Where is an array stored in memory?

Question

I am trying to understand how memory is managed in a C program. I know that there are the following segments in memory:

1. Initialized Data segment
2. BSS
3. Stack
4. Heap
5. Code

Now consider the following program:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(){
    int arr[4] = {1,2,3,4};
    int x = 10;

    printf("Hello World!");
}

In the above program,both arr and x are locally declared within the main function. I thought that this would mean that they would both be allocated space on the function stack. However, when I ran the size command on linux, I found out that the array is actually being allocated space in the data segment.

I have searched for this online but have found conflicting information. Some answers say that all locally declared variables should go to the stack while others say that the array should go on the heap. I think the array would go to the heap in case I was dynamically allocated memory using malloc, which is not the case here in this example.

Answer 1

I have searched for this online but have found conflicting information.

Please do not read random blogs or such, they usually have bad information. On Stack Overflow wrong information tends to be downvoted or at least would usually have comments pointing out the inaccuracies and fallacies.

In the above program, both arr and x are locally declared within the main function. I thought that this would mean that they would both be allocated space on the function stack.

The C standard does not specify how memory for variablesobjects should be allocated. It only specifies that objects have storage durations, which define the lifetime of the variableobject

• static, which will have lifetime from the beginning of the program until the very end
• automatic, which will have the lifetime of the innermost block { ... } which contains the declaration (or compound literal), until the end of the block
• thread-local, which will have the lifetime of a thread
• allocated objects, which will be alive from malloc/calloc/realloc/aligned_alloc until corresponding free/realloc.

In addition to that, the C standard specifies that during its lifetime, an object will

• have memory reserved for it
• and have a constant address (which you can observe by using the & operator)

---

Now, in addition to that, there is the so-called as-if rule which says that a compiler can produce any program code for as long as the external behaviour of the program is the same, external behaviour meaning input, output, access to volatile objects and so on.

The variables in your program have automatic storage duration, which means every time you enter the main function you will have new objects with new lifetime until the end of the main function. Usually this would mean that they would be stored on the stack, because it will nicely handle the allocations and deallocations with minimal overhead. But your program has the same external behaviour as

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    printf("Hello World!");
}

It means that the compiler can completely eliminate these two variables and not reserve any space for it.

Now, if you print address of the variables:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int arr[4] = {1,2,3,4};
    int x = 10;

    printf("Hello World! %p, %p\n", (void *)arr, (void *)&x);
}

because the variables have their addresses taken and used for output, C cannot optimize them out. Are they on stack now? Well, C standard does not say. They need to have lifetime from at least beginning of main until the end - but the C compiler can decide to not use the stack for them, as the external behaviour of that program would be the same as

#include <stdio.h>

static int arr[4] = {1,2,3,4};
static int x = 10;
    
int main(void) {
    printf("Hello World! %p, %p\n", (void *)arr, (void *)&x);
}

which would put these variables in the static data segment; of course the addresses would be different but again C does not give any guarantees about where the particular objects are located in memory, just that they will have addresses.

Answer 2

The storage of program in C works as follow :

global variables -------> data

static variables -------> data

constant data types -----> code and/or data. Consider string literals for a situation when a constant itself would be stored in the data segment, and references to it would be embedded in the code

local variables(declared and defined in functions) --------> stack

variables declared and defined in main function -----> heap also stack

pointers(ex: char *arr, int *arr) -------> heap data or stack, depending on the context. C lets you declare a global or a static pointer, in which case the pointer itself would end up in the data segment.

dynamically allocated space(using malloc, calloc, realloc) --------> stack heap

It is worth mentioning that "stack" is officially called "automatic storage class".

Answer 3

However, when I ran the size command on linux, I found out that the array is actually being allocated space in the data segment.

I think you have misunderstood what you have seen.

The C-standard doesn't say anything about this. It only says that arr has automatic storage duration. However, most (if not all) systems will save both x and arr on a stack.

Try this code:

#include<stdio.h>

int main(){
    int arr[4] = {1,2,3,4};
    int x = 10;
    static int i = 0;

    printf("Hello World! arr is here %p and x is here %p\n", (void*)arr, (void*)&x);
    ++i;
    if (i < 3) main();
    
    return 0;
}

Possible output:

Hello World! arr is here 0x7ffcdaba4170 and x is here 0x7ffcdaba416c
Hello World! arr is here 0x7ffcdaba4140 and x is here 0x7ffcdaba413c
Hello World! arr is here 0x7ffcdaba4110 and x is here 0x7ffcdaba410c

Even if this isn't a solid proof, it strongly indicates that the system is using a stack and that the stack grows towards lower addresses and that both arr and x is stores on that stack.

BTW: Printing the stack-pointer can't be done in a portable way but this is a good read: Print out value of stack pointer