2015-01-03 Cppcheck is an analysis tool for C/C++ code. Unlike C/C++ compilers and many other analysis tools, it doesn't detect syntax errors. Cppcheck only detects the types of bugs that the compilers normally fail to detect. The goal is no false positives. Supported code and platforms: You can check non-standard code that includes various compiler extensions, inline assembly code, etc. Cppcheck should be compilable by any C++ compiler that handles the latest C++ standard. Cppcheck should work on any platform that has sufficient CPU and memory. Accuracy Please understand that there are limits of Cppcheck. Cppcheck is rarely wrong about reported errors. But there are many bugs that it doesn't detect. You will find more bugs in your software by testing your software carefully, than by using Cppcheck. You will find more bugs in your software by instrumenting your software, than by using Cppcheck. But Cppcheck can still detect some of the bugs that you miss when testing and instrumenting your software.

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 'a[10]' index 10 out of bounds

Normally a program has many source files. And you want to check them all. Cppcheck can check all source files in a directory: cppcheck path If "path" is a folder then cppcheck will check all source files in this folder. Checking path/file1.cpp... 1/2 files checked 50% done Checking path/file2.cpp... 2/2 files checked 100% done

To exclude a file or folder, there are two options. The first option is to only provide the paths and files you want to check. cppcheck src/a src/b All files under src/a and src/b are then checked. The second option is to use -i, with it you specify files/paths to ignore. With this command no files in src/c are checked: cppcheck -isrc/c src

The possible severities for messages are: error used when bugs are found warning suggestions about defensive programming to prevent bugs style stylistic issues related to code cleanup (unused functions, redundant code, constness, and such) performance Suggestions for making the code faster. These suggestions are only based on common knowledge. It is not certain you'll get any measurable difference in speed by fixing these messages. portability portability warnings. 64-bit portability. code might work different on different compilers. etc. information Informational messages about checking problems.

By default only error messages are shown. Through the --enable command more checks can be enabled. # enable warning messages cppcheck --enable=warning file.c # enable performance messages cppcheck --enable=performance file.c # enable information messages cppcheck --enable=information file.c # For historical reasons, --enable=style enables warning, performance, # portability and style messages. These are all reported as "style" when # using the old xml format. cppcheck --enable=style file.c # enable warning and information messages cppcheck --enable=warning,information file.c # enable unusedFunction checking. This is not enabled by --enable=style # because it doesn't work well on libraries. cppcheck --enable=unusedFunction file.c # enable all messages cppcheck --enable=all Please note that --enable=unusedFunction should only be used when the whole program is scanned. And therefore --enable=all should also only be used when the whole program is scanned. The reason is that the unusedFunction checking will warn if a function is not called. There will be noise if function calls are not seen.

By default Cppcheck only writes error messages if it is certain. With --inconclusive error messages will also be written when the analysis is inconclusive. cppcheck --inconclusive path This can of course cause false warnings, it might be reported that there are bugs even though there are not. Only use this command if false warnings are acceptable.

Many times you will want to save the results in a file. You can use the normal shell redirection for piping error output to a file. cppcheck file1.c 2> err.txt

The option -j is used to specify the number of threads you want to use. For example, to use 4 threads to check the files in a folder: cppcheck -j 4 path

By default Cppcheck will check all preprocessor configurations (except those that have #error in them). You can use -D to change this. When you use -D, cppcheck will by default only check the given configuration and nothing else. This is how compilers work. But you can use --force or --max-configs to override the number of configurations. # check all configurations cppcheck file.c # only check the configuration A cppcheck -DA file.c # check all configurations when macro A is defined cppcheck -DA --force file.c Another useful flag might be -U. It undefines a symbol. Example usage: cppcheck -UX file.c That will mean that X is not defined. Cppcheck will not check what happens when X is defined. Cppcheck can generate the output in XML format. There is an old XML format (version 1) and a new XML format (version 2). Please use the new version if you can. The old version is kept for backwards compatibility only. It will not be changed. But it will likely be removed someday. Use --xml to enable this format. The new version fixes a few problems with the old format. The new format will probably be updated in future versions of cppcheck with new attributes and elements. A sample command to check a file and output errors in the new XML format: cppcheck --xml-version=2 file1.cppHere is a sample version 2 report: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <results version="2"> <cppcheck version="1.66"> <errors> <error id="someError" severity="error" msg="short error text" verbose="long error text" inconclusive="true"> <location file="file.c" line="1"/> </error> </errors> </results>

Each error is reported in a <error> element. Attributes: id id of error. These are always valid symbolnames. severity either: error, warning, style, performance, portability or information msg the error message in short format verbose the error message in long format. inconclusive This attribute is only used when the message is inconclusive.

