> they may optionally be located right next to the string's actual data, but only for very small, locally-allocated, short-lived strings Only for small strings

> they may optionally be located right next to the string's actual data, but only for very small, locally-allocated, short-lived strings Only for small strings. Locally allocated and short-lived aren’t required for short string optimization to take an effect. Also, I can’t find a good reference, but “only for small strings” in many programs means “for most strings”.