C++: Getting exception from stack overflow?

Question

I tried to check how many recursions causes stack overflow. But why doesn't the following code output anything?

#include <iostream>
#include <exception>
int counter = 0;
void endlessloop() try {
    ++counter;
    endlessloop();
} catch (std::exception &e) {
    std::cout << "Call stack overflew. Counter: " << counter << std::endl <<
    "Exception: " << e.what() << std::endl;
}
int main() {
    endlessloop();
    return 0;
}

Sam Varshavchik · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-08 01:25:22Z

4

Because on most implementations, overflowing the stack results in the operating system killing the process outright, instead of the process throwing an exception.

The C++ standard does not specify the expected behavior that results from a stack overflow. The results of a stack overflow are unspecified. A particular C++ implementation can certainly throw an exception, in this situation, but it is not required to do that.

answered May 8, 2016 at 1:25

Sam Varshavchik

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