Reference Manual for PC-lint^® Plus^™

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview
1.2 Flow of Execution
1.3 An Example

2 Installation and Configuration

2.1 System Requirements
2.1.1 Supported Operating Systems
2.1.2 Supported File Encodings
2.1.3 Hardware Requirements
2.1.4 Antivirus Software
2.2 Installation
2.2.1 Setting the PATH environment variable on Windows
2.2.2 Setting the PATH environment variable on Linux
2.2.3 Setting the PATH environment variable on macOS
2.3 Configuring with pclp_config
2.3.1 Overview
   2.3.1.1 Installing python
   2.3.1.2 Installing required modules
2.3.2 Introduction and Walkthrough of Automated Configuration with pclp_config
2.3.3 Creating a compiler configuration for GCC or Clang
2.3.4 Creating a compiler configuration for Microsoft C/C++ compilers
2.3.5 Creating a compiler configuration for IAR Embedded compilers
2.3.6 Creating a compiler configuration for Keil μVision ARMCC
2.3.7 Creating a compiler configuration for Keil μVision ARMCLANG
2.3.8 Creating a compiler configuration for Microchip MPLAB X XC8/XC16/XC32
   2.3.9 Creating a compiler configuration for MetaWare ccac ARC V2 EM/V2 HS/V3 HS/etc.
2.3.10 Creating a compiler configuration for Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio compilers
2.3.11 Creating a compiler configuration for Green Hills Software compilers
2.3.12 Creating a compiler configuration for SEGGER compilers
2.3.13 >Creating a project configuration with a JSON compilation database
2.3.14 Creating a project configuration with make or cmake
2.3.15 Creating a project configuration with MSBuild on Windows
2.3.16 Integrating PC-lint Plus with IAR Embedded Workbench
2.3.17 Integrating PC-lint Plus with Keil μVision
2.3.18 Integrating PC-lint Plus with MPLAB X
2.3.19 Integrating PC-lint Plus with Eclipse-based IDEs
2.3.20 Integrating PC-lint Plus with Visual Studio Code
2.3.21 Integrating PC-lint Plus with SEGGER IDE
   2.3.22 Using the pclpvscfg.exe GUI utility to generate a compiler and project configuration for Microsoft Visual Studio
2.3.23 pclp_config Options Reference
2.3.24 imposter Options Reference
2.4 Configuring manually

3 The Command Line

3.1 Indirect (.lnt) files
3.2 Exit Code
3.3 Built-in version environment variables

4 Options

4.1 Rules for Specifying Options
4.1.1 Options within Comments
4.1.2 Lint Comments inside of Macro Definitions
4.1.3 Options on the Command Line
4.1.4 Specifying Option Arguments
4.1.5 Quoted Options and Arguments
4.1.6 Quotes in Arguments
4.1.7 Braces within Argument Lists
4.1.8 Braces and Quotes
4.1.9 Brace Types in Brace-Enclosed Argument Lists
4.1.10 Option Display
4.1.11 Expansion of Environment Variables in Options
4.1.12 Escaping Special Characters
4.2 Option Reference
4.3 Message Options
4.3.1 Error Inhibition
4.3.2 Verbosity
4.3.3 Message Presentation
4.4 Processing Options
4.4.1 Compiler Adaptation
4.4.2 Preprocessor
4.4.3 Tokenizing
4.4.4 Parsing
4.5 Data Options
4.5.1 Scalar Data Size
4.5.2 Scalar Data Alignment
4.6 Miscellaneous Options
4.6.1 File
4.6.2 Global
4.6.3 Output
4.7 Special Detection Options
4.7.1 Metrics
4.7.2 Thread Analysis
4.7.3 Strong Type
4.7.4 Miscellaneous Detection
4.7.5 Semantic
4.7.6 Value Tracking
4.8 Meta Characters for Options
4.9 How Suppression Options are Applied
4.10 Rules for Parameterized Suppressions
4.11 Flag Options
4.12 Compiler Adaptation
4.12.1 Customization Facilities
4.12.2 Identifier Characters
4.12.3 Preprocessor Statements
4.12.4 In-line assembly code
4.12.5 Pragmas
4.12.6 Built-in pragmas
4.12.7 User pragmas
4.12.8 Arbitrary Width Integer Types

5 Libraries

5.1 Library Header Files
5.2 Library Modules
5.3 Assembly Language Modules

6 Precompiled Headers

6.1 Introduction to precompiled headers
6.2 Designating the precompiled header
6.3 Monitoring precompiled headers
6.4 The use of make files
6.5 Lint comment options and precompiled headers

7 Strong Types

7.1 Rationale
7.2 Creating Strong Types with -strong
7.3 Strong Types for Array Indices
7.4 Dimensional Analysis
7.4.1 Dimensional Types
7.4.2 Dimensionally Neutral Types
7.4.3 Antidimensional Types
7.4.4 Multiplication and Division of Dimensional Types
7.4.5 Dimensional Types and the % operator
7.4.6 Conversions
7.4.7 Integers
7.5 Strong Type Hierarchies
7.5.1 The Need for a Type Hierarchy
7.5.2 The Natural Type Hierarchy
7.5.3 Adding to the Natural Hierarchy
7.5.4 Restricting Down Assignments (-father)
7.6 Printing the Hierarchy Tree
7.7 Reference Information
7.7.1 Full Source for the Gravitation Example
7.7.2 The Strong Type of an Expression
7.7.3 Canonical Form for Dimensional Strong Types
7.7.4 Message Numbers

8 Value Tracking

8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 Anatomy of a Value Tracking Message
8.2 Value Inferencing
8.2.1 Conditionals
8.2.2 Assertions
8.3 Integer Range Tracking
8.4 Terminology
8.5 Value Display Format
8.5.1 Integers
8.5.2 Pointers in General
8.5.3 Pointers to a Single Datum
8.5.4 Pointers to Buffers with Multiple Elements
8.5.5 Objects of Structure or Class Type
8.5.6 File Streams
8.5.7 Uninitialized Values
8.6 General Usage
8.7 Debugger
8.8 Interfunction and Intermodule Value Tracking
8.9 Limitations
8.9.1 Initial Values of Static Variables
8.9.2 The Correlated Variables Problem
8.9.3 Terminal Depth Assistance
8.10 Changes from Older Products

9 Semantics

9.1 Function Mimicry (-function)
9.1.1 Special Functions
9.1.2 Function Listing
9.1.3 Other names with special behavior that cannot be mimicked
9.2 Semantic Specifications (-sem)
9.2.1 Possible Semantics
9.2.2 Semantic Expressions
9.2.2.1 Return Semantics
9.2.2.2 Return Semantic Validation
9.2.2.3 Function-wide semantics
9.2.2.4 Overload-Specific Semantics
9.2.3 Notes on Semantic Specifications

10 Metrics

10.1 Introduction
10.1.1 Terminology
10.1.2 Options
10.2 Metric Report
10.2.1 Metric Nomination
10.2.2 Report Fields
10.3 Metric Expressions
10.3.1 Built-in Functions
10.4 Metric Checking
10.4.1 Metric Violation Messages
10.4.2 Integration with Queries
10.5 Custom Metrics
10.5.1 Examples
10.5.1.1 Percentage of functions in a file with multiple return statements
10.5.1.2 Number of inheritance edges in class hierarchy
10.5.1.3 Ratio of number of lines in member function to average number of lines in member functions of the containing class
10.6 Built-in Metrics
10.6.1 Definitions
10.6.2 Project (project)
10.6.3 Translation Unit (translation_unit)
10.6.4 File (file)
10.6.5 Function (function)
10.6.6 Class (class)
10.6.7 Dynamic Metrics
10.7 Sample Derived Metrics
10.7.1 Class (class)

11 Thread Analysis

11.1 Introduction
11.2 Library Support
11.3 Identifying Threads
11.3.1 Options to Identify Threads
11.3.2 Automatic Identification of Threads
11.4 Mutual Exclusion
11.4.1 Trylock-like Functions
11.4.2 Locker Classes
11.4.3 Shared Locks
11.4.4 Internal Global Recursive Mutex
11.5 Function Pointers
11.6 Thread Unfriendly Functions
11.6.1 Category 1 Functions
11.6.2 Category 2 Functions
11.6.3 Category 3 Function
11.6.4 Category 4 Function
11.6.5 Category 5 Function
11.7 Thread Local Storage
11.7.1 _Thread_local
11.7.2 thread_local
11.7.3 __thread
11.7.4 __declspec(thread)
11.8 Limitations
11.9 Thread Analysis Reports
11.9.1 Field Types and Representation
11.9.2 Thread Reports
11.9.3 Function Reports
11.9.4 Mutex Reports
11.9.5 Variable Reports
11.10 Message Summary
11.11 Thread Analysis Phases
11.11.1 Inhibition of Thread Analysis
11.12 Supporting Other Thread Libraries
11.12.1 Thread Semantics
11.12.2 Mutex Semantics
11.12.3 Locker Semantics
11.12.4 Trylock Semantics

12 MISRA^® Standards Checking

12.1 MISRA C:2025
12.1.1 MISRA C:2025 Guideline Support Summary
12.1.2 MISRA C:2025 Guideline Support Matrix
12.2 MISRA C:2023
12.2.1 MISRA C:2023 Guideline Support Summary
12.2.2 MISRA C:2023 Guideline Support Matrix
12.3 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2
12.3.1 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2 Guideline Support Summary
12.3.2 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2 Guideline Support Matrix
12.4 MISRA C 2012 AMD-1
12.4.1 MISRA C 2012 AMD-1 Guideline Support Summary
12.4.2 MISRA C 2012 AMD-1 Guideline Support Matrix
12.5 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2
12.5.1 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2 Guideline Support Summary
12.5.2 MISRA C 2012 AMD-2 Guideline Support Matrix
12.6 MISRA C 2012 AMD-3
12.6.1 MISRA C 2012 AMD-3 Guideline Support Summary
12.6.2 MISRA C 2012 AMD-3 Guideline Support Matrix
12.7 MISRA C 2012 AMD-4
12.7.1 MISRA C 2012 AMD-4 Guideline Support Summary
12.7.2 MISRA C 2012 AMD-4 Guideline Support Matrix
  12.8 MISRA C++:2023
   12.8.1 MISRA C++:2023 Guideline Support Summary
   12.8.2 MISRA C++:2023 Guideline Support Matrix
  12.9 MISRA C++:2008
   12.9.1 MISRA C++ Guideline Support Summary
   12.9.2 MISRA C++ Guideline Support Matrix
  12.10 MISRA C 2004
   12.10.1 MISRA C 2004 Guideline Support Summary
   12.10.2 MISRA C 2004 Guideline Support Matrix

13 AUTOSAR^® Standard Checking

13.1 Introduction to AUTOSAR Support
13.2 AUTOSAR19
13.2.1 AUTOSAR19 Guideline Support Summary
13.2.2 AUTOSAR19 Guideline Support Matrix
13.3 AUTOSAR17
13.3.1 AUTOSAR17 Guideline Support Summary
13.3.2 AUTOSAR17 Guideline Support Matrix

14 CERT^® C Standard Checking

14.1 Introduction to CERT C Support
14.2 CERT C Support
14.2.1 CERT C Guideline Support Summary
14.2.2 CERT C Guideline Support Matrix

15 CWE™ Checking

15.1 Introduction to CWE Support
15.2 CWE Support
15.2.1 CWE Support Summary
15.2.2 CWE Support Matrix

16 Queries

16.1 Introduction
16.2 Overview
16.3 Query Fundamentals
16.3.1 Types and Values
16.3.2 Query Execution
16.3.3 Numeric Operators
16.3.3.1 Multiplicative and Additive Operators
16.3.3.2 Bitwise Operators
16.3.4 String Operators
16.3.4.1 16.3.5 The AST
16.3.5.1 Conversion Functions
16.3.5.2 The currentnode Operator
16.3.5.3 The with-node (:) Operator
16.3.6 Relational Operators
16.3.7 Variables and Assignment
16.3.8 The message Operator
16.3.9 The verbosify Operator
16.3.10 Logical Operators
16.3.10.1 Alternate Spellings
16.3.11 The if Expression
16.3.11.1 The Type and Value of an if Expression
16.3.12 The while Expression
16.3.13 The echo Operator
16.3.14 Compound Expressions
16.3.15 Parentheses
16.3.16 Operator Precedence
16.4 Builtin Functions
16.4.1 Function Call Syntax
16.4.2 Default Arguments
16.4.3 Naming Conventions
16.5 Examples
16.5.1 -astquery Examples
16.5.2 -equery Examples
16.6 Regular Expression Basics
16.6.1 Regular Characters and Metacharacters
16.6.2 Pattern Anchoring
16.6.3 Dot and Repetition
16.6.4 Alternation
16.6.5 Subpatterns
16.6.6 Backslash
16.6.7 Character Classes
16.6.8 Captures
16.6.9 Mode Modifiers
16.7 Debugging Queries
16.7.1 The assert Operator
16.7.2 Dumping the Query Tree
16.8 Builtin Function List
16.8.1 Non-member functions
16.8.2 ASTNode functions
16.8.3 ASTType functions
16.8.4 ArraySubscriptExpr functions
16.8.5 AttributedStmt functions
16.8.6 BinaryOperator functions
16.8.7 CXXBoolLiteralExpr functions
16.8.8 CXXCatchStmt functions
16.8.9 CXXConstructExpr functions
16.8.10 CXXConstructorDecl functions
16.8.11 CXXConversionDecl functions
16.8.12 CXXDestructorDecl functions
16.8.13 CXXForRangeStmt functions
16.8.14 CXXMethodDecl functions
16.8.15 CXXRecordDecl functions
16.8.16 CXXTryStmt functions
16.8.17 CallExpr functions
16.8.18 CastExpr functions
16.8.19 CharacterLiteral functions
16.8.20 CompoundStmt functions
16.8.21 CoreturnStmt functions
16.8.22 CoroutineBodyStmt functions
16.8.23 Decl functions
16.8.24 DeclRefExpr functions
16.8.25 DoStmt functions
16.8.26 EnumConstantDecl functions
16.8.27 EnumDecl functions
16.8.28 Expr functions
16.8.29 FieldDecl functions
16.8.30 FloatingLiteral functions
16.8.31 ForStmt functions
16.8.32 FriendDecl functions
16.8.33 FriendTemplateDecl functions
16.8.34 FunctionDecl functions
16.8.35 GotoStmt functions
16.8.36 IfStmt functions
16.8.37 IntegerLiteral functions
16.8.38 LabelDecl functions
16.8.39 LabelStmt functions
16.8.40 LambdaExpr functions
16.8.41 LinkageSpecDecl functions
16.8.42 Location functions
16.8.43 MemberExpr functions
16.8.44 NamedDecl functions
16.8.45 NamespaceAliasDecl functions
16.8.46 NamespaceDecl functions
16.8.47 NullStmt functions
16.8.48 ParenExpr functions
16.8.49 ParmVarDecl functions
16.8.50 RecordDecl functions
16.8.51 ReturnStmt functions
16.8.52 StaticAssertDecl functions
16.8.53 Stmt functions
16.8.54 String functions
16.8.55 StringLiteral functions
16.8.56 SwitchCase functions
16.8.57 SwitchStmt functions
16.8.58 TagDecl functions
16.8.59 TypeDecl functions
16.8.60 TypedefNameDecl functions
16.8.61 UnaryOperator functions
16.8.62 UsingDecl functions
16.8.63 UsingDirectiveDecl functions
16.8.64 ValueDecl functions
16.8.65 ValueStmt functions
16.8.66 VarDecl functions
   16.8.67 WhileStmt functions

17 Other Features

17.1 Format Checking
   17.1.1 Dangerous Use
   17.1.2 Argument Inconsistencies
   17.1.3 Positional Arguments
   17.1.4 Non-ISO features
   17.1.5 Incorrect Format Specifiers
   17.1.6 Suspicious Format Specifiers
   17.1.7 Elective Notes and Customization
  17.2 Precision, Viable Bit Patterns, and Representable Values
  17.3 Static Initialization
  17.4 Indentation Checking
  17.5 Size of Scalars
  17.6 Stack Usage Report
  17.7 Migrating to 64 bits
  17.8 Deprecation of Entities
   17.8.1 Deprecation of Options
   17.8.2 Deprecation of Types
   17.8.3 Deprecation of Preprocessor Directives
   17.8.4 Deprecation of Format Function Conversion Specifiers
   17.8.5 Deprecation of Templates
  17.9 Parallel Analysis
  17.10 Language Limits
  17.11 Diagnostic Accounting
   17.11.1 The Diagnostics table
   17.11.2 The Options table
   17.11.3 The Suppressions table
   17.11.4 The Orbits table
   17.11.5 The Modules table
   17.11.6 The Files table
   17.11.7 The Metadata table
   17.11.8 Understanding why a message is suppressed/emitted
  17.12 Unused Suppressions
   17.12.1 Prerequisites
   17.12.2 Optional Dependencies
   17.12.3 Usage
   17.12.4 Output Categories
   17.12.5 Suppressing Suppressions
   17.12.6 Peak Memory Usage

