What is the array form of 'delete'?

Question

When I compiled a code using the array name as a pointer, and I deleted the array name using delete, I got a warning about deleting an array without using the a

Answer 1

As the other have said, you must use the vector form of delete:

void some_func(size_t n)
{
  int* data = new int[n];

  . . . // do stuff with the array

  delete [] data; // Explicitly free memory
}

Be very wary of this, because some compilers will not warn you.

Even better, there is very rarely any need for using vector new/delete. Consider whether your code can be altered to make use of std::vector:

void some_func(size_t n)
{
  std::vector data(n);

  . . . // do stuff with the array

} // memory held by data will be freed here automatically

And if you are dealing with the memory in a local scope, consider using STLSoft's auto_buffer, which will allocate from an internal buffer (held on the stack, as part of the instance) if possible, only going to the heap if it cannot:

void some_func(size_t n)
{
  stlsoft::auto_buffer data(n); // only allocates if n > 10

  . . . // do stuff with the array

} // memory held by data will be freed here automatically, if any was allocated

Read more about auto_buffer.