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+<head>
+<title>Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC): Labels as Values</title>
+
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+<body lang="en_US" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000">
+<a name="Labels-as-Values"></a>
+<div class="header">
+<p>
+Next: <a href="Nested-Functions.html#Nested-Functions" accesskey="n" rel="next">Nested Functions</a>, Previous: <a href="Local-Labels.html#Local-Labels" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Local Labels</a>, Up: <a href="C-Extensions.html#C-Extensions" accesskey="u" rel="up">C Extensions</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Indices.html#Indices" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
+</div>
+<hr>
+<a name="Labels-as-Values-1"></a>
+<h3 class="section">6.3 Labels as Values</h3>
+<a name="index-labels-as-values"></a>
+<a name="index-computed-gotos"></a>
+<a name="index-goto-with-computed-label"></a>
+<a name="index-address-of-a-label"></a>
+
+<p>You can get the address of a label defined in the current function
+(or a containing function) with the unary operator &lsquo;<samp>&amp;&amp;</samp>&rsquo;. The
+value has type <code>void *</code>. This value is a constant and can be used
+wherever a constant of that type is valid. For example:
+</p>
+<div class="smallexample">
+<pre class="smallexample">void *ptr;
+/* <span class="roman">&hellip;</span> */
+ptr = &amp;&amp;foo;
+</pre></div>
+
+<p>To use these values, you need to be able to jump to one. This is done
+with the computed goto statement<a name="DOCF6" href="#FOOT6"><sup>6</sup></a>, <code>goto *<var>exp</var>;</code>. For example,
+</p>
+<div class="smallexample">
+<pre class="smallexample">goto *ptr;
+</pre></div>
+
+<p>Any expression of type <code>void *</code> is allowed.
+</p>
+<p>One way of using these constants is in initializing a static array that
+serves as a jump table:
+</p>
+<div class="smallexample">
+<pre class="smallexample">static void *array[] = { &amp;&amp;foo, &amp;&amp;bar, &amp;&amp;hack };
+</pre></div>
+
+<p>Then you can select a label with indexing, like this:
+</p>
+<div class="smallexample">
+<pre class="smallexample">goto *array[i];
+</pre></div>
+
+<p>Note that this does not check whether the subscript is in bounds&mdash;array
+indexing in C never does that.
+</p>
+<p>Such an array of label values serves a purpose much like that of the
+<code>switch</code> statement. The <code>switch</code> statement is cleaner, so
+use that rather than an array unless the problem does not fit a
+<code>switch</code> statement very well.
+</p>
+<p>Another use of label values is in an interpreter for threaded code.
+The labels within the interpreter function can be stored in the
+threaded code for super-fast dispatching.
+</p>
+<p>You may not use this mechanism to jump to code in a different function.
+If you do that, totally unpredictable things happen. The best way to
+avoid this is to store the label address only in automatic variables and
+never pass it as an argument.
+</p>
+<p>An alternate way to write the above example is
+</p>
+<div class="smallexample">
+<pre class="smallexample">static const int array[] = { &amp;&amp;foo - &amp;&amp;foo, &amp;&amp;bar - &amp;&amp;foo,
+ &amp;&amp;hack - &amp;&amp;foo };
+goto *(&amp;&amp;foo + array[i]);
+</pre></div>
+
+<p>This is more friendly to code living in shared libraries, as it reduces
+the number of dynamic relocations that are needed, and by consequence,
+allows the data to be read-only.
+This alternative with label differences is not supported for the AVR target,
+please use the first approach for AVR programs.
+</p>
+<p>The <code>&amp;&amp;foo</code> expressions for the same label might have different
+values if the containing function is inlined or cloned. If a program
+relies on them being always the same,
+<code>__attribute__((__noinline__,__noclone__))</code> should be used to
+prevent inlining and cloning. If <code>&amp;&amp;foo</code> is used in a static
+variable initializer, inlining and cloning is forbidden.
+</p>
+<div class="footnote">
+<hr>
+<h4 class="footnotes-heading">Footnotes</h4>
+
+<h3><a name="FOOT6" href="#DOCF6">(6)</a></h3>
+<p>The analogous feature in
+Fortran is called an assigned goto, but that name seems inappropriate in
+C, where one can do more than simply store label addresses in label
+variables.</p>
+</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="header">
+<p>
+Next: <a href="Nested-Functions.html#Nested-Functions" accesskey="n" rel="next">Nested Functions</a>, Previous: <a href="Local-Labels.html#Local-Labels" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Local Labels</a>, Up: <a href="C-Extensions.html#C-Extensions" accesskey="u" rel="up">C Extensions</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Indices.html#Indices" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
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+</html>