All locations related to an error is listed with <location> elements. The primary location is listed first. Attributes: file filename. Both relative and absolute paths are possible line a number msg this attribute doesn't exist yet. But in the future we may add a short message for each location.

If you want to reformat the output so it looks different you can use templates. To get Visual Studio compatible output you can use --template=vs: cppcheck --template=vs gui/test.cpp This output will look like this: Checking gui/test.cpp... gui/test.cpp(31): error: Memory leak: b gui/test.cpp(16): error: Mismatching allocation and deallocation: k To get gcc compatible output you can use --template=gcc: cppcheck --template=gcc gui/test.cpp The output will look like this: Checking gui/test.cpp... gui/test.cpp:31: error: Memory leak: b gui/test.cpp:16: error: Mismatching allocation and deallocation: k You can write your own pattern (for example a comma-separated format): cppcheck --template="{file},{line},{severity},{id},{message}" gui/test.cpp The output will look like this: Checking gui/test.cpp... gui/test.cpp,31,error,memleak,Memory leak: b gui/test.cpp,16,error,mismatchAllocDealloc,Mismatching allocation and deallocation: k The following format specifiers are supported: callstack callstack - if available file filename id message id line line number message verbose message text severity severity The escape sequences \b (backspace), \n (newline), \r (formfeed) and \t (horizontal tab) are supported. If you want to filter out certain errors you can suppress these.

You can suppress certain types of errors. The format for such a suppression is one of: [error id]:[filename]:[line] [error id]:[filename2] [error id] The error id is the id that you want to suppress. The easiest way to get it is to use the --xml command line flag. Copy and paste the id string from the XML output. This may be * to suppress all warnings (for a specified file or files). The filename may include the wildcard characters * or ?, which match any sequence of characters or any single character respectively. It is recommended that you use "/" as path separator on all operating systems.

The --suppress= command line option is used to specify suppressions on the command line. Example: cppcheck --suppress=memleak:src/file1.cpp src/

You can create a suppressions file. Example: // suppress memleak and exceptNew errors in the file src/file1.cpp memleak:src/file1.cpp exceptNew:src/file1.cpp // suppress all uninitvar errors in all files uninitvar Note that you may add empty lines and comments in the suppressions file. You can use the suppressions file like this: cppcheck --suppressions suppressions.txt src/

Suppressions can also be added directly in the code by adding comments that contain special keywords. Before adding such comments, consider that the code readability is sacrificed a little. This code will normally generate an error message: void f() { char arr[5]; arr[10] = 0; } The output is: # cppcheck test.c Checking test.c... [test.c:3]: (error) Array 'arr[5]' index 10 out of bounds To suppress the error message, a comment can be added: void f() { char arr[5]; // cppcheck-suppress arrayIndexOutOfBounds arr[10] = 0; } Now the --inline-suppr flag can be used to suppress the warning. No error is reported when invoking cppcheck this way: cppcheck --inline-suppr test.c

When external libraries are used, such as windows/posix/gtk/qt/etc, Cppcheck doesn't know how the external functions behave. Cppcheck then fails to detect various problems such as leaks, buffer overflows, possible null pointer dereferences, etc. But this can be fixed with configuration files. If you create a configuration file for a popular library, we would appreciate if you upload it to us.

You can create and use your own .cfg files for your projects. The command line cppcheck will try to load custom .cfg files from the working path - execute cppcheck from the path where the .cfg files are. The cppcheck GUI will try to load custom .cfg files from the project file path. The custom .cfg files should be shown in the Edit Project File dialog that you open from the File menu.

Here is an example program: void test() { HPEN pen = CreatePen(PS_SOLID, 1, RGB(255,0,0)); } The code example above has a resource leak - CreatePen() is a windows function that creates a pen. However Cppcheck doesn't assume that return values from functions must be freed. There is no error message: # cppcheck pen1.c Checking pen1.c... If you provide a windows configuration file then Cppcheck detects the bug: # cppcheck --library=windows.cfg pen1.c Checking pen1.c... [pen1.c:3]: (error) Resource leak: pen Here is a minimal windows.cfg file: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <resource> <alloc>CreatePen</alloc> <dealloc>DeleteObject</dealloc> </resource> </def>

Here is an example program: void test() { char buffer1[1024]; char buffer2[1024]; CopyMemory(buffer1, buffer2, 1024); } The bug here is that buffer2 is uninitialized. The second argument for CopyMemory needs to be initialized. However Cppcheck assumes that it is fine to pass uninitialized variables to functions: # cppcheck uninit.c Checking uninit.c... If you provide a windows configuration file then Cppcheck detects the bug: # cppcheck --library=windows.cfg uninit.c Checking uninit.c... [uninit.c:5]: (error) Uninitialized variable: buffer2 Here is the minimal windows.cfg: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="CopyMemory"> <arg nr="2"> <not-uninit/> </arg> </function> </def>

