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Is there a way to see if some variable is stored on the stack or the heap? (programming.dev)
submitted 3 days ago by vrek@programming.dev to c/learn_programming@programming.dev
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I believe I have a good understanding of what is stored on the stack(for example primitive data types) and what's stored on the heap(for example an instance of a class. But is there anyway to verify this for educational/verification of my expectations reasons?

It can be in a debugger(gdb or rad debugger or worst case vs) or directly code based(thinking something like gettype(variable) but like isstackstored(variable).

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[-] vrek@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago

Most of those will give me a memory address but is there a way to know if that address is stack or heap?

[-] tatterdemalion@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago

info proc mappings should show you the memory regions mapped for stack and heap, then you can compare the address of your variable to those.

[-] vrek@programming.dev 2 points 3 days ago

I don't see that in the sourceware or gnu documentation but I may be missing it (gdb is incredibly complex and documentation in long and detailed). It's 1am here so investigation into this will have to wait till tomorrow.

this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026
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