hmm, I just thought, how about an int pointer instead char *make_superstring(int size) { int *superstring = (int*)malloc(2 * sizeof(int) + size * sizeof(char); return (char*)(superstring + 2 * sizeof(int)); } -Jim On 2/16/06, Jim Stapleton <stapleton.41@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > which rules are you referring to? I've not seen that one. > > On 2/16/06, Brian Dessent <brian@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Jim Stapleton wrote: > > > > > char test[] = {0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, > > > 0x08, 0x09, 0x0a}; > > > char *tptr = test; > > > int *ptr; > > > > > > ptr = (int*)tptr; > > > > Doesn't this violate the C aliasing rules? If so the whole thing is > > undefined behavior. > > > > Brian > > >