Rule 06. Arrays (ARR)

Created by Admin, last updated by David Svoboda on Aug 06, 2025 1 minute read

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ARR30-C. Do not form or use out-of-bounds pointers or array subscripts
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ARR32-C. Ensure size arguments for variable length arrays are in a valid range
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ARR36-C. Do not subtract or compare two pointers that do not refer to the same array
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ARR37-C. Do not add or subtract an integer to a pointer to a non-array object
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ARR38-C. Guarantee that library functions do not form invalid pointers
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ARR39-C. Do not add or subtract a scaled integer to a pointer

Information for Editors
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Risk Assessment Summary

Rule	Severity	Likelihood	Detectable	Repairable	Priority	Level
ARR30-C	High	Likely	No	No	P9	L2
ARR32-C	High	Probable	No	No	P6	L2
ARR36-C	Medium	Probable	No	No	P4	L3
ARR37-C	Medium	Probable	Yes	No	P8	L2
ARR38-C	High	Likely	No	No	P9	L2
ARR39-C	High	Probable	No	No	P6	L2

Related Rules and Recommendations

MEM33-C. Allocate and copy structures containing a flexible array member dynamically

STR11-C. Do not specify the bound of a character array initialized with a string literal

STR31-C. Guarantee that storage for strings has sufficient space for character data and the null terminator

1 Comment

Arbob Ahmad
Apr 12, 2008
When I use GCC version 4.1 to compile a program with a variable declared to have an incomplete type (i.e., int[]), I get a compile time error unless the variable is initialized in the same statement.

What compilers accept this type of declaration and is it part of the standard?