Identify array type in IR

Question

I have been trying to identify array access in IR by making use of following code:

  for (BasicBlock::iterator ii = BB->begin(), ii2; ii != BB->end(); ii++) {
     Instruction *I=ii;             
    if(GetElementPtrInst *getElePntr = dyn_cast<GetElementPtrInst>(&*I))
    {                   

        Value *valAlloc = (getElePntr->getOperand(0));

        if(getElePntr->getOperand(0)->getType()->isArrayTy())
            {
                errs()<<"\tarray found";
            }
    }  
 }  

This code identifies getElementPtr instruction but it does not identify whether it's first operand is an array type or not. Please let me know what is the problem with my code.

Answer 1

The first operand of a GEP (getelementptr instruction) is a pointer, not an array. That pointer may point to an array, or it may not (see below). So you need to look what this pointer points to.

Here's a sample BasicBlockPass visitor:

virtual bool runOnBasicBlock(BasicBlock &BB) {
    for (BasicBlock::iterator ii = BB.begin(), ii_e = BB.end(); ii != ii_e; ++ii) {
        if (GetElementPtrInst *gep = dyn_cast<GetElementPtrInst>(&*ii)) {
            // Dump the GEP instruction
            gep->dump();
            Value* firstOperand = gep->getOperand(0);
            Type* type = firstOperand->getType();

            // Figure out whether the first operand points to an array
            if (PointerType *pointerType = dyn_cast<PointerType>(type)) {
                Type* elementType = pointerType->getElementType();
                errs() << "The element type is: " << *elementType << "\n";

                if (elementType->isArrayTy()) {
                    errs() << "  .. points to an array!\n";
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return false;
}

Note, however, that many "arrays" in C/C++ are actually pointers so you may not get the array type where you expect.

For example, if you compile this code:

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  return (int)argv[1][8];
}

You get the IR:

define i32 @main(i32 %argc, i8** %argv) nounwind uwtable {
  %1 = alloca i32, align 4
  %2 = alloca i32, align 4
  %3 = alloca i8**, align 8
  store i32 0, i32* %1
  store i32 %argc, i32* %2, align 4
  store i8** %argv, i8*** %3, align 8
  %4 = load i8*** %3, align 8
  %5 = getelementptr inbounds i8** %4, i64 1
  %6 = load i8** %5
  %7 = getelementptr inbounds i8* %6, i64 8
  %8 = load i8* %7
  %9 = sext i8 %8 to i32
  ret i32 %9
}

Although argv is treated as an array, the compiler thinks of it as a pointer, so there is no array type in sight. The pass I pasted above won't recognize an array here, because the first operand of the GEP is a pointer to a pointer.