C Language Common pitfalls Mistakenly writing = instead of == when comparing
Example
The = operator is used for assignment.
The == operator is used for comparison.
One should be careful not to mix the two. Sometimes one mistakenly writes
/* assign y to x */
if (x = y) {
/* logic */
}
when what was really wanted is:
/* compare if x is equal to y */
if (x == y) {
/* logic */
}
The former assigns value of y to x and checks if that value is non zero, instead of doing comparison, which is equivalent to:
if ((x = y) != 0) {
/* logic */
}
There are times when testing the result of an assignment is intended and is commonly used, because it avoids having to duplicate code and having to treat the first time specially. Compare
while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv, short_options, long_options, &option_index)) != -1) {
switch (c) {
...
}
}
versus
c = getopt_long(argc, argv, short_options, long_options, &option_index);
while (c != -1) {
switch (c) {
...
}
c = getopt_long(argc, argv, short_options, long_options, &option_index);
}
Modern compilers will recognise this pattern and do not warn when the assignment is inside parenthesis like above, but may warn for other usages. For example:
if (x = y) /* warning */
if ((x = y)) /* no warning */
if ((x = y) != 0) /* no warning; explicit */
Some programmers use the strategy of putting the constant to the left of the operator (commonly called Yoda conditions). Because constants are rvalues, this style of condition will cause the compiler to throw an error if the wrong operator was used.
if (5 = y) /* Error */
if (5 == y) /* No error */
However, this severely reduces the readability of the code and is not considered necessary if the programmer follows good C coding practices, and doesn't help when comparing two variables so it isn't a universal solution. Furthermore, many modern compilers may give warnings when code is written with Yoda conditions.
