Whats the proper way to handle strcpy's return type












0















I created a program which at some point turned to be a buggy one and I can not find a good way to handle situations like in the following program:



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

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src );
char *foo( char *variable ); /// foo() returns NULL

int main( void )
{
char arr[256] = { 0 };
char buffer[ 256 ] = { 0 };
char *const ptr = foo( arr ); /// foo() returned NULL here

if ( get_user_name( buffer, ptr ) == 0 ) /// get_user_name, should here return 0
{
printf("NULL returned from get_user_name()n" );
exit( EXIT_FAILURE );
}else
{
printf( "Everithing is OK" );
}
}

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret = strcpy( dest, src ); /// Here Segfault happens
/// There is no return here because of above Segfault
if ( ret == NULL )
{
return 0;
}else
{
return 1;
}
}

char *foo( char *variable )
{
if ( strlen( variable) < 1 )
{
return NULL; /// Here will return NULL because there is no Length
}
/// Some code here ...
return variable;
}


Here is use a demo function which returns NULL to explain my problem.
I was thinking to check src before past it to strcpy but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not.



Why does this happens because I see that strcpy manual say only about the return of dest and nothing if fails:



   RETURN VALUE
The strcpy() and strncpy() functions return a pointer to the destination string dest.









share|improve this question

























  • but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

    – Swordfish
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

    – Paul Ogilvie
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • @Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:36


















0















I created a program which at some point turned to be a buggy one and I can not find a good way to handle situations like in the following program:



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

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src );
char *foo( char *variable ); /// foo() returns NULL

int main( void )
{
char arr[256] = { 0 };
char buffer[ 256 ] = { 0 };
char *const ptr = foo( arr ); /// foo() returned NULL here

if ( get_user_name( buffer, ptr ) == 0 ) /// get_user_name, should here return 0
{
printf("NULL returned from get_user_name()n" );
exit( EXIT_FAILURE );
}else
{
printf( "Everithing is OK" );
}
}

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret = strcpy( dest, src ); /// Here Segfault happens
/// There is no return here because of above Segfault
if ( ret == NULL )
{
return 0;
}else
{
return 1;
}
}

char *foo( char *variable )
{
if ( strlen( variable) < 1 )
{
return NULL; /// Here will return NULL because there is no Length
}
/// Some code here ...
return variable;
}


Here is use a demo function which returns NULL to explain my problem.
I was thinking to check src before past it to strcpy but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not.



Why does this happens because I see that strcpy manual say only about the return of dest and nothing if fails:



   RETURN VALUE
The strcpy() and strncpy() functions return a pointer to the destination string dest.









share|improve this question

























  • but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

    – Swordfish
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

    – Paul Ogilvie
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • @Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:36
















0












0








0








I created a program which at some point turned to be a buggy one and I can not find a good way to handle situations like in the following program:



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

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src );
char *foo( char *variable ); /// foo() returns NULL

int main( void )
{
char arr[256] = { 0 };
char buffer[ 256 ] = { 0 };
char *const ptr = foo( arr ); /// foo() returned NULL here

if ( get_user_name( buffer, ptr ) == 0 ) /// get_user_name, should here return 0
{
printf("NULL returned from get_user_name()n" );
exit( EXIT_FAILURE );
}else
{
printf( "Everithing is OK" );
}
}

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret = strcpy( dest, src ); /// Here Segfault happens
/// There is no return here because of above Segfault
if ( ret == NULL )
{
return 0;
}else
{
return 1;
}
}

char *foo( char *variable )
{
if ( strlen( variable) < 1 )
{
return NULL; /// Here will return NULL because there is no Length
}
/// Some code here ...
return variable;
}


Here is use a demo function which returns NULL to explain my problem.
I was thinking to check src before past it to strcpy but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not.



