C: Catch Segmentation Fault and Stack Trace

Catch

To catch segmentation fault in C/C++ you can use #include <signal.h>, which use function signal to add handler void f(int code) to SIGSEGV.

#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
void signal_handler(int code) {
  printf("segfault happend\n");
  exit(code);
}
 
int main() {
  signal(SIGSEGV, signal_handler);
 
  // Triggerd SIGSEGV
  int *ptr = NULL;
  *ptr = 10;
 
  return 0;
}

Stack Trace

To get stack trace in C/C++ you can use #include <execinfo.h>, backtrace to get pointer to stack frame and backtrace_symbols to get array of string symbol. Combine together with catch segmentation fault.

#include <execinfo.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
void signal_handler(int code) {
  void *buffer[10];
  int nptrs = backtrace(buffer, sizeof(buffer) / sizeof(void *));
  char **stacks = backtrace_symbols(buffer, nptrs);
  if (stacks == NULL) {
    exit(code);
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < nptrs; ++i) {
    printf("%s\n", stacks[i]);
  }
  free(stacks);
  exit(code);
}
 
int main() {
  signal(SIGSEGV, signal_handler);
 
  // Triggerd SIGSEGV
  int *ptr = NULL;
  *ptr = 10;
 
  return 0;
}

Table of Contents

Catch

Stack Trace