Code review MISRA 2012 rules

The code review tool covers rules from the lists the rules that produced and error or a warning. Each rule can be individually disabled or assigned a Warning or Error severity by using the Rule configuration window. Some rules also have parameters that can be changed. Among other guidelines, the code review tool implements most rules from the MISRA-C:2012 standard, "Guidelines for the use of the C language in critical systems". These rules are referenced with an M prefix. In addition to the industry standard rules, HCL OneTest™ Embedded provides some additional coding guidelines, which are referenced with an E prefix.

Code Review - MISRA 2012 rules

D is set for Decidable, U for Undecidable.

Code review reference Type D/U Description Level
M1.1 Error D ANSI C error: %name% Required
M1.1W Error D ANSI C warning: %name% Required
M1.2 Error U Use of #pragma %name% should always be encapsulated and documented Advisory
E1.1 Error D Function max number of line Required
E.1.2 Error D Function max V(g) Required
E1.3 Functions should have less than '%param%' lines, outside empty lines (current value: %name%).
E1.4 Functions should have less than '%param%' lines, outside empty lines or comment lines (current value : %name%).
E1.5 Functions should have less than '%param%' lines, outside empty lines, comment lines or bracket lines (current value : %name%).

Lines are not counted in the following cases:
  • If they contain spaces (including \t, \r, \n),
  • If they contain only brackets (there might be several brackets on same line),
  • If they contain comments only, or if they contain brackets and comments only.
E1.6

Optional

Compilation units should define less than '%param%' functions (current value: %name%).

Default parameter value: 10.
E1.7 Optional

Compilation units should define less than '%param%' variables (current value: %name%).

Default parameter value: 10.
E1.8

Optional

Compilation units should have less than '%param%' lines (current value: %name%).

Default parameter value : 200.
E1.9

Optional

Compilation unit should have less than '%param%' lines, not counting empty lines (current value : %name%).

Empty lines (current value : %name%) are not counted.

Default parameter value : 200.
E1.10

Optional

Compilation unit should have less than '%param%' lines not counting empty lines or comments (current value : %name%).

Empty lines or comments (current value : %name%) are not counted.

Default parameter value : 200.
E1.11

Optional

Compilation unit should have less than '%param%' lines not counting empty lines, comments or brackets (current value: %name%).

Empty lines, comments or brackets (current value : %name%) are not counted.

