strcpy() — Copy string

Standards

Standards / Extensions	C or C++	Dependencies
ISO C XPG4 XPG4.2 C99 Single UNIX Specification, Version 3	both

Format

#include <string.h>

char *strcpy(char * __restrict__string1, const char * __restrict__string2);

General description

The strcpy() built-in function copies string2, including the ending NULL character, to the location specified by string1. The string2 argument to strcpy() must contain a NULL character (\0) marking the end of the string. You cannot use a literal string for a string1 value, although string2 may be a literal string. If the two objects overlap, the behavior is undefined.

Returned value

strcpy() returns the value of string1.

Example

CELEBS38

⁄* CELEBS38                                      

   This example copies the contents of source to destination.                   
                                                                                
 *⁄                                                                             
#include <stdio.h>                                                              
#include <string.h>                                                             
                                                                                
#define SIZE    40                                                              
                                                                                
int main(void)                                                                  
{                                                                               
  char source[ SIZE ] = "This is the source string";                            
  char destination[ SIZE ] = "And this is the destination string";              
  char * return_string;                                                         
                                                                                
  printf( "destination is originally = \"%s\"\n", destination );                
  return_string = strcpy( destination, source );                                
  printf( "After strcpy, destination becomes \"%s\"\n", destination );          
}

Output

destination is originally = "And this is the destination string"
After strcpy, destination becomes "This is the source string"