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CodeSonar® 9.2p0 CONFIDENTIAL CodeSecure Inc
C and C++

LANG.TYPE.CBCONST : Pointed-to Type Could Be const

Summary

A pointer P to a non-const-qualified type is declared, but is never used to modify an object.

A warning of this class will not be issued if P is assigned to another pointer Q that is declared to point to a non-const-qualified type.

A warning of this class will be issued for any array-typed function parameter A with non-const-qualified element type if no element of A is modified (and A is not assigned to a pointer Q as described above). This is because CodeSonar, like C compilers, treats array-typed function parameters as pointers.

Properties

Class Name Pointed-to Type Could Be const
Significance style
Mnemonic LANG.TYPE.CBCONST
Categories
MisraC2025 MisraC2025:8.13 A pointer should point to a const-qualified type whenever possible
MisraC2023 MisraC2023:8.13 A pointer should point to a const-qualified type whenever possible
Misra2012 Misra2012:8.13 A pointer should point to a const-qualified type whenever possible
Misra2004 Misra2004:16.7 A pointer parameter in a function prototype should be declared as pointer to const if the pointer is not used to modify the addressed object
AUTOSARC++14 AUTOSARC++14:M7-1-2 A pointer or reference parameter in a function shall be declared as pointer to const or reference to const if the corresponding object is not modified.
MisraC++2008 MisraC++2008:7-1-2 A pointer or reference parameter in a function shall be declared as pointer to const or reference to const if the corresponding object is not modified.
MisraC++2023 MisraC++2023:10.1.1 The target type of a pointer or lvalue reference parameter should be const-qualified appropriately
CERT-C CERT-C:DCL13-C Declare function parameters that are pointers to values not changed by the function as const
Availability Available for C and C++.
Enabling Checks for this warning class are disabled by default, and require the unnormalized C ASTs for the project. To enable them, add the following WARNING_FILTER rule and RETAIN_UNNORMALIZED_C_AST specification to the project configuration file. 
RETAIN_UNNORMALIZED_C_AST = Yes
WARNING_FILTER += allow class="Pointed-to Type Could Be const"
Note that retaining the unnormalized ASTs will increase the disk space used to store the project representation, and may make the analysis take longer.

Example 

int cbconst_ptr(const char *ptr_const,          /* ok: pointed-to type is const-qualified */
                 char *ptr_modified,            /* ok: used to modify an object */
                 char *ptr_assigned,            /* ok: assigned to a pointer to non-const-qualified type */
                 char *ptr_cbc,  /* 'Pointed-to Type Could Be const' warning issued here */
                 int arr_cbc[5]) /* 'Pointed-to Type Could Be const' warning issued here */
{
  char *local_ptr_cbc;           /* 'Pointed-to Type Could Be const' warning issued here */
  *ptr_modified='a';
  local_ptr_cbc=ptr_assigned;
  return (int)(*local_ptr_cbc + *ptr_const + *ptr_modified + *ptr_cbc) + arr_cbc[1];
}

Relevant Configuration File Parameters

The following configuration file parameters affect checks for this warning class.

 

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