Default parameter value : 200.
E1.12 Functions should have less than '%param%' parameters (current value : %name%).
M2.1 Error U a project shall not contain unreachable code Required
M2.2.1 Error U A non-null statement should either have a side effect or change the control flow Required
M2.2.2 Error U The function %name% is never referenced Required
M2.2.3 Error D The object %name% is never referenced Required
M2.3 Warning D Type %name% is never used Advisory
M2.4 Warning D Tag %name% is never used Advisory
M2.5 Warning D Macro %name% is never used Advisory
M2.6 Warning D A function should not contain unused label declarations Advisory
M2.7 Warning D There should be no unused parameters in functions Advisory
M3.1.1 Error D The character sequence /* should not be used within a comment Required
M3.1.2 Error D The character sequence // should not be used within a 'C-style' comment Required
M3.2 Error D Line-splicing shall not be used in // comments Required
E3.1 Error D A null statement in original source code should be on a separate line and the semicolon should be followed by at least one white space and then a comment Required
M4.1 Error D Octal and hexadecimal escape sequences shall be terminated Required
M4.2 Warning D Trigraphs should not be used Advisory
E4.1 Error D Only ISO C escape sequences are allowed Advisory
E.4.2 Error D Only ISO C escape sequences are allowed(\v) Advisory
M5.1.1 Error D External identifiers shall be distinct in the first 31 characters Required
M5.1.2 Error D External identifiers shall be distinct in the first 6 characters ignoring case Required
M5.2 Error D Identifiers %name% declared in the same scope and name space shall be distinct. Identifier identical in the first %param% characters already found in %location% Required
M5.3 Error D Identifier %name% declared in an inner scope shall not hide an identifier declared in an outer scope. Identifier identical in the first %param% characters already found in %location% Required
M5.4.1 Error D Macros %name% and %name% are identical in the first %param% characters Required
M5.4.2 Error D Macros %name% and %name% are identical in the first %param% characters ignoring case. Required
M5.5.1 Error D Macro %name% and identifier %name% are identical in the first %param% characters. Required
M5.5.2 Error D Macro %name% and identifier %name% are identical in the first %param% characters ignoring case. Required
M5.6 Error D Macro %name% and identifier %name% are identical in the first %name% %param% characters ignoring case. The typedef name %name% should not be reused except for its tag. Name already found in %location% Required
M5.7.1 Error D The tag name %name% should not be reused Required
M5.7.2 Error D A struct and union cannot use the same tag name Required
M5.8 Error D Identifiers that define objects or functions with external linkage shall be unique Required
M5.9 Error D Identifiers that define objects or functions with internal linkage should be unique Advisory
E5.1 Error D External identifiers shall not be ambiguous because of possible character confusion. Advisory
E5.2 Error D External identifiers shall not be ambiguous because of character repetition Advisory
E5.3 Warning D The identifier<name> should not be reused. Identifier already found in %location% Advisory
E5.4 Error D Identifier %name% in an inner scope hides the same identifier in an outer scope : %location% Advisory
E5.5 Error D The typedef name %name% should not be reused even for its tag. Name already found in %location% Advisory
M6.1.1 Error D Bit fields should only be of type 'unsigned int' or 'signed int' Required
M6.1.2 Error D Bit fields should not be of type 'enum' Required
M6.1.3 Error D Bit fields should only be of explicitly signed or unsigned type Required
M6.1.4 Error D Bit fields should not be of type 'bool' under c99 Required
M6.1.5 Error D Bit fields should not be of type 'boolean' outside c99 Required
M6.2 Error D Single-bit fields shall not be of a signed type Required
E6.1 Warning D The C language numeric type %name% should not be used directly but instead used to define typedef Required
E6.2 Warning D The implicit 'int' type should not be used Required
M7.1 Error D Octal constans shall not be used Required
M7.2 Error D A "u" or "U" suffix shall be applied to all integer constants that are represented in an unsigned type" Required
M7.3 Error D The lowercase characted l" shall not be used in a literal suffix" Required
M7.4 Error D A string litteral shall not be assigned to an object unless the object's type is pointer to a const-qualified char Required
M8.1 Error D Types shall be explicitly specified Required
M8.2.1 Error D The function prototype should name all its parameters Required
M8.2.2 Error D Functions with no parameters should use the void type Required
M8.2.3 Error D The type of parameter %name% should be explicitly stated Required
M8.3.1 Error D Parameters and return types should use compatible type in the declaration and in the definition Required
M8.3.2 Error D The identifiers used in the prototype and definition should be the same Required
M8.4.1 Error D A prototype for the global function %name% should be declared before defining the function Required
M8.4.2 Error D A prototype for the global object %name% should be declared before defining the object Required
M8.4.3 Error D If objects or functions are declared multiple times their types should be compatible Required
M8.5 Error D Identifiers %name% that declare objects or functions with external linkage shall be declared once in one and only one file Required
M8.6 Error D Identifiers %name% that declare objects or functions with external linkage shall be unique Required
M8.7.1 Warning D Global object %name% that are only used within the same file should be declared using the static storage-class specifier. Advisory
M8.7.12 Warning D Global function %name% that are only used within the same file should be declared using the static storage-class specifier. Advisory
M8.8 Error D The static storage class specifier shall be used in all declarations of objects and functions that have internal linkage Required
M8.9 Warning D An object should be defined at block scope if its identifier only appears in a single function Advisory
M8.10 Error D Inline function %name% should be static Required
M8.11 Warning D When an array with external linkage is declared, its size should be explicitly specified Advisory
M8.14 Error D The restrict type qualifier shall not be used Required
E.8.1 Error D Parameters and return types should use exactly the same type names in the declaration and in the definition Required
E.8.2 Error D A prototype for the static function %name% should be declared before defining the function Required
E.8.3 Error D Static function %name% should only be declared in a single file. Redundant declaration found at: %name% Required
E.8.4 Error D Static object %name% should only be declared in a single file. Redundant declaration found at: %location% Required
E.8.5 Error D Either all members or only the first member of an enumerator list should be initialized Required
E.8.6 Error D The body of function %name% should not be located in a header file Required
E.8.7 Error D The memory storage (definition) for the variable %name% should not be in a header file Required
E.8.8 Error D Functions should not be declared at block scope Required
E.8.9 Error D The global object or function '%name%' should have exactly one external definition. Redundant definition found in %location% Required
E.8.10 Error D The global object or function %name% %name% should have exactly one external definition. No definition found Required
E.8.11 Error D Use the const qualification for variable %name% which is pointer and which is not used to change the pointed object Required
M9.2 Error D The initializer for an aggregate or union shall be enclosed in braces Required

