V2658. MISRA. Dead code should not be used in a project.

This diagnostic rule is based on the MISRA (Motor Industry Software Reliability Association) software development guidelines.

This diagnostic rule is relevant only for C.

Programs should not contain dead code, the removal of which does not affect the program behavior.

The presence of dead code can indicate an error in the program logic.

Exceptions:

• unreachable code, since it cannot be executed;
• unused initialized variables, since initialization is not an assignment operation;
• casting to void when the result is not used, since it points to a value that is intentionally not used;
• a type conversion operator whose result is used.

Note. Compilers can remove dead code, as this does not affect the program behavior.

The example of redundant operations:

int func( int input )
{
  short var;
  char *ptr;

  var = 11;     // <=
  (int)var;     // <=
  var + input;  // <=
  *ptr++;       // <=
  return input + input;
}

There are several operations: assignment (=), type casting ((int)), addition (+), the ptr pointer increment and dereference (*). They are redundant because the result of these operations is not used and does not affect the program execution.

The fixed code:

int func( int input )
{
  short var;
  int *ptr;

  ptr = &input;
  var = 11;
  input += (int)var;
  (*ptr)++;
  return input;
}

The example of a redundant function call:

void funcToCall ( int input )
{
  return;
  for(size_t i = 0; i < 13; ++i)
  {
    input += i;
  }
}

int funcBase ( int input ) 
{
  funcToCall(input);
  return input + input;
}

The funcToCall function is not dead code, since it contains operations in unreachable code. However, calling the function is dead code, since its removal does not change the program behavior.

The fixed code:

unsigned int funcToCall ( unsigned int x )
{
  for(size_t i = 0; i < 13; ++i)
  {
    x += i;
  }
  return x;
}

unsigned int funcBase ( unsigned int x )
{
  return funcToCall(x);
}

Was this page helpful?

Message submitted.

Your message has been sent. We will email you at

If you do not see the email in your inbox, please check if it is filtered to one of the following folders:

• Promotion
• Updates
• Spam

If you can’t find an answer to your question, fill in the form below and our developers will contact you

By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement