--- title: Defer available in gcc and clang | daily.dev description: The defer feature for C is now available in gcc and clang compilers, following the completion of ISO Technical Specification 25755. Starting with clang-22 and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/defer-available-in-gcc-and-clang-2as4i32ce twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Defer available in gcc and clang | daily.dev og:description: The defer feature for C is now available in gcc and clang compilers, following the completion of ISO Technical Specification 25755. Starting with clang-22 and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/defer-available-in-gcc-and-clang-2as4i32ce og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2As4I32Ce.png og:image:alt: Defer available in gcc and clang og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Defer available in gcc and clang **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 4 min read · 8 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary The defer feature for C is now available in gcc and clang compilers, following the completion of ISO Technical Specification 25755. Starting with clang-22 and gcc-9 onward (with workarounds), developers can use defer for automatic cleanup handling, eliminating resource leaks and simplifying error handling code. The implementation uses nested functions in gcc and native support in clang-22, with practical examples showing memory deallocation and mutex unlocking patterns. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@andradei** · 0 upvotes > Nice, it only took 50 years and another 25 for wide adoption. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [\(Un\)portable defer in C](https://daily.dev/posts/un-portable-defer-in-c-pcrazm9km) · Anton Zhiyanov · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [GCC 17 Lands Initial Infrastructure For C\+\+29](https://daily.dev/posts/gcc-17-lands-initial-infrastructure-for-c-29-88nwgk4k0) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Defer in Swift explained with Code Examples](https://daily.dev/posts/defer-in-swift-explained-with-code-examples-h9vthjklz) · SwiftLee · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [December 22, 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/december-22-2025-axw3bxadg) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#c](https://daily.dev/tags/c) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/defer-available-in-gcc-and-clang-2as4i32ce) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Defer available in gcc and clang","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/defer-available-in-gcc-and-clang-2as4i32ce","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/defer-available-in-gcc-and-clang-2as4i32ce"},"datePublished":"2026-02-16T00:05:49.862Z","dateModified":"2026-02-16T00:06:10.230Z","description":"The defer feature for C is now available in gcc and clang compilers, following the completion of ISO Technical Specification 25755. 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