C++ Undefined Behavior Signed Integer Overflow

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Example

int x = INT_MAX + 1;

// x can be anything -> Undefined behavior

If during the evaluation of an expression, the result is not mathematically defined or not in the range of representable values for its type, the behavior is undefined.

(C++11 Standard paragraph 5/4)

This is one of the more nasty ones, as it usually yields reproducible, non-crashing behavior so developers may be tempted to rely heavily on the observed behavior.


On the other hand:

unsigned int x = UINT_MAX + 1;

// x is 0

is well defined since:

Unsigned integers, declared unsigned, shall obey the laws of arithmetic modulo 2^n where n is the number of bits in the value representation of that particular size of integer.

(C++11 Standard paragraph 3.9.1/4)

Sometimes compilers may exploit an undefined behavior and optimize

signed int x ;
if(x > x + 1)
{
    //do something
}

Here since a signed integer overflow is not defined, compiler is free to assume that it may never happen and hence it can optimize away the "if" block



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