Is this method to a String from a function going to cause memory corruption?

Question

I'd like to define a function such that I return a string and a boolean indicating whether the result is valid. Like this:

bool getStringOrTimeout(String *s) {
  ...
  if (timed_out) {
    return false;
  } else {
    *s = String(<some value>);
    return true;
  }
}

Is this going to cause a memory problem because the string is allocated on the stack and deallocated when it leaves scope, or is this okay?

Answer 1

You are better off passing the string by reference, like this:

bool getStringOrTimeout(String & s)
{
  if (timed_out)
    return false;
  s = "foo";
  return true;

}

That means the caller's string will be modified. And you no longer need to pass down a pointer to a string.