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From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: returning automatic variables
Keywords: automatic variables, returning values
Message-ID: <16257@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 24 May 91 21:11:35 GMT
References: <1991May24.153133.13590@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 15

In article <1991May24.153133.13590@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> nnj20229@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Nesha Nicole Jones) writes:
>char *word(void)
>{
>        char name[100];
...
>        return name;
>}

You're not returning the value of an auto variable, but rather a pointer
to it.  However, the auto variable "goes out of scope" (becomes invalid)
upon return from the function; therefore what is pointed at by the
returned pointer is no longer valid.

There are several possible solutions, the simplest being to declare the
name[] array as having static storage duration.