Static Variables in C

Static variables have a property of preserving their value even after they are out
of their scope!Hence, static variables preserve their previous value in their
previous scope and are not initialized again in the new scope.
Syntax:

static data_type var_name = var_value;

Following are some interesting facts about static variables in C.

1) A static int variable remains in memory while the program is running. A normal
or auto variable is destroyed when a function call where the variable was declared
is over.

For example, we can use static int to count number of times a function is called,
but an auto variable can�t be sued for this purpose.

For example below program prints �1 2�

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#include<stdio.h>
int fun()
{
static int count = 0;
count++;
return count;
}

int main()
{
printf("%d ", fun());
printf("%d ", fun());
return 0;
}

Output:

1 2

But below program prints 1 1

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#include<stdio.h>
int fun()
{
int count = 0;
count++;
return count;
}

int main()
{
printf("%d ", fun());
printf("%d ", fun());
return 0;
}

Output:

1 1

2) Static variables are allocated memory in data segment, not stack segment. See
memory layout of C programs for details.

3) Static variables (like global variables) are initialized as 0 if not initialized

explicitly. For example in the below program, value of x is printed as 0, while
value of y is something garbage. See this for more details.
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#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
static int x;
int y;
printf("%d \n %d", x, y);
}

Output:

0
[some_garbage_value]

4) In C, static variables can only be initialized using constant literals. For

example, following program fails in compilation. See this for more details.
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#include<stdio.h>
int initializer(void)
{
return 50;
}

int main()
{
static int i = initializer();
printf(" value of i = %d", i);
getchar();
return 0;
}

Output

In function 'main':
9:5: error: initializer element is not constant
static int i = initializer();
^

Please note that this condition doesn�t hold in C++. So if you save the program as
a C++ program, it would compile \and run fine.

5) Static global variables and functions are also possible in C/C++. The purpose of
these is to limit scope of a variable or function to a file. Please refer Static
functions in C for more details.

Related Articles:

Static Keyword in C++

Quiz on Static Keyword
Static data members in C++
When are static objects destroyed?
Interesting facts about static member functions
Can static functions be virtual?
Comparison of static keyword in C++ and Java
Static functions in C

Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more
information about the topic discussed above.

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Article Tags : C
C Basics
C-Storage Classes and Type Qualifiers
Practice Tags : C

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