Exception not covered
M9.3 w D Arrays shall not be partially initialized Required

Exception not covered
E9.1 Error D Variables with automatic storage duration should be initialized before being used Required
E9.2 Error D The global variable %name% is not initialized Required
M10.1.1 Error D Constraint violation : can't use floating type as operand of "[], %, &lt;&lt;, >>, ~, &amp;, |, ^" Required
M10.1.2 Error D Operand should be boolean Required
M10.1.3 Error D Can't use a boolean as a numeric value Required
M10.1.4 Error D Can't use a char as a numeric value Required
M10.1.5 Error D Can't use a not anonymous enum as a numeric value Required
M10.1.6 Error D Shift and bitwise operations should be performed on unsigned value Required
M10.1.7 Error D Right hand operand of shift operation should be performed on unsigned value Required
M10.1.8 Error D Unary minus operation should not be performed on unsigned value Required
M10.2 Error D Expressions of essentially character type shall not be used inappropriately in addition and subtraction operations Required
M10.3.1 Error D The value of an expression shall not be assigned to an object with a narrower essential type Required
M10.3.2 Error D The value of an expression shall not be assigned to an object with a different essential type category Required
M10.4 Error D Both operands of an operator in which the usual arithmetic conversions are performed shall have the same essential type category Required
M10.5 Warning D The value of an expression should not be cast to an inappropriate essential type Advisory
M10.6 Error D The value of a composite expression shall not be assigned to an object with wider essential type Required
M10.7 Error D If a composite expression is used as one operand of an operation in which the usual arithmetic conversions are performed then the other operand shall not have wider essential type Required
M10.8 Error D The value of a composite expression shall not be cast to a different essential type category or a wider essential type Required
E10.1 Error D When using operator '~' or '&amp;lt;&amp;lt;' on 'unsigned char' or 'unsigned int', you should always cast returned value Required
M11.1 Error D A function pointer should not be converted to another type of pointer Required
M11.2 Error Conversions shall not be performed between a pointer to an incomplete type and any other type Required
M11.3.1 Error Casting an object pointer type to a different object pointer type should not occur Required
M11.3.2 Error Casting an object pointer type to a different object pointer type should not occur, especially when object sizes are not the same Required
M11.3.3 Error An object pointer should not be converted to another type of pointer Required
M11.4 Warning Casting a pointer type to an integer type should not occur Advisory
M11.5 Warning A conversion should not be performed from pointer to void into pointer to object Advisory
M11.6 Error A cast shall not be performed between pointer to void and and an arithmetic type Required
M11.7 Error A cast shall not be performed between pointer to object and a non-integer arithmetic type Required
M11.8 Error Casting of pointers to a type that removes any const or volatile qualification on the pointed object should not occur Required
M12.1.1 warning Implicit operator precedence may cause ambiguity. Use parenthesis to clarify this expression Advisory
M12.1.2 warning Implicit bitwise operator precedence may cause ambiguity. Use parenthesis to clarify this expression Advisory
M12.1.3 warning Parenthesis should be used around expressions that are operands of a logical &amp;amp;&amp;amp; or || Advisory
M12.1.4 warning Parenthesis should be used around expression that is operand of 'sizeof' operator. Advisory
M12.3 warning The comma operator should not be used. Advisory
E12.1 warning The operator on a Boolean expression should be a logical operator ( &amp;&amp;, || or !) Advisory
E12.2 warning Ternary expression '?:' should not be used Advisory
E12.3 error Expressions should not cause a side effect assignment Advisory
E12.4 error The equal or not equal operator should not be used in floating-point expressions Advisory
M13.3 Warning a 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 Advisory
M13.4.1 Warning Boolean expressions should not contain assignment operators. Advisory
M13.4.2 Warning The result of an assignment operator should not be used in an expression Advisory
M13.6 Error The operand of the sizeof operator shall not contain any expression which has potential side effects Required
E13.1 Error Boolean expressions should not contain side effect operators Required
