CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++string
opc0de
opc0de

Reputation: 11768

Memory leak C++ string

I have a class eg

class test{

   public:
      somedatahere
      test();
     ~test();
   private:
       string mystring;

}

In this class the constructor reads the contents of a file in variable mystring.My question is :

Does mystring gets freed when the class destructs or I must free it manually? How can I free mystring ?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 228

Answers (3)

Bryan
Bryan

Reputation: 2128

Assuming your constructor just assigns directly into mystring without any other allocation or doing something weird, then yes it will be deallocated properly by the destructor.

Upvotes: 1

unwind
unwind

Reputation: 399793

Since mystring is part of the object, it will go out of scope when the object does. There's no need to "manually" free it, and indeed you can't.

This would be different if mystring was a pointer to memory allocated with new (or new[]), then you'd have to manually delete (or delete[]) it from your destructor.

Upvotes: 7

Stack Overflow is garbage
Stack Overflow is garbage

Reputation: 247919

You only have to free what you allocate. new should be matched by delete, and new[] matched by delete[].

If you don't do either, then a well-behaved class shouldn't require you to do the other. And yes, the standard library is well-behaved.

So no, you don't need to do anything. Let the std::string instance clean up after itself. (And of course, follow its example, and ensure that your own classes do the same)

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions