This tutorial will show you how to avoid these two memory issues when using Arduino Strings. These can eventually consume all the available memory and cause the micro to miss-behave and reboot. Note: The links jump to the on-line version of this tutorial, the Step numbers in this instructable are shown in bracketsĪrduino Strings have been getting bad press due to the extra memory they use to make copies and the memory fragmentation they can cause. The result is a crash due to malloc/realloc loosing track of what is happening unless you add extra 'guard' code to prevent it. malloc/realloc on the UNO, Mega2560 etc (AVR processors and others) are not designed to called from the main loop and then interrupted and called again (a reentrant call). String uses malloc/realloc to get memory from the heap to store the chars. See ESP32/ESP8266 Adding Periodic Automatic Reboots (Step 9)ĩ) Don't call String methods from within an interrupt routine. If you project is suppose to run for a long time, add a periodic automatic reboot. ESP32 / EPS8266 webserver/httpClient, then the underlying web support libraries already use lots of Strings. See Using StringReserveCheck (Step 6) (download and install StringReserveCheck.zip)Ĩ) If your Arduino program uses the Web e.g. Add StringReserveCheck to other Strings as necessary. See Minimizing Memory Usage (Step 11)ħ) To monitor for Low Memory and fragmentation, add a StringReserveCheck to at least the last largest String reserve( ). Use = and += operators or concat( ), as in result += “str” result += 'c' result += number etc. See String versus char (Step 12)Ħ) Do not use the String + operator at all and avoid using the String(.) constructors as these create short lived temporary Strings. These methods will completely recover all the heap and stack used by their local Strings and other variables on exit. In these methods use local Strings in preference to local char. This says you are trying to modify a const String& arg.ĥ) Do string processing in small compact methods. void strProcessing(const String &input1, const String &input2,, String &result) See Using String& for arguments (Step 11)Ĥ) Set the IDE File → Preferences Compiler Warning to ALL and watch for warning: passing 'const String' as 'this' argument discards qualifiers messages in the compile window. For results pass a String& result, that the method can update with the result. Check the return from the last largest reserve( ) to see that you have enough memory for all the StringsĢ) If you have created Strings in the loop() method, they are long lived, move them to Globals and repeat step 1.ģ) Pass all Strings arguments to methods, as const String&. If you have a large sketch, with lots of Strings OR you are concerned about possible memory problems, then following the guidelines below will make your sketch reliable and safe.ġ) Declare long lived Strings as globals and reserve( ) space in setup(), starting with the smallest to the largest. For large sketches OR lots of Strings OR if you think you are having memory problems A future version of Arduino will include fixes for these bugs. Just copy it over the WString.cpp and WString.h in your arduino. This version of WString.cpp and this version of WString.h fixes those bugs. * There are a few obscure bugs in the String library that can crash your sketch otherwise using Strings on AVR boards will not crash/reboot your board. In any case carefully read the Arduino documentation on the String Addition Operator to avoid common coding errors when using the String + operator. Other boards will have more memory available and so you are unlikely to have memory problems using a few Strings. See What happens when UNO runs out of heap memory below (Step 8). If you run out-of-memory, you will just not get all the text in the Strings that you expect. The good news is if you are using an UNO or Mega2560, then using Strings is extremely safe and won't crash your board*, even if you run out-of-memory. Quick Start For small sketches with a few Strings, just use them as convenient.įor small sketches with a few Strings, just use them. Update 9th July 2021 - Added link to fixed versions of Arduino Strings files.
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