unwind the stack from FOLDOC

unwind the stack

During the execution of a procedural language, one is said to "unwind the stack" from a called procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame and any number of frames above it, popping back up to the level of the given caller. In C this is done with "longjmp"/"setjmp", in Lisp with "throw/catch". See also smash the stack.

[Jargon File]

Nearby terms:

until ♦ untyped ♦ unwind-protect ♦ unwind the stack ♦ UN*X ♦ unzip ♦ up

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