Our website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience.
Accept
to the top
>
>
>
V526. The 'strcmp' function returns...
menu mobile close menu
Additional information
toggle menu Contents

V526. The 'strcmp' function returns 0 if corresponding strings are equal. Consider inspecting the condition for mistakes.

Dec 13 2010

This message is a kind of recommendation. It rarely diagnoses a logical error but helps make code more readable for young developers.

The analyzer detected a construct comparing two strings that can be written in a clearer way. Such functions as strcmp, strncmp and wcsncmp return 0 if strings identical. It may cause logical errors in program. Look at a code sample:

if (strcmp(s1, s2))

This condition will hold if the strings ARE NOT IDENTICAL. Perhaps you remember well what strcmp() returns, but a person who rarely works with string functions might think that the strcmp() function returns the value of type 'bool'. Then he will read this code in this way: "the condition is true if the strings match".

You'd better not save on more characters in the program text and write the code this way:

if (strcmp(s1, s2) != 0)

This text tells the programmer that the strcmp() function returns some numeric value, not the bool type. This code ensures that the programmer will understand it properly.

If you do not want to get this diagnostic message, you may disable it in the analyzer settings.

This diagnostic is classified as:

You can look at examples of errors detected by the V526 diagnostic.

close form

Fill out the form in 2 simple steps below:

Your contact information:

Step 1
Congratulations! This is your promo code!

Desired license type:

Step 2
Team license
Enterprise license
close form
Request our prices
New License
License Renewal
--Select currency--
USD
EUR
close form
Free PVS‑Studio license for Microsoft MVP specialists
close form
To get the licence for your open-source project, please fill out this form
close form
I want to join the test
* By clicking this button you agree to our Privacy Policy statement

close form
check circle
Message submitted.

Your message has been sent. We will email you at


If you do not see the email in your inbox, please check if it is filtered to one of the following folders:

  • Promotion
  • Updates
  • Spam