On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 14:08, Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 9:04 AM, dennis jenkins > <dennis.jenkins.75@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 5:08 AM, Adrian Schreyer <ams214@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> >>> you are right, it returns a char *. >>> >>> The prototype: >>> >>> char *function(bytea *b); >>> >>> The actual C++ function looks roughly like this >>> >>> extern "C" >>> char *function(bytea *b) >>> { >>> string ism; >>> [...] >>> return ism.c_str(); >>> } >>> >> >> >> Don't do that. You are returning a pointer to an unallocated buffer >> (previously held by a local variable). c_str() is just a const >> pointer to a buffer held inside "ism". When ism goes out of scope, >> that buffer if freed. >> >> Either return "std::string", or strdup() the string and have the >> caller free that. (but use the postgresql alloc pool function to >> handle the strdup. I don't recall that function's name off the top of >> my head). > > that would be pstrdup, and it's the way to go (you don't have to > pfree). who says C doesn't have garbage collection? > > merlin > > -- > Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) > To make changes to your subscription: > http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general > I am using pstrdup and it works now as expected. Thank you all for your help, Adrian -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general