18 Preprocessor

18.1 Preprocessor Symbols
  18.2 #include Processing
   18.2.1 INCLUDE Environment Variable
  18.3 ANSI/ISO Preprocessor Facilities
   18.3.1 #line and #
  18.4 Non-Standard Preprocessing
   18.4.1 #import
   18.4.2 #include_next
   18.4.3 #ident
   18.4.4 #sccs
   18.4.5 #warning
  18.5 User-Defined Keywords
  18.6 Preprocessor sizeof

19 Living with Lint

19.1 An Example of a Policy
  19.2 Recommended Setup
  19.3 Final Thoughts

20 Common Issues

20.1 Syntax errors when using Boost
  20.2 Suppressing MISRA/AUTOSAR/CERT C/CWE messages from library/system headers
  20.3 Standard C++ keywords not recognized when using au-misra-cpp.lnt
  20.4 Running pclp_config from Windows produces errors or no result
  20.5 Resolving error 309 (#error directive encountered)
  20.6 Resolving error 330 (static assert failed)
  20.7 Resolving errors 305 (unable to open module) and 307 (unable to open indirect file)
  20.8 Syntax errors when using options that contain spaces
  20.9 Resolving error 322 (unable to open include file)
  20.10 Syntax errors when using options containing parentheses on the command prompt

21 Frequently Asked Questions

21.1 How do I keep PC-lint Plus from processing header files?
  21.2 When do I need to use imposter?
  21.3 How should imposter be compiled?
  21.4 What can I do to improve analysis speed?
  21.5 PC-lint Plus has crashed, what do I do next?
  21.6 Why isn’t my option working?
  21.7 How can I temporarily disable suppressions of one or more messages?
  21.8 How can I customize existing messages or add new messages?
  21.9 How can I change the message category associated with a message?
  21.10 How can I generate XML/HTML output?
  21.11 Can PC-lint Plus generate custom reports?
  21.12 Where can I find msg.txt / msg.json?
  21.13 How can I apply options only to C files but not C++ files (or vice versa)?
  21.14 Can PC-lint Plus recursively scan sub directories for the source code?
  21.15 Can function semantics be applied using attribute
syntax?

22 Messages

22.1 Message Parameters
  22.2 Messages 1-999
   22.2.1 Messages 1-99
   22.2.2 Messages 100-199
   22.2.3 Messages 300-399
   22.2.4 Messages 400-499
   22.2.5 Messages 500-599
   22.2.6 Messages 600-699
   22.2.7 Messages 700-799
   22.2.8 Messages 800-899
   22.2.9 Messages 900-999
  22.3 Messages 1000-1999
   22.3.1 Messages 1000-1099
   22.3.2 Messages 1100-1199
   22.3.3 Messages 1300-1399
   22.3.4 Messages 1400-1499
   22.3.5 Messages 1500-1599
   22.3.6 Messages 1700-1799
   22.3.7 Messages 1800-1899
   22.3.8 Messages 1900-1999
  22.4 Messages 2000-2999
   22.4.1 Messages 2000-2099
   22.4.2 Messages 2400-2499
   22.4.3 Messages 2500-2599
   22.4.4 Messages 2600-2699
   22.4.5 Messages 2700-2799
   22.4.6 Messages 2800-2899
   22.4.7 Messages 2900-2999
  22.5 Messages 3000-3999
   22.5.1 Messages 3400-3499
   22.5.2 Messages 3500-3599
   22.5.3 Messages 3700-3799
   22.5.4 Messages 3900-3999
  22.6 Messages 4000-6999
  22.7 Messages 8000-8999
   22.7.1 Messages 8000-8099
  22.8 Messages 9000-9999
   22.8.1 Messages 9000-9099
   22.8.2 Messages 9100-9199
   22.8.3 Messages 9200-9299
   22.8.4 Messages 9300-9399
   22.8.5 Messages 9400-9499
   22.8.6 Messages 9500-9599
   22.8.7 Messages 9900-9999

