Question

A recent question about string literals in .NET caught my eye. I know that string literals are interned so that different strings with the same value refer to the same object. I also know that a string can be interned at runtime:

string now = DateTime.Now.ToString().Intern();  

Obviously a string that is interned at runtime resides on the heap but I had assumed that a literal is placed in the program’s data segment (and said so in my answer to said question). However I don’t remember seeing this anywhere. I assume this is the case since it’s how I would do it and the fact that the ldstr IL instruction is used to get literals and no allocation seems to take place seems to back me up.

To cut a long story short, where do string literals reside? Is it on the heap, the data segment or some-place I haven’t thought of?

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Edit: If string literals do reside on the heap, when are they allocated?

Answer 1

Strings in .NET are reference types, so they are always on the heap (even when they are interned). You can verify this using a debugger such as WinDbg.

If you have the class below

   class SomeType {       public void Foo() {          string s = 'hello world';          Console.WriteLine(s);          Console.WriteLine('press enter');          Console.ReadLine();       }    } 

And you call Foo() on an instance, you can use WinDbg to inspect the heap.

The reference will most likely be stored in a register for a small program, so the easiest is to find the reference to the specific string is by doing a !dso. This gives us the address of our string in question:

0:000> !dso OS Thread Id: 0x1660 (0) ESP/REG  Object   Name 002bf0a4 025d4bf8 Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeFileHandle 002bf0b4 025d4bf8 Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeFileHandle 002bf0e8 025d4e5c System.Byte[] 002bf0ec 025d4c0c System.IO.__ConsoleStream 002bf110 025d4c3c System.IO.StreamReader 002bf114 025d4c3c System.IO.StreamReader 002bf12c 025d5180 System.IO.TextReader+SyncTextReader 002bf130 025d4c3c System.IO.StreamReader 002bf140 025d5180 System.IO.TextReader+SyncTextReader 002bf14c 025d5180 System.IO.TextReader+SyncTextReader 002bf15c 025d2d04 System.String    hello world             // THIS IS THE ONE 002bf224 025d2ccc System.Object[]    (System.String[]) 002bf3d0 025d2ccc System.Object[]    (System.String[]) 002bf3f8 025d2ccc System.Object[]    (System.String[]) 

Now use !gcgen to find out which generation the instance is in:

0:000> !gcgen 025d2d04  Gen 0 

It’s in generation zero – i.e. it has just be allocated. Who’s rooting it?

0:000> !gcroot 025d2d04  Note: Roots found on stacks may be false positives. Run '!help gcroot' for more info. Scan Thread 0 OSTHread 1660 ESP:2bf15c:Root:025d2d04(System.String) Scan Thread 2 OSTHread 16b4 DOMAIN(000E4840):HANDLE(Pinned):6513f4:Root:035d2020(System.Object[])-> 025d2d04(System.String) 

The ESP is the stack for our Foo() method, but notice that we have a object[] as well. That’s the intern table. Let’s take a look.

0:000> !dumparray 035d2020 Name: System.Object[] MethodTable: 006984c4 EEClass: 00698444 Size: 528(0x210) bytes Array: Rank 1, Number of elements 128, Type CLASS Element Methodtable: 00696d3c [0] 025d1360 [1] 025d137c [2] 025d139c [3] 025d13b0 [4] 025d13d0 [5] 025d1400 [6] 025d1424 ... [36] 025d2d04  // THIS IS OUR STRING ... [126] null [127] null 

I reduced the output somewhat, but you get the idea.

In conclusion: strings are on the heap – even when they are interned. The interned table holds a reference to the instance on the heap. I.e. interned strings are not collected during GC because the interned table roots them.