Returning pointer to local variable [duplicate]

Answer 1

In simple terms, local variables are available only as long as it is in that function is in the function stack, once the function is done, its popped out of the function stack.

Answer 2

If your code is:

int *abc() {
    int n = 3;
    return &n;
}

void foo() {
    int m = 4;
}

int main() {
    int *p;
    p=abc();
    foo();
    printf("%d", *p);
}

then m will probably overwrite n and the result will be 4.

Answer 3

You can syntactically return a pointer to a local variable, but that variable will no longer be valid after the function has returned.