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.\"     @(#)strcpy.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/string/strcpy.3,v 1.26 2007/01/09 00:28:12 imp Exp $
.\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libc/string/strcpy.3,v 1.3 2005/08/05 22:35:10 swildner Exp $
.\"
.Dd August 9, 2001
.Dt STRCPY 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm strcpy ,
.Nm strncpy
.Nd copy strings
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In string.h
.Ft char *
.Fn stpcpy "char *dst" "const char *src"
.Ft char *
.Fn strcpy "char * restrict dst" "const char * restrict src"
.Ft char *
.Fn strncpy "char * restrict dst" "const char * restrict src" "size_t len"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn stpcpy
and
.Fn strcpy
functions
copy the string
.Fa src
to
.Fa dst
(including the terminating
.Ql \e0
character.)
.Pp
The
.Fn strncpy
function copies at most
.Fa len
characters from
.Fa src
into
.Fa dst .
If
.Fa src
is less than
.Fa len
characters long,
the remainder of
.Fa dst
is filled with
.Ql \e0
characters.
Otherwise,
.Fa dst
is
.Em not
terminated.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn strcpy
and
.Fn strncpy
functions
return
.Fa dst .
The
.Fn stpcpy
function returns a pointer to the terminating
.Ql \e0
character of
.Fa dst .
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following sets
.Va chararray
to
.Dq Li abc\e0\e0\e0 :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
char chararray[6];

(void)strncpy(chararray, "abc", sizeof(chararray));
.Ed
.Pp
The following sets
.Va chararray
to
.Dq Li abcdef :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
char chararray[6];

(void)strncpy(chararray, "abcdefgh", sizeof(chararray));
.Ed
.Pp
Note that it does
.Em not
.Tn NUL
terminate
.Va chararray
because the length of the source string is greater than or equal
to the length argument.
.Pp
The following copies as many characters from
.Va input
to
.Va buf
as will fit and
.Tn NUL
terminates the result.
Because
.Fn strncpy
does
.Em not
guarantee to
.Tn NUL
terminate the string itself, this must be done explicitly.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
char buf[1024];

(void)strncpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf) - 1);
buf[sizeof(buf) - 1] = '\e0';
.Ed
.Pp
This could be better achieved using
.Xr strlcpy 3 ,
as shown in the following example:
.Pp
.Dl "(void)strlcpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf));"
.Pp
Note that because
.Xr strlcpy 3
is not defined in any standards, it should
only be used when portability is not a concern.
.Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
The
.Fn strcpy
function is easily misused in a manner which enables malicious users
to arbitrarily change a running program's functionality through a
buffer overflow attack.
(See
the FSA
and
.Sx EXAMPLES . )
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr bcopy 3 ,
.Xr memccpy 3 ,
.Xr memcpy 3 ,
.Xr memmove 3 ,
.Xr strlcpy 3
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Fn strcpy
and
.Fn strncpy
functions
conform to
.St -isoC .
The
.Fn stpcpy
function is an MS-DOS and GNUism.
The
.Fn stpcpy
function
conforms to no standard.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn stpcpy
function first appeared in
.Fx 4.4 ,
coming from 1998-vintage Linux.