Will this C++ code cause a memory leak (casting array new)

Question

I have been working on some legacy C++ code that uses variable length structures (TAPI), where the structure size will depend on variable length strings. The structures are allo

Answer 1

The C++ standard clearly states:

delete-expression:
             ::opt delete cast-expression
             ::opt delete [ ] cast-expression

The first alternative is for non-array objects, and the second is for arrays. The operand shall have a pointer type, or a class type having a single conversion function (12.3.2) to a pointer type. The result has type void.

In the first alternative (delete object), the value of the operand of delete shall be a pointer to a non-array object [...] If not, the behavior is undefined.

The value of the operand in delete pStruct is a pointer to an array of char, independent of its static type (STRUCT*). Therefore, any discussion of memory leaks is quite pointless, because the code is ill-formed, and a C++ compiler is not required to produce a sensible executable in this case.

It could leak memory, it could not, or it could do anything up to crashing your system. Indeed, a C++ implementation with which I tested your code aborts the program execution at the point of the delete expression.