Our website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience.
Accept
to the top
>
>
>
V694. The condition (ptr - const_value)…
menu mobile close menu
Analyzer diagnostics
General Analysis (C++)
General Analysis (C#)
General Analysis (Java)
Micro-Optimizations (C++)
Diagnosis of 64-bit errors (Viva64, C++)
Customer specific requests (C++)
MISRA errors
AUTOSAR errors
OWASP errors (C++)
OWASP errors (C#)
Problems related to code analyzer
Additional information
toggle menu Contents

V694. The condition (ptr - const_value) is only false if the value of a pointer equals a magic constant.

May 16 2014

The analyzer has detected a very suspicious condition: a constant value is added to or subtracted from a pointer. The result is then compared to zero. Such code is very likely to contain a typo.

Take a look at the following example with addition:

int *p = ...;
if (p + 2)

This condition will be always true. The only case when the expression evaluates to 0 is when you deliberately write the magic number "-2" into the pointer.

The fixed code:

int *p = ...;
if (*p + 2)

Now let's examine an example with subtraction:

char *begin = ...;
char *end = ...;
....
const size_t ibegin = 1;
....
if (end - ibegin)

It is the variable 'begin' that should have been subtracted from the variable 'end'. Because of the poor variable naming, the programmer used by mistake the constant integer variable 'ibegin'.

The fixed code:

char *begin = ...;
char *end = ...;
....
if (end - begin)

Note. This warning is generated only when the pointer is "actual" - e.g. pointing to a memory area allocated through the "malloc()" function. If the analyzer does not know what the pointer equals to, it won't generate the warning in order to avoid unnecessary false positives. It does happen sometimes that programmers pass "magic numbers" in pointers and conditions of the (ptr - 5 == 0) pattern do make sense.

This diagnostic is classified as:

You can look at examples of errors detected by the V694 diagnostic.

close form

Fill out the form in 2 simple steps below:

Your contact information:

Step 1
Congratulations! This is your promo code!

Desired license type:

Step 2
Team license
Enterprise license
** By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement
close form
Request our prices
New License
License Renewal
--Select currency--
USD
EUR
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
Free PVS‑Studio license for Microsoft MVP specialists
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
To get the licence for your open-source project, please fill out this form
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
I am interested to try it on the platforms:
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
check circle
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