Catching "Stack Overflow" exceptions in recursive C++ functions

Question

Is it possible to catch a stack overflow exception in a recursive C++ function? If so, how?

so what will happen in this case

void doWork()
{

     try() {

     doWork();    
     }


     catch( ... )  {

     doWork();    
     }
}  

I am not looking for an answer to specific OS. Just in general

Answer 1

It's not an exception per se, but if you just want to be able to limit your stack usage to a fixed amount, you could do something like this:

#include <stdio.h>

// These will be set at the top of main()
static char * _topOfStack;
static int _maxAllowedStackUsage;

int GetCurrentStackSize()
{
   char localVar;
   int curStackSize = (&localVar)-_topOfStack;
   if (curStackSize < 0) curStackSize = -curStackSize;  // in case the stack is growing down
   return curStackSize;
}

void MyRecursiveFunction()
{
   int curStackSize = GetCurrentStackSize();
   printf("MyRecursiveFunction:  curStackSize=%i
", curStackSize);

   if (curStackSize < _maxAllowedStackUsage) MyRecursiveFunction();
   else
   {
      printf("    Can't recurse any more, the stack is too big!
");
   }
}

int main(int, char **)
{
   char topOfStack;
   _topOfStack = &topOfStack;
   _maxAllowedStackUsage = 4096;  // or whatever amount you feel comfortable allowing

   MyRecursiveFunction();
   return 0;
}