23 Revision History

23.1 Version 2025
   23.1.1 Highlights
   23.1.2 Summary
   23.1.2.1 New Features
   23.1.2.2 Improvements
   23.1.2.3 Bugs Fixed
   23.1.2.4 Known Issues
   23.1.2.5 AUTOSAR Summary
   23.1.2.6 CERT C Summary
   23.1.2.7 MISRA Summary
   23.1.3 New Features
   23.1.4 Improvements
   23.1.5 Bugs Fixed
   23.1.6 Known Issues
  23.2 Version 2.2
   23.2.1 Highlights
   23.2.2 Summary
   23.2.2.1 New Features
   23.2.2.2 Improvements
   23.2.2.3 Bugs Fixed
   23.2.2.4 Known Issues
   23.2.3 New Features
   23.2.4 Improvements
   23.2.5 Bugs Fixed
   23.2.6 Known Issues
  23.3 Version 2.1
   23.3.1 Highlights
   23.3.2 Summary
   23.3.2.1 New Features
   23.3.2.2 Improvements
   23.3.2.3 Bugs Fixed
   23.3.2.4 Known Issues
   23.3.2.5 AUTOSAR Summary
   23.3.2.6 MISRA Summary
   23.3.3 New Features
   23.3.4 Improvements
   23.3.5 Bugs Fixed
   23.3.6 Known Issues
  23.4 Version 2.0
   23.4.1 Highlights
   23.4.2 Summary
   23.4.2.1 New Features
   23.4.2.2 Improvements
   23.4.2.3 Bugs Fixed
   23.4.2.4 AUTOSAR Summary
   23.4.2.5 CERT C Summary
   23.4.2.6 MISRA Summary
   23.4.3 New Features
   23.4.4 Improvements
   23.4.5 Bugs Fixed
   23.4.6 Known Issues
   23.4.7 Changes to Beta Functionality Since Version 2.0 Beta 3
  23.5 Version 1.4.1
   23.5.1 Summary
   23.5.1.1 Bugs Fixed
  23.6 Version 1.4
   23.6.1 Summary
   23.6.1.1 New Features
   23.6.1.2 Improvements
   23.6.1.3 Bugs Fixed
   23.6.1.4 Known Issues
   23.6.1.5 AUTOSAR Summary
   23.6.1.6 CERT C Summary
   23.6.1.7 MISRA Summary
  23.7 Version 1.3.5
   23.7.1 Summary
   23.7.1.1 Improvements
   23.7.1.2 Bugs Fixed
   23.7.1.3 Known Issues
   23.7.1.4 AUTOSAR
   23.7.1.5 MISRA C 2012
   23.7.1.6 MISRA C 2004
   23.7.1.7 MISRA C++
  23.8 Version 1.3
   23.8.1 Summary
   23.8.1.1 Bugs Fixed
   23.8.1.2 Documentation Improvements
   23.8.1.3 General Improvements
   23.8.1.4 MISRA C 2012 Improvements
   23.8.1.5 MISRA C++ Improvements
   23.8.1.6 New Features
  23.9 Version 1.2
   23.9.1 Summary
   23.9.1.1 Bugs Fixed
   23.9.1.2 MISRA C 2012 Improvements
   23.9.1.3 MISRA C++ Improvements
   23.9.1.4 General Improvements
   23.9.1.5 New Features
   23.9.1.6 Documentation Enhancements
  23.10 Version 1.1
   23.10.1 Summary
   23.10.1.1 Bugs Fixed
   23.10.1.2 MISRA C 2004 Improvements
   23.10.1.3 MISRA C 2012 Improvements
   23.10.1.4 MISRA C++ Improvements
   23.10.1.5 General Improvements
   23.10.1.6 New Features
   23.10.1.7 Documentation Enhancements

24 Open Source Declarations

25 Acknowledgements

25.1 Carnegie Mellon University
25.2 MITRE Corporation