Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!paperboy!hsdndev!cmcl2!lanl!beta.lanl.gov.!mikeg
From: mikeg@c3.c3.lanl.gov (Michael P. Gerlek)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: format string linting?
Message-ID: <MIKEG.91Jan25120642@c3.c3.lanl.gov>
Date: 25 Jan 91 19:06:42 GMT
Sender: news@lanl.gov
Distribution: comp
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
Lines: 31


(This only *sounds* bizzarre... Trust me.)

Does anyone have a hack that will "lint" my format strings for printf,
scanf, and the like?  For example,

	char *s;
	printf("%d", s);

is icky, but lint can't see it.  Furthermore,

	int x,y;
	printf("%d %d %d", x, y);

is equally icky.

I really need a hack that will grind through thousands of lines of C
to find these yucky lines.  Ob. explanation: these errors crop up in
error code like:

	if (frob != notz)
	  printf("Internal error: frob (%d) != notz (%d)\n");

where only at certain high tide/moon phase conditions would these
error lines get printed...

Thanks.

-[mpg]
 mikeg@lanl.gov
 "...making the world safe for supercomputing."