Data segment: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:13, 22 April 2022

Revision as of 15:59, 6 July 2022

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In [[computing]], a '''data segment''' (often denoted '''.data''') is a portion of an [[object file]] or the corresponding [[address space]] of a program that contains initialized [[static variable]]s, that is, [[global variable]]s and [[static local variable]]s. The size of this segment is determined by the size of the values in the program's source code, and does not change at [[Run time (program lifecycle phase)|run time]].

The data segment is read/write, since the values of variables can be altered at run time. This is in contrast to the ''read-only data segment'' (''{{visible anchor|rodata}} segment'' or ''.rodata''), which contains static constants rather than variables; it also contrasts to the [[code segment]], also known as the text segment, which is read-only on many architectures. Uninitialized data, both variables and constants, is instead in the [[BSS segment]].