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From: browns@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems)
Newsgroups: comp.std.c
Subject: Re: strncat is insufficient
Message-ID: <620.26d6d0cd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Date: 26 Aug 90 00:26:04 GMT
References: <17418@haddock.ima.isc.com> <13598@smoke.BRL.MIL> <1990Aug23.132400.3654@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <587@array.UUCP>
Lines: 23

In article <587@array.UUCP>, colin@array.UUCP (Colin Plumb) writes:
> char *strlimcat(char *dst, char const *src, int maxlen)
> {
> 	int len;
> 
> 	len = strlen(dst);
> 	if (len < maxlen)
> 		strncpy(dst+len, src, maxlen-len);
> 	return dst;
> }

Caution:  This will not necessarily put a '\0' at the end of the string.

Can Karl, or someone else who knows, explain why strncpy was standardized
to copy n characters even at the expense of a zero byte; or why no
alternative that always terminates the string was provided.  This
implementation is a fertile source of bugs that seem to bite every C
programmer at least once (and not always early in a career!). 

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.         (216) 371-0043
The opinions expressed are mine. Mine alone!  Nobody else is responsible for
them or even endorses them--except my cat Dexter, and he signed the power of
attorney only under my threat to cut off his Cat Chow!