Should You Explicitly Check for NULL Before Deleting a Pointer in C ?

Deleting NULL Pointers: Safety and Coding Style

In C , it's commonly known that deleting a NULL pointer is safe. The operator delete handles such cases gracefully, avoiding any potential memory issues. However, some programmers may question the coding style of explicitly checking for NULL before calling delete.

As explained by our expert, performing an additional check for NULL prior to deleting is unnecessary. delete already handles this check internally. Adding your own check not only adds overhead but also clutters the codebase.

A best practice often followed is to set the pointer to NULL after deleting it. This helps prevent double deletion and other memory corruption issues that can arise from accessing a pointer that has already been deleted.

Some developers even advocate for introducing a custom macro, such as my_delete, which performs the deletion and sets the pointer to NULL in one concise step. While this may not always be practical or suitable for all programming scenarios, it highlights the importance of adhering to established best practices.

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