E13.2 Error An expression that contains a side effect should not be used in the right-hand operand of a logical &amp;&amp; or || operator Required
E13.3 Error The function in the right-hand operand of a logical && or || operator might cause side effects Required
M14.1.1 Error Floating-point variables should not be used to control a for statement Required
M14.2.1 Error Only loop counter should be initialized in a for loop initialization part Required
M14.2.2 Error In the 'update part' of a 'for statement', only 'loop counter' should be updated Required
M14.2.3 Error There should be one and only one loop counter for loop statement Required
M14.2.4 Error Loop counter of a 'for statement' should not be modified within the body of the loop Required
M14.3.1 Error Invariant Boolean expressions should not be used Required
M14.4 Error Non-Boolean values that are tested against zero should have an explicit test Required
M15.1 Warning The goto statement should not be used Advisory
M15.2 Error The goto statement shall jump to a label declared later in the same function Required
M15.3 Error Any label referenced by a goto statement shall be declared in the same block, or in any block enclosing the goto statement Required
M15.4 Warning There should be no more than one break or goto statement used to terminate any iteration statement Advisory
M15.5 Warning A function should have a single point of exit at the end Advisory
M15.6.1 Error The switch statement should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.6.1 Error The switch statement should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.6.2 Error The while statement should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.6.3 Error The do..while statement should contain a compound statement Required
M15.6.4 Error The for statement should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.6.5 Error The if (expression) construct should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.6.6 Error The else keyword should be followed by a compound statement Required
M15.7 Error All if ... else constructs shall be terminated with an else statement Required
E15.1 Error Do not use the continue statement Required
E15.2 Error Only one break statement should be used within a loop Required
E15.3 Error The return keyword should not be used in a conditional block Required
E15.4 Error The else keyword should be followed by either a compound statement or another if statement. Required
M16.1 Error All switch statement should be well formed Required
M16.2 Error A switch label shall only be used when the most closely-enclosing copound statement is the body of a switch statement Required
M16.3 Error An unconditional break statement shall terminate every switch-clause Required
M16.4 Error Every switch statement shall have a default label Required
M16.5 Error A default label appear as either the first or the last switch label of a switch statement Required
M16.6 Error Every switch statement shall have at least two switch-clauses Required
M16.7 Error A switch expression shall not have essentially Boolean type Required
E16.1 Error Case char value is applicable only if the switch statement value is plain character variable Required
E16.2 Error A constant should not be used as a switch expression Required
E16.3 Error The switch expression should not have side effects Required
M17.1.1 Error The function '%name%' should not have a variable number of arguments Required
M17.1.2 Error The va_list, va_arg, va_start, va_end and va_copy functions of &lt;stdarg.h> shall not be used Required
M17.2.1 Error Recursive functions are not allowed. The function '%name%' is directly recursive Required
M17.2.2 Error Recursive functions are not allowed. The function '%name%' is recursive when calling '%name%' Required
M17.3 Error A function shall not be declared implicitly Required
M17.4 Error All exit paths from a function with non-void return type shall have an explicit return statement with an expression Required
M17.6 Error The declaration of an array parameter shall not contain the static keyword between the [] Advisory
M17.7 Error The value returned by function having non-void return type shall be used Required
E17.1 Error The number of arguments used in the call does not match the number declared in the prototype Advisory
E17.2 Error Use the const qualification for parameter '%name%' which is pointer and which is not used to change the pointed object Advisory
E17.3 Error Function identifiers should always use a parenthesis or a preceding &amp; Advisory
M18.4 Error The +, -, += and -= operators should not be applied to an expression of pointer type Advisory
