strcpy() Function in C
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Table of Contents (TOC)
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Introduction to strcpy() Function in C
The strcpy() function in C is used to copy a string from one location to another. It is included in the string.h header file in C. The function takes two arguments:
- A destination string
- A source string
The source string is copied to the destination string.
The syntax for the strcpy() function is:
char* strcpy(char* destination, const char* source);
Parameters of strcpy()
Here, destination is the pointer to the destination string, which is the location where the source string will be copied. source is the pointer to the source string that will be copied to the destination string.
Note that the source parameter is declared as const char*, meaning that the source string is read-only and cannot be modified.
This function copies the characters of the source string to the destination string until it reaches the null character , which marks the end of the string. It then adds a null character at the end of the destination string to terminate it.
Return Value of strcpy()
The strcpy() function returns a pointer to the destination string, which can be used for further manipulation or displayed to the user to show the copied content.
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Examples of strcpy() Function in C
Example 1: Here’s an example code snippet that demonstrates how to copy a string into another string using strcpy() in C:
#include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> int main() { char str1[20] = "Hello, World!"; char str2[20]; // Copy str1 to str2 using strcpy() strcpy(str2, str1); printf("str1: %s\n", str1); printf("str2: %s\n", str2); return 0; }
Output:
Example 2: Copying a string to a dynamically allocated memory
#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> int main() { char* str1 = "Hello, World!"; char* str2; // Allocate memory for str2 str2 = (char*)malloc(strlen(str1) + 1); // Copy str1 to str2 using strcpy() strcpy(str2, str1); printf("str1: %s\n", str1); printf("str2: %s\n", str2); // Free memory allocated for str2 free(str2); return 0; }
Output:
Example 3: Copying a substring into another string
#include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> int main() { char str1[20] = "Hello, World!"; char str2[10]; // Copy the first 5 characters of str1 to str2 using strncpy() strncpy(str2, str1, 5); printf("str1: %s\n", str1); printf("str2: %s\n", str2); return 0; }
Output:
In this third example, note how we use the strncpy() function instead of strcpy() to copy a substring of the source string to the destination string. The strncpy() function takes three arguments:
- The destination string
- The source string
- The maximum number of characters to copy
Example 4: Copying a string to an uninitialized array
#include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> int main() { char str1[] = "Hello, World!"; char str2[20]; // Copy str1 to str2 using strcpy() strcpy(str2, str1); printf("str1: %s\n", str1); printf("str2: %s\n", str2); return 0; }
Output:
In this example, we declare an uninitialized character array str2 and copy the content of str1 to it using the strcpy() function. Since str2 is not initialized with any value, it will contain garbage values before the copy operation. However, after this function is called, str2 will contain the same content as str1.
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Endnotes
In conclusion, the strcpy() function is a fundamental tool for working with strings in C and is a building block for many other string operations. By using this function correctly and in conjunction with other string manipulation functions, programmers can write powerful and efficient string-handling programs in C.
Hope this article was helpful for you. If you want to learn more about C programming and solidify your basics, you can explore our articles on C.
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