Add string to string in C with safe functions

Question

I want to copy the a file name to a string and append ".cpt" to it. But I am unable to do this with safe functions (strcat_s). Error: "String is not null terminated!". And I did set '\0', how to fix this using safe functions?

size = strlen(locatie);
size++;
nieuw = (char*)malloc(size+4);
strcpy_s(nieuw, size, locatie);
nieuw[size] = '\0';
strcat_s(nieuw, 4, ".cpt"); // <-- crash
puts(nieuw);

It appears your usage is incorrect. I have not used this function but as per [documentation](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d45bbxx4%28v=vs.80%29.aspx) code should be `strcat_s(nieuw, size, ".cpt");` as pointed in [shf301's response](http://stackoverflow.com/a/13092426/925381) — another.anon.coward, Oct 26 '12 at 18:37

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:29

11

The size parameter of the _s functions is the size of the destination buffer, not the source. The error is because there is no null terminator in nieuw in the first for characters. Try this:

size = strlen(locatie);
size++;
int nieuwSize = size + 4;
nieuw = (char*)malloc(nieuwSize );
strcpy_s(nieuw, nieuwSize, locatie);
nieuw[size] = '\0';
strcat_s(nieuw, nieuwSize, ".cpt"); // <-- crash
puts(nieuw);

answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:29

shf301

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+1, Though I have no experience with MS function just curious after reading [documentation of strcpy_s](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/td1esda9%28v=vs.80%29.aspx), isn't `nieuw[size] = '\0';` redundant? – another.anon.coward Oct 26 '12 at 18:40
Yes it is redundant. `strcpy_s` will always null terminate the string. – shf301 Oct 26 '12 at 19:34

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:47

1

Maybe some standard solution?

const char * const SUFFIX = ".cpt";
size = strlen(locatie) + strlen(SUFFIX) + 1;  // +1 for NULL
nieuw = (char*)malloc(size);
snprintf(nieuw, size, "%s%s", locatie, SUFFIX);

answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:47

Kylo

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much nicer. I can't believe how much harder it is to get `strcat_s` working right. – kakyo Sep 03 '19 at 11:49

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:48

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
    char old[] = "hello";
    size_t size = strlen(old) + 5;;
    char *new_name = (char*)malloc(size);
    new_name[size-1] = '\0';
    strcpy_s(new_name, size, old);
    strcat_s(new_name, size, ".cpp");
    printf("%s\n", new_name);
    return 0;
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:27

0

Why not

size = strlen(locatie);
size++;
nieuw = (char*)malloc(size+6);
strcpy_s(nieuw, size, locatie);
strcat_s(nieuw, 4, ".cpt");
puts(nieuw);
nieuw[size + 5] = '\0';

answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:27

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:27

0

Check out asprintf. It allows you to print to a string like printf

answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:27

asbumste

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asprintf is not available for windows. – Oct 26 '12 at 18:34

lovaya · Answer 6 · 2012-10-26T18:47:02.913

0

size = strlen(locatie);
size++;
nieuw = (char*)malloc(size+4);
strcpy_s(nieuw, size, locatie);
nieuw[size] = '\0';
strcat_s(nieuw, size, ".cpt");
puts(nieuw)

;

edited Oct 26 '12 at 18:47

answered Oct 26 '12 at 18:33

lovaya

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Add string to string in C with safe functions

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