Cppcheck assumes it's ok to pass NULL pointers to functions. Here is an example program: void test() { CopyMemory(NULL, NULL, 1024); } The MSDN documentation is not clear if that is ok or not. But let's assume it's bad. Cppcheck assumes that it's ok to pass NULL to functions so no error is reported: # cppcheck null.c Checking null.c... If you provide a windows configuration file then Cppcheck detects the bug: cppcheck --library=windows.cfg null.c Checking null.c... [null.c:3]: (error) Null pointer dereference Here is a minimal windows.cfg file: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="CopyMemory"> <arg nr="1"> <not-null/> </arg> </function> </def>

You can define that a function takes a format string. Example: void test() { do_something("%i %i\n", 1024); } No error is reported for that: # cppcheck formatstring.c Checking formatstring.c... A configuration file can be created that says that the string is a format string. For instance: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="do_something"> <arg nr="1"> <formatstr/> </arg> </function> </def>Now Cppcheck will report an error: cppcheck --library=test.cfg formatstring.c Checking formatstring.c... [formatstring.c:3]: (error) do_something format string requires 2 parameters but only 1 is given.

The valid values can be defined. Imagine: void test() { do_something(1024); } No error is reported for that: # cppcheck valuerange.c Checking valuerange.c... A configuration file can be created that says that 1024 is out of bounds. For instance: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="do_something"> <arg nr="1"> <valid>0-1023</valid> </arg> </function> </def>Now Cppcheck will report an error: cppcheck --library=test.cfg range.c Checking range.c... [range.c:3]: (error) Invalid do_something() argument nr 1. The value is 1024 but the valid values are '0-1023'.

Cppcheck doesn't assume that functions always return. Here is an example code: void test(int x) { int data, buffer[1024]; if (x == 1) data = 123; else ZeroMemory(buffer, sizeof(buffer)); buffer[0] = data; // <- error: data is uninitialized if x is not 1 } In theory, if ZeroMemory terminates the program then there is no bug. Cppcheck therefore reports no error: # cppcheck noreturn.c Checking noreturn.c... However if you use --check-library and --enable=information you'll get this: # cppcheck --check-library --enable=information noreturn.c Checking noreturn.c... [noreturn.c:7]: (information) --check-library: Function ZeroMemory() should have <noreturn> configuration If a proper windows.cfg is provided, the bug is detected: # cppcheck --library=windows.cfg noreturn.c Checking noreturn.c... [noreturn.c:8]: (error) Uninitialized variable: data Here is a minimal windows.cfg file: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="ZeroMemory"> <noreturn>false</noreturn> </function> </def>

As long as nothing else is specified, cppcheck assumes that ignoring the return value of a function is ok: bool test(const char* a, const char* b) { strcmp(a, b); // <- bug: The call of strcmp does not have side-effects, but the return value is ignored. return true; } In case strcmp has side effects, such as assigning the result to one of the parameters passed to it, nothing bad would happen: # cppcheck useretval.c Checking useretval.c... If a proper lib.cfg is provided, the bug is detected: # cppcheck --library=lib.cfg --enable=warning useretval.c Checking useretval.c... [noreturn.c:3]: (warning) Return value of function strcmp() is not used. Here is a minimal lib.cfg file: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <function name="strcmp"> <use-retval/> </function> </def>

Libraries can be used to define preprocessor macros as well. For example: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <define name="NULL_VALUE" value="0"/> </def> Each occurence of "NULL_VALUE" in the code would then be replaced by "0" at preprocessor stage.

Lots of code relies on typedefs providing platform independant types. "podtype"-tags can be used to provide necessary information to cppcheck to support them. Without further information, cppcheck does not understand the type "uint16_t" in the following example: void test() { uint16_t a; } No message about variable 'a' being unused is printed: # cppcheck --enable=style unusedvar.cpp Checking unusedvar.cpp... If uint16_t is defined in a library as follows, the result improves: <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <podtype name="uint16_t" sign="u" size="2"/> </def> The size of the type is specified in bytes. Possible values for the "sign" attribute are "s" (signed) and "u" (unsigned). Both attributes are optional. Using this library, cppcheck prints: # cppcheck --library=lib.cfg --enable=style unusedvar.cpp Checking unusedvar.cpp... [unusedvar.cpp:2]: (style) Unused variable: a

A lot of C++ libraries, among those the STL itself, provide containers with very similar functionality. Libraries can be used to tell cppcheck about their behaviour. Each container needs a unique ID. It can optionally have a startPattern, which must be a valid Token::Match pattern and an endPattern that is compared to the linked token of the first token with such a link. The optional attribute "inherits" takes an ID from a previously defined container. Inside the <container> tag, functions can be defined inside of the tags <size>, <access> and <other> (on your choice). Each of them can specify an action like "resize" and/or the result it yields, for example "end-iterator". The following example provides a definition for std::vector, based on the definition of "stdContainer" (not shown): <?xml version="1.0"?> <def> <container id="stdVector" startPattern="std :: vector &lt;" inherits="stdContainer"> <size> <function name="push_back" action="push"/> <function name="pop_back" action="pop"/> </size> <access indexOperator="array-like"> <function name="at" yields="at_index"/> <function name="front" yields="item"/> <function name="back" yields="item"/> </access> </container> </def>

