11

Suppose I forgot to close the right square bracket ] of a scanset. What will happen then? Does it invoke Undefined Behavior?

Example:

char str[] = "Hello! One Two Three";
char s1[50] = {0}, s2[50] = {0};
sscanf(str, "%s %[^h", s1, s2); /* UB? */
printf("s1='%s' s2='%s'\n", s1, s2);

I get a warning from GCC when compiling:

source_file.c: In function ‘main’:
source_file.c:11:5: warning: no closing ‘]’ for ‘%[’ format [-Wformat=]
     sscanf(str, "%s %[^h", s1, s2); /* UB? */

and the output as

s1='Hello!' s2=''

I've also noticed that the sscanf returns 1. But what exactly is going on here?

I've checked the C11 standard, but found no information related to this.

Spikatrix
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1 Answers1

5

Excellent! You should file a defect report for C11!

Here is the relevant part in C11 7.21.6.2

... The conversion specifier includes all subsequent characters in the format string, up to and including the matching right bracket (]). The characters between the brackets (the scanlist) compose the scanset, unless the character after the left bracket is a circumflex (^), in which case the scanset contains all characters that do not appear in the scanlist between the circumflex and the right bracket.

A strict interpretation of The characters between the brackets is that in the absence of a closing bracket there are no such characters, but in the presence of ^ as the first character after [, it would be inconsistent. gcc is kind enough to point the probable error in the source code. The actual behavior is determined by the C library implementation, but does not seem to be specified in the C Standard. As such it is a form of undefined behavior that IMHO should really be documented as such in the Standard.

chqrlie
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