Question

I have a double link list that stores some information. When I try and return one of the values inside the link list, I get the warning: function returns address of local variable.

This is my return statement:

return curr_val->value;

value is of type const void*.

Method signature is like: void *get_val(int key)

curr_val is of a struct type. It is equal to one of my nodes in the linked list.

how do I return the value and it not disappear after I return? BTW, I can not change the method signature.

Answer 1

The problem is likely that you have assigned the address of a stack-allocated variable to value. You need to use new or malloc to get memory for variables you intend to have continue to exist beyond the current stack frame.