok modifies the string you pass it. You pass it a string literal.
You're not allowed to modify string literals.

Change

char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

to

char input1[] = "Hello, World!";
--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at the above domain, - www.

[Pietro Cerutti]

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

just in case, I know that the string to be tokenized shouldn't be a
constant, but rather an array of chars.
So, it should be declared as

char input1[14] = "Hello, World!";

The thing I don't understand is: why does it works in GDB?

--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key:
http://gahr.ch/pgp

[Ian Collins]

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

> char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

just in case, I know that the string to be tokenized shouldn't be a
constant, but rather an array of chars.
So, it should be declared as

char input1[14] = "Hello, World!";

The thing I don't understand is: why does it works in GDB?

Luck?

--
Ian Collins.

[Pietro Cerutti]

Ian Collins wrote:

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

>Pietro Cerutti wrote:

>> char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

just in case, I know that the string to be tokenized shouldn't be a
constant, but rather an array of chars.
So, it should be declared as

char input1[14] = "Hello, World!";

The thing I don't understand is: why does it works in GDB?

Luck?

Ya, maybe.

The point is:
I understand what UB means, so WW3 could start now and I'd know why...

But if a string literal is - by definition - not modifiable, then how
can it happen that GDB actually modifies it using strtok?

--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key:
http://gahr.ch/pgp

[Chris Dollin]

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

here I have a strange problem with a real simple strtok example.

Guess: you're trying to use it on a literal string.

The program is as follows:

### BEGIN STRTOK ###

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

char *tok;

tok = strtok(input1, " ");
if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);

tok = strtok(NULL, " ");
if(tok) printf("%s\n", tok);

return(0);

}

(fx:dancing) Yes!

`strtok` writes to its argument -- it sticks nuls in there to make
the strings it returns.

You're not allowed to write into a string literal: that gets you
undefined behaviour.

An implementation may just write into the string. Or it may abort in
some way. Or it may ignore the write. Or it may write somewhere else
entirely. Or it may mail a report to your co-coders, or start a game
of rogue, or book you a holiday in the Lake District, or set fire to
your keyboard, or arrange a date with your Most Preferred Person.

[That last one never seems to happen, though.]

--
"You've spotted a flaw in my thinking, Trev" Big Al,/The Beiderbeck Connection/

Hewlett-Packard Limited registered office: Cain Road, Bracknell,
registered no: 690597 England Berks RG12 1HN

[Pietro Cerutti]

Chris Dollin wrote:

You're not allowed to write into a string literal: that gets you
undefined behaviour.

An implementation may just write into the string.

Uh? So you mean that a string literal isn't unmodifiable by definition?
--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key:
http://gahr.ch/pgp

[Keith Thompson]

Pietro Cerutti <ga**@gahr.chwr ites:

Pietro Cerutti wrote:

> char *input1 = "Hello, World!";

just in case, I know that the string to be tokenized shouldn't be a
constant, but rather an array of chars.
So, it should be declared as

char input1[14] = "Hello, World!";

The thing I don't understand is: why does it works in GDB?

Because it invokes undefined behavior. There are no rules about what
happens. It can crash, it can "work", it can make demons fly out of
your nose.

(I suppose string literals are stored in write-protected memory when
your program runs normally, but not when it runs under gdb -- which
seems odd.)

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keit h) ks***@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <* <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

[Pietro Cerutti]

Keith Thompson wrote:

(I suppose string literals are stored in write-protected memory when
your program runs normally, but not when it runs under gdb -- which
seems odd.)

Yes it's weird, but it's a logical explanation.
I'll investigate with the freebsd people..
Thank you.

--
Pietro Cerutti

PGP Public Key:
http://gahr.ch/pgp