Robert Millan wrote: > Ok then. But if I preallocate a buffer on the stack, then xctime() can't > return it.
Of course it cannot return a pointer to an array in its own stack frame. You want to write a function that executes strftime and returns its result in freshly allocated memory. You can assume that - 1 strftime call is pretty expensive, say, costs 100 units. - 1 malloc or realloc call is pretty cheap, say, costs 5 units, - copying memory around is very cheap, costs, say, 1 unit. (*) You know that 99% of the time, the result will be less than 1024 bytes long. How do you write the function so that it minimizes the cost in the average case? Bruno (*) These figures are only indicative. I haven't measured it concretely.