The proper configuration for the standard strcpy() function would be: <function name="strcpy"> <leak-ignore/> <noreturn>false</noreturn> <arg nr="1"> <not-null/> </arg> <arg nr="2"> <not-null/> <not-uninit/> </arg> </function> The <leak-ignore/> tells Cppcheck to ignore this function call in the leaks checking. Passing allocated memory to this function won't mean it will be deallocated. The <noreturn> tells Cppcheck if this function returns or not. The first argument that the function takes is a pointer. It must not be a null pointer, therefore <not-null> is used. The second argument the function takes is a pointer. It must not be null. And it must point at initialized data. Using <not-null> and <not-uninit> is correct.

Specifying -1 as the argument number is going to apply a check to all arguments of that function. The specifications for individual arguments override this setting.

You can define custom rules using regular expressions. These rules can not perform sophisticated analysis of the code. But they give you an easy way to check for various simple patterns in the code. To get started writing rules, see the related articles here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cppcheck/files/Articles/ The file format for rules is: <?xml version="1.0"?> <rule> <tokenlist>LIST</tokenlist> <pattern>PATTERN</pattern> <message> <id>ID</id> <severity>SEVERITY</severity> <summary>SUMMARY</summary> </message> </rule> CDATA can be used to include characters in a pattern that might interfere with XML: <![CDATA[some<strange>pattern]]>

The <tokenlist> element is optional. With this element you can control what tokens are checked. The LIST can be either define, raw, normal or simple. define used to check #define preprocessor statements. raw used to check the preprocessor output. normal used to check the normal token list. There are some simplifications. simple used to check the simple token list. All simplifications are used. Most Cppcheck checks use the simple token list. If there is no <tokenlist> element then simple is used automatically.

The PATTERN is the PCRE-compatible regular expression that will be executed.

The ID specify the user-defined message id.

The SEVERITY must be one of the Cppcheck severities: information, performance, portability, style, warning, or error.

Optional. The summary for the message. If no summary is given, the matching tokens is written.

Using dump files it is possible to write Cppcheck extensions with for instance Python. The cppcheckdata.py module (http://github.com/danmar/cppcheck/blob/master/tools/cppcheckdata.py) allows you to load such dump file. It contains Token/Variable/ValueFlow.Value/Scope classes that are similar to the C++ classes in Cppcheck-core. The doxygen information for the C++ classes should be somewhat useful for Python developers also.

Here is a simple checker: import cppcheckdata data = cppcheckdata.parsedump('1.c.dump') for token in data.tokenlist: if token.str == '/' or token.str == '%': # Get denominator (2nd operand) den = token.astOperand2 # Can denominator be zero? if den.getValue(0): print '[' + token.file + ':' + str(token.linenr) + '] Division by zero' Example usage: cppcheck --dump 1.c python divzero.py

The dump file is just a xml file, so it is an open interface without restrictions. You can use it in any way you need. The cppcheckdata.py is also free to use. No matter if your project is open source or closed source. Use it for any purpose.

You can convert the XML output from cppcheck into a HTML report. You'll need Python and the pygments module (http://pygments.org/) for this to work. In the Cppcheck source tree there is a folder htmlreport that contains a script that transforms a Cppcheck XML file into HTML output. This command generates the help screen: htmlreport/cppcheck-htmlreport -h The output screen says: Usage: cppcheck-htmlreport [options] Options: -h, --help show this help message and exit --file=FILE The cppcheck xml output file to read defects from. Default is reading from stdin. --report-dir=REPORT_DIR The directory where the html report content is written. --source-dir=SOURCE_DIR Base directory where source code files can be found. An example usage: ./cppcheck gui/test.cpp --xml 2> err.xml htmlreport/cppcheck-htmlreport --file=err.xml --report-dir=test1 --source-dir=.

A Cppcheck GUI is available. The main screen is shown immediately when the GUI is started.

Use the Check menu.

The results are shown in a list. You can show/hide certain types of messages through the View menu. Results can be saved to an XML file that can later be opened. See Save results to file and Open XML.

The language can be changed at any time by using the Language menu. More settings are available in Edit Preferences .

The project files are used to store project specific settings. These settings are: include folders preprocessor defines As you can read in chapter 3 in this manual the default is that Cppcheck checks all configurations. So only provide preprocessor defines if you want to limit the checking.