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(gcc-295.info)Labels as Values

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Labels as Values
================

   You can get the address of a label defined in the current function
(or a containing function) with the unary operator `&&'.  The value has
type `void *'.  This value is a constant and can be used wherever a
constant of that type is valid.  For example:

     void *ptr;
     ...
     ptr = &&foo;

   To use these values, you need to be able to jump to one.  This is
done with the computed goto statement(1), `goto *EXP;'.  For example,

     goto *ptr;

Any expression of type `void *' is allowed.

   One way of using these constants is in initializing a static array
that will serve as a jump table:

     static void *array[] = { &&foo, &&bar, &&hack };

   Then you can select a label with indexing, like this:

     goto *array[i];

Note that this does not check whether the subscript is in bounds--array
indexing in C never does that.

   Such an array of label values serves a purpose much like that of the
`switch' statement.  The `switch' statement is cleaner, so use that
rather than an array unless the problem does not fit a `switch'
statement very well.

   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.

   You can use this mechanism to jump to code in a different function.
If you do that, totally unpredictable things will happen.  The best way
to avoid this is to store the label address only in automatic variables
and never pass it as an argument.

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) 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.