MISRA C:2012 Directives and Rules

Descriptions and example of MISRA C:2012 guidelines supported in Polyspace®

Polyspace Code Prover™ can check your code against most MISRA® C:2012 coding rules and some directives. The subgroups listed map to the different subsets outlined in the MISRA C®:2012 guidelines. You can activate different subsets of the rules using the Check MISRA C:2012 (-misra3) analysis option.

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MISRA C:2012 Dir 1.1Any implementation-defined behavior on which the output of the program depends shall be documented and understood
MISRA C:2012 Dir 2.1All source files shall compile without any compilation errors
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.1Run-time failures shall be minimized
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.3Assembly language shall be encapsulated and isolated
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.4Sections of code should not be "commented out"
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.5Identifiers in the same name space with overlapping visibility should be typographically unambiguous
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.6typedefs that indicate size and signedness should be used in place of the basic numerical types
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.8If a pointer to a structure or union is never dereferenced within a translation unit, then the implementation of the object should be hidden
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.9A function should be used in preference to a function-like macro where they are interchangeable
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.10Precautions shall be taken in order to prevent the contents of a header file being included more than once
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.11The validity of values passed to library functions shall be checked
MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.12Dynamic memory allocation shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 1.1The program shall contain no violations of the standard C syntax and constraints, and shall not exceed the implementation’s translation limits
MISRA C:2012 Rule 1.2Language extensions should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 1.3There shall be no occurrence of undefined or critical unspecified behaviour
MISRA C:2012 Rule 1.4Emergent language features shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.1A project shall not contain unreachable code
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.2There shall be no dead code
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.3A project should not contain unused type declarations
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.4A project should not contain unused tag declarations
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.5A project should not contain unused macro declarations
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.6A function should not contain unused label declarations
MISRA C:2012 Rule 2.7There should be no unused parameters in functions
MISRA C:2012 Rule 3.1The character sequences /* and // shall not be used within a comment
MISRA C:2012 Rule 3.2Line-splicing shall not be used in // comments
MISRA C:2012 Rule 4.1Octal and hexadecimal escape sequences shall be terminated
MISRA C:2012 Rule 4.2Trigraphs should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.1External identifiers shall be distinct
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.2Identifiers declared in the same scope and name space shall be distinct
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.3An identifier declared in an inner scope shall not hide an identifier declared in an outer scope
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.4Macro identifiers shall be distinct
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.5Identifiers shall be distinct from macro names
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.6A typedef name shall be a unique identifier
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.7A tag name shall be a unique identifier
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.8Identifiers that define objects or functions with external linkage shall be unique
MISRA C:2012 Rule 5.9Identifiers that define objects or functions with internal linkage should be unique
MISRA C:2012 Rule 6.1Bit-fields shall only be declared with an appropriate type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 6.2Single-bit named bit fields shall not be of a signed type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 7.1Octal constants shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 7.2A “u” or “U” suffix shall be applied to all integer constants that are represented in an unsigned type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 7.3The lowercase character “l” shall not be used in a literal suffix
MISRA C:2012 Rule 7.4A string literal shall not be assigned to an object unless the object’s type is “pointer to const-qualified char”
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.1Types shall be explicitly specified
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.2Function types shall be in prototype form with named parameters
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.3All declarations of an object or function shall use the same names and type qualifiers
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.4A compatible declaration shall be visible when an object or function with external linkage is defined
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.5An external object or function shall be declared once in one and only one file
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.6An identifier with external linkage shall have exactly one external definition
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.7Functions and objects should not be defined with external linkage if they are referenced in only one translation unit
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.8The static storage class specifier shall be used in all declarations of objects and functions that have internal linkage
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.9An object should be defined at block scope if its identifier only appears in a single function
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.10An inline function shall be declared with the static storage class
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.11When an array with external linkage is declared, its size should be explicitly specified
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.12Within an enumerator list, the value of an implicitly-specified enumeration constant shall be unique
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.13A pointer should point to a const-qualified type whenever possible
MISRA C:2012 Rule 8.14The restrict type qualifier shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 9.1The value of an object with automatic storage duration shall not be read before it has been set
MISRA C:2012 Rule 9.2The initializer for an aggregate or union shall be enclosed in braces
MISRA C:2012 Rule 9.3Arrays shall not be partially initialized
MISRA C:2012 Rule 9.4An element of an object shall not be initialized more than once
MISRA C:2012 Rule 9.5Where designated initializers are used to initialize an array object the size of the array shall be specified explicitly
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.1Operands shall not be of an inappropriate essential type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.2Expressions of essentially character type shall not be used inappropriately in addition and subtraction operations
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.3The value of an expression shall not be assigned to an object with a narrower essential type or of a different essential type category
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.4Both operands of an operator in which the usual arithmetic conversions are performed shall have the same essential type category
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.5The value of an expression should not be cast to an inappropriate essential type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.6The value of a composite expression shall not be assigned to an object with wider essential type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.7If a composite expression is used as one operand of an operator in which the usual arithmetic conversions are performed then the other operand shall not have wider essential type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 10.8The value of a composite expression shall not be cast to a different essential type category or a wider essential type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.1Conversions shall not be performed between a pointer to a function and any other type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.2Conversions shall not be performed between a pointer to an incomplete type and any other type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.3A cast shall not be performed between a pointer to object type and a pointer to a different object type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.4A conversion should not be performed between a pointer to object and an integer type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.5A conversion should not be performed from pointer to void into pointer to object
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.6A cast shall not be performed between pointer to void and an arithmetic type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.7A cast shall not be performed between pointer to object and a non-integer arithmetic type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.8A cast shall not remove any const or volatile qualification from the type pointed to by a pointer
MISRA C:2012 Rule 11.9The macro NULL shall be the only permitted form of integer null pointer constant