Why does this happens because I see that strcpy manual say only about the return of dest and nothing if fails:



   RETURN VALUE
The strcpy() and strncpy() functions return a pointer to the destination string dest.









share|improve this question
















I created a program which at some point turned to be a buggy one and I can not find a good way to handle situations like in the following program:



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

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src );
char *foo( char *variable ); /// foo() returns NULL

int main( void )
{
char arr[256] = { 0 };
char buffer[ 256 ] = { 0 };
char *const ptr = foo( arr ); /// foo() returned NULL here

if ( get_user_name( buffer, ptr ) == 0 ) /// get_user_name, should here return 0
{
printf("NULL returned from get_user_name()n" );
exit( EXIT_FAILURE );
}else
{
printf( "Everithing is OK" );
}
}

int get_user_name( char *const dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret = strcpy( dest, src ); /// Here Segfault happens
/// There is no return here because of above Segfault
if ( ret == NULL )
{
return 0;
}else
{
return 1;
}
}

char *foo( char *variable )
{
if ( strlen( variable) < 1 )
{
return NULL; /// Here will return NULL because there is no Length
}
/// Some code here ...
return variable;
}


Here is use a demo function which returns NULL to explain my problem.
I was thinking to check src before past it to strcpy but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not.



Why does this happens because I see that strcpy manual say only about the return of dest and nothing if fails:



   RETURN VALUE
The strcpy() and strncpy() functions return a pointer to the destination string dest.






c strcpy






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Nov 24 '18 at 17:50

























asked Nov 24 '18 at 17:29







user10533142




















  • but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

    – Swordfish
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

    – Paul Ogilvie
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • @Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:36





















  • but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

    – Swordfish
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

    – Paul Ogilvie
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:34











  • @Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:36



















but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

– Swordfish
Nov 24 '18 at 17:34





but I really cannot understand why strcpy returns dest without check if src is NULL or not. - because it says in the standard that it expects a c-string, not a NULL. And I bet strcpy() most times won't return anything but crash almost instantly.

– Swordfish
Nov 24 '18 at 17:34













strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

– Paul Ogilvie
Nov 24 '18 at 17:34





strcpy causes the abort of your program because one of the parameters is null. Check before calling.

– Paul Ogilvie
Nov 24 '18 at 17:34













@Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

– user10533142
Nov 24 '18 at 17:36







@Swordfish I all ready pointed to segfault in the Question. And I also know what the standard say. Expecting something which is a string and relying on that that there will be no NULL without checking, from my side it does not make it the best function. I do know that asc programmer I need to check everything against NULL but this is not my Question.

– user10533142
Nov 24 '18 at 17:36














1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















1














You handle the situation by first checking the parameters are not null. For example:



int get_user_name( char *dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret;
if (dest==0 || src==0) return 0;
strcpy( dest, src );
return 1;
}


Note also that dest cannot be const because it is written to.






share|improve this answer
























  • Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:40













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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









1














You handle the situation by first checking the parameters are not null. For example:



int get_user_name( char *dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret;
if (dest==0 || src==0) return 0;
strcpy( dest, src );
return 1;
}


Note also that dest cannot be const because it is written to.






share|improve this answer
























  • Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:40


















1














You handle the situation by first checking the parameters are not null. For example:



int get_user_name( char *dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret;
if (dest==0 || src==0) return 0;
strcpy( dest, src );
return 1;
}


Note also that dest cannot be const because it is written to.






share|improve this answer
























  • Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:40
















1












1








1







You handle the situation by first checking the parameters are not null. For example:



int get_user_name( char *dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret;
if (dest==0 || src==0) return 0;
strcpy( dest, src );
return 1;
}


Note also that dest cannot be const because it is written to.






share|improve this answer













You handle the situation by first checking the parameters are not null. For example:



int get_user_name( char *dest, char *const src )
{
char *ret;
if (dest==0 || src==0) return 0;
strcpy( dest, src );
return 1;
}


Note also that dest cannot be const because it is written to.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Nov 24 '18 at 17:39









Paul OgilviePaul Ogilvie

18.3k21235




18.3k21235













  • Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:40





















  • Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

    – user10533142
    Nov 24 '18 at 17:40



















Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

– user10533142
Nov 24 '18 at 17:40







Well, that means that strcpy works after I know 100% that dest and src are OK. Thank you

– user10533142
Nov 24 '18 at 17:40






















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