Question

char * return_buffer()
{
    char buffer[1024];
    snprintf(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%s", "test");
    return buffer;
}

buffer is created in the function, can I return the buffer directly? after the function returns, the buffer would disappear?

Answer 1

You are creating a statically allocated buffer, which means that it is being created on the stack. When the function returns, it will give you an address on the stack that is no longer in use. So if you make more function calls, the data it stores will likely corrupt.

It is much better to allocate it to the heap by calling malloc.