MISRA C:2012 Rule 12.1The precedence of operators within expressions should be made explicit
MISRA C:2012 Rule 12.2The right hand operand of a shift operator shall lie in the range zero to one less than the width in bits of the essential type of the left hand operand
MISRA C:2012 Rule 12.3The comma operator should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 12.4Evaluation of constant expressions should not lead to unsigned integer wrap-around
MISRA C:2012 Rule 12.5The sizeof operator shall not have an operand which is a function parameter declared as “array of type”
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.1Initializer lists shall not contain persistent side effects
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.2The value of an expression and its persistent side effects shall be the same under all permitted evaluation orders
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.3A full expression containing an increment (++) or decrement (--) operator should have no other potential side effects other than that caused by the increment or decrement operator
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.4The result of an assignment operator should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.5The right hand operand of a logical && or || operator shall not contain persistent side effects
MISRA C:2012 Rule 13.6The operand of the sizeof operator shall not contain any expression which has potential side effects
MISRA C:2012 Rule 14.1A loop counter shall not have essentially floating type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 14.2A for loop shall be well-formed
MISRA C:2012 Rule 14.3Controlling expressions shall not be invariant
MISRA C:2012 Rule 14.4The controlling expression of an if statement and the controlling expression of an iteration-statement shall have essentially Boolean type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.1The goto statement should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.2The goto statement shall jump to a label declared later in the same function
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.3Any label referenced by a goto statement shall be declared in the same block, or in any block enclosing the goto statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.4There should be no more than one break or goto statement used to terminate any iteration statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.5A function should have a single point of exit at the end
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.6The body of an iteration-statement or a selection-statement shall be a compound statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 15.7All if … else if constructs shall be terminated with an else statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.1All switch statements shall be well-formed
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.2A switch label shall only be used when the most closely-enclosing compound statement is the body of a switch statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.3An unconditional break statement shall terminate every switch-clause
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.4Every switch statement shall have a default label
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.5A default label shall appear as either the first or the last switch label of a switch statement
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.6Every switch statement shall have at least two switch-clauses
MISRA C:2012 Rule 16.7A switch-expression shall not have essentially Boolean type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.1The features of <stdarg.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.2Functions shall not call themselves, either directly or indirectly
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.3A function shall not be declared implicitly
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.4All exit paths from a function with non-void return type shall have an explicit return statement with an expression
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.5The function argument corresponding to a parameter declared to have an array type shall have an appropriate number of elements
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.6The declaration of an array parameter shall not contain the static keyword between the [ ]
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.7The value returned by a function having non-void return type shall be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 17.8A function parameter should not be modified
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.1A pointer resulting from arithmetic on a pointer operand shall address an element of the same array as that pointer operand
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.2Subtraction between pointers shall only be applied to pointers that address elements of the same array
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.3The relational operators >, >=, < and <= shall not be applied to objects of pointer type except where they point into the same object
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.4The +, -, += and -= operators should not be applied to an expression of pointer type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.5Declarations should contain no more than two levels of pointer nesting
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.6The address of an object with automatic storage shall not be copied to another object that persists after the first object has ceased to exist
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.7Flexible array members shall not be declared
MISRA C:2012 Rule 18.8Variable-length array types shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 19.1An object shall not be assigned or copied to an overlapping object
MISRA C:2012 Rule 19.2The union keyword should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.1#include directives should only be preceded by preprocessor directives or comments
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.2The ', " or \ characters and the /* or // character sequences shall not occur in a header file name
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.3The #include directive shall be followed by either a <filename> or "filename" sequence
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.4A macro shall not be defined with the same name as a keyword
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.5#undef should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.6Tokens that look like a preprocessing directive shall not occur within a macro argument
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.7Expressions resulting from the expansion of macro parameters shall be enclosed in parentheses
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.8The controlling expression of a #if or #elif preprocessing directive shall evaluate to 0 or 1
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.9All identifiers used in the controlling expression of #if or #elif preprocessing directives shall be #define’d before evaluation
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.10The # and ## preprocessor operators should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.11A macro parameter immediately following a # operator shall not immediately be followed by a ## operator
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.12A macro parameter used as an operand to the # or ## operators, which is itself subject to further macro replacement, shall only be used as an operand to these operators
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.13A line whose first token is # shall be a valid preprocessing directive
MISRA C:2012 Rule 20.14All #else, #elif and #endif preprocessor directives shall reside in the same file as the #if, #ifdef or #ifndef directive to which they are related
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.1#define and #undef shall not be used on a reserved identifier or reserved macro name
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.2A reserved identifier or reserved macro name shall not be declared
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.3The memory allocation and deallocation functions of <stdlib.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.4The standard header file <setjmp.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.5The standard header file <signal.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.6The Standard Library input/output functions shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.7The Standard Library functions atof, atoi, atol, and atoll functions of <stdlib.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.8The Standard Library functions of abort, exit, getnenv and system of <stdlib.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.9The Standard Library library functions bsearch and qsort of <stdlib.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.10The Standard Library time and date functions shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.11The standard header file <tgmath.h> shall not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.12The exception handling features of <fenv.h> should not be used
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.15The pointer arguments to the Standard Library functions memcpy, memmove and memcmp shall be pointers to qualified or unqualified versions of compatible types
MISRA C:2012 Rule 21.16The pointer arguments to the Standard Library function memcmp shall point to either a pointer type, an essentially signed type, an essentially unsigned type, an essentially Boolean type or an essentially enum type
MISRA C:2012 Rule 22.5A pointer to a FILE object shall not be dereferenced

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MISRA C: 2012 Subsets

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Specific MISRA C: 2012 Rules

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