#include<cstdio> #include<stdlib.h> int main() { char* ptr=NULL; printf("%s",ptr); return 0; } It prints (null) as output. The above is a sample code. In real code i get char* as a return of a function and i wish to print the character string for logging. However, NULL is also a valid return value of that function and so i am wondering if a null check is required before printing the character string? char* ptr=someFuncion(); // do i need the following if statement? if(ptr!=NULL) { printf("%s",ptr); } I just want to be sure that the output would be same i.e if ptr=NULL then output should be (null) on all platforms and compilers and the above code(without if statement) would not crash on any C standard compatible platform. In short, is the above code(without the if statement) standard compatible? Thanks for your help and patience :) Regards lali