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First example

Here is a simple code:

int main()
{
    char a[10];
    a[10] = 0;
    return 0;
}

If you save that into file1.c and execute:

cppcheck file1.c

The output from cppcheck will then be:

Checking file1.c...
[file1.c:4]: (error) Array index out of bounds

Normally a program has many sourcefiles. And you want to check them all. Cppcheck can check all sourcefiles in a directory:

cppcheck path

If "path" is a folder all sourcefiles in it will be checked:

Checking path/file1.cpp...
1/2 files checked 50% done
Checking path/file2.cpp...
2/2 files checked 100% done

By default, only certain errors are reported.

With "--all" you will get more reports. But beware - some messages may be wrong.

Here is a simple code example:

void f()
{
    Fred *fred = new Fred;
}

Execute this command:

cppcheck --all file1.cpp

The output from Cppcheck:

[file1.cpp:4]: (possible error) Memory leak: fred

The "possible" means that the reported message may be wrong (if Fred has automatic deallocation it is not a memory leak).

By default Cppcheck will only check for bugs. There are also a few checks for stylistic issues.

Here is a simple code example:

void f(int x)
{
    int i;
    if (x == 0)
    {
        i = 0;
    }
}

To enable stylistic checks, use the --style flag:

cppcheck --style file3.c

[file3.c:3]: (style) The scope of the variable i can be limited

You can generate XML output:

cppcheck --xml file3.c

You can suppress certain errors:

cppcheck --suppressions=mysuppressions.txt file3.c

If you get false positives about memory leaks because of automatic deallocation:

cppcheck --auto-dealloc autodealloc.lst file4.cpp