When Is `goto` Useful in C or C for Cleanup?

Good Uses of Goto in C or C

Contrary to the assertion of "Goto Considered Harmful," the goto statement still holds value in certain programming scenarios. This question explores examples of effective goto usage in C or C .

Cleanup Blocks

One notable use case for goto is for handling cleanup blocks in C. When multiple operations must be performed in sequence, and any failure requires a controlled cleanup of the previous operations, the goto statement provides a concise and explicit way to handle this:

void foo()
{
    if (!doA())
        goto exit;
    if (!doB())
        goto cleanupA;
    if (!doC())
        goto cleanupB;

    /* everything has succeeded */
    return;

cleanupB:
    undoB();
cleanupA:
    undoA();
exit:
    return;
}

This approach allows for a clear and structured handling of error scenarios and ensures that any necessary cleanup operations are executed before exiting the function.

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