Empty return in non-void function, is undefined behaviour?

问题

After reading answers about the topic of control reaches end of non-void functions I didn't see any answer adressing specifically the the case of exiting a non-void function with an empty return statement:

int return_integer() { return; }  // empty return in non-void function

What I've found so far in the C standard is:

6.8.6.4 The return statement

Constraints

A return statement with an expression shall not appear in a function whose return type is void. A return statement without an expression shall only appear in a function whose return type is void.

The standard quote states what should we do with our return statements for void and non-void functions, what happens when we ignore the constraint is mentioned in other part of the document:

6.9.1 Function definitions

If the } that terminates a function is reached, and the value of the function call is used by the caller, the behavior is undefined.

Previous standard quote states that UB happens if we use the returned value from a function which ends after reaching the closing curly braces (}), so we have UB in the code below:

int UB(int x) { if (x) return x; }

printf("%d", UB(1)); // Correct
printf("%d", UB(0)); // Undefined behavior

In the UB(1) call the function returns 1 through the return x; instruction under the if (x); in the UB(0) call the if (x) condition is not passed so function ends reaching }, to use the return value in this case is UB (but isn't in UB(1)). But, what happens in this case?

int UB(int x) { if (x) return; } // empty return statement

printf("%d", UB(1)); // Undefined behavior?
printf("%d", UB(0)); // Undefined behavior

In the code above, the call UB(1) does not meet the §6.9.1/12 requirements to lead to UB because the function ends without reaching } and also does not return any value.

In which part of the C standard is this situation described?

回答1:

int UB(int x) { if (x) return; }

This is not even undefined behavior, it is a constraint violation. The cited text

A return statement without an expression shall only appear in a function whose return type is void

from 6.8.6.4 is normative, meaning the compiler is not allowed to let it slip without giving a diagnostic message. If it compiles without giving a diagnostic, the compiler is not a conforming implementation (doesn't follow the language standard).

In plain English this means: that code should not even compile.

Now if the compiler does produce a binary executable even if the code had constraint violations, all bets are off. It is no longer a C program, but some non-standard one, with no guaranteed behavior by any language standard.

来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39914040/empty-return-in-non-void-function-is-undefined-behaviour

标签

standards