Returning 'c_str' from a function

Question

This is from a small library that I found online:

const char* GetHandStateBrief(const PostFlopState* state)
{
    static std::ostringstream out;

    // ...          


        

Answer 1

strdup allocates a copy of the string on the heap, which you have to free manually later (with free() I think). If you have the option, it would be much better to return std::string.

The static storage of out doesn't help, because .str() returns a temporary std::string, which is destroyed when the function exits.