M18.5 Error Declarations should contain no more than two levels of pointer nesting Advisory
M18.7 Error Flexible arrays members shall not be declared Required
M18.8 Error Variable-length array types shall not be used Required
M19.2 Warning The union keyword should not be used Advisory
E19.1 Error Structure or union types '%name%' should be finalized before the end of the compilation units Advisory
M20.1 Warning #include directive should only preceded by preprocessor directives or comments Advisory
M20.2 Error The ', or \ character and the /* or // character sequences shall not occur in a header file name" Required
M20.3 Error The #include directive shall be followed by either a &lt;filename> or a filename" sequence" Required
M20.4 Error A macro shall not be defined with the same name as a keyword %name% Required
M20.5 Warning #undef should not be used Advisory
M20.6 Error Token that look like a preprocessing directive should not occur withing a macro argument Required
M20.7 Error Expressions resulting from the expansion of macro parameters shall be enclosed in parenthesis Required
M20.8 Error The controlling expression of a #if or #elif preprocessing directive shall evaluate to 0 or 1 Required
M20.9 Error All identifiers used in the controlling expression of #if or #elif preprocessing directives shall be #define'd before evaluation Required
M20.10 Warning The # and ## preprocessor operators should not be used Advisory
M20.11 Error A macro parameter immediately following a # operator shall not immediately be followed by a ## operator Required
M20.12 Error A macro parameter used as an operand to the # and ## operators shall only be used as an operand to these operators Required
M20.13 Error A line whose first token is # shall be a valid preprocessing directive Required
M20.14 Error Error All #else, #elif and #endif preprocessor directives shall reside in the same file as the #if, #ifdef or #ifndef directive to which they are related Required
E20.1 Error Header file contents should be protected against multiple inclusions Required
E20.2 Error The # or ## preprocessor operator should not be used more than once Required
E20.3 Error Missing argument when calling the macro Required
E20.4 Error Only use the 'defined' preprocessor operator with a single identifier Required
E20.5 Error Macro definitions or '#undef' should not be located within a block Required
E20.6 Error A C macro should only be expanded to a constant, a braced initialiser, a parenthesised expression, a storage class keyword, a type qualifier, or a do-while-zero block Required
M21.1.1 Error #define and #undef shall not be used on a reserved identifier or reserved macro name: Identifier %name% already found in &lt;%libname%> Required
M21.1.2 Error #define and #undef shall not be used on identifier beginning with an underscore or on 'defined' keyword %name% Required
M21.2.1 Error Declared identifier should not be a reserved identifier or reserved macro name: Identifier %name% already found in <%libname%> Required
M21.2.2 Error Declared identifier should not begin with an underscore or be 'defined' keyword %name% Required
M21.3 Error The memory allocation and deallocation functions of &lt;stdlib.h> shall not be used Required
M21.4 Error The standard header file &lt;setjmp.h> shall not be used Required
M21.5 Error The standard header file &lt;signal.h> shall not be used Required
M21.6.1 Error The input/output library &lt;stdio.h> shall not be used in production code Required
M21.6.2 Error The input/output library &lt;wchar.h> shall not be used in production code Required
M21.7 Error The library macro or functions atof, atoi, atol and atoll of &lt;stdlib.h> shall not be used Required
M21.8 Error The library macro or functions abort, exit, getenv and system of &lt;stdlib.h> shall not be used Required
M21.9 Error The library macro or functions bsearch and qsort of &lt;stdlib.h> shall not be used Required
M21.10 Error The standard library time and date functions shall not be used Required
M21.11 Error The standard header file &lt;tgmath.h> shall not be used Required
M21.12 Warning The library macro or function 'feclearexcept, fegetexceptflag, feraiseexcept, fesetexceptflag, fetestexcept, FE_INEXACT, FE_DIVBYZERO, FE_UNDERFLOW, FE_OVERFLOW, FE_INVALID or FE_ALL_EXCEPT' should not be used. Advisory
E21.1 Error The variable 'errno' should not be used Required
E21.2 Error The macro 'offsetof' should not be used Required
E21.3 Error The library macro or function 'setjmp,longjmp,sigsetjmp,siglongjmp' should not be used Required
Rule U99.1 Error User custom rule