Is it memory safe to provide an object as a function result?

Question

Here I provide simple piece of code.

function GetStringList:TStringList;
var i:integer;
begin
   Result:=TStringList.Create;
   Result.Add(\'Adam\');
   Res         


        

Answer 1

It is the usage that is the leak, not the construct itself.

var sl2 : TStringlist;

sl2:=GetStringList;
sl.assign(sl2);
sl2.free;

is perfectly fine, or easier even,

sl:=getstringlist;
// no assign, thus no copy, one created one freed.
sl.free;

Answer 2

In btn1Click you should do:

var sl2: TStringList;

sl2 := GetStringList:
SL.Assign(sl2);
sl2.Free;

In btn2Click you don't have to create an instance of SL before calling ProvideStringList to not create a memory leak.