trouble joining strings

Hi, I am having trouble joining strings together and wonder if anyone can help. At the moment my strings are joining as string1 string2 string3 (ie with spaces between) and i want them to join as string1string2string3. Also when I output the final string before the 1's and 0's are printed I get a few random characters----is there a way to get rid of these? Many thanks for all suggestions

Code:

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//Convert whole string to binary
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
  dec2bin(e_array[i], t_array_bin);
  printf("\nBinary message of %d is %s\n", e_array[i], t_array_bin);
  strcat(e_array_bin, t_array_bin);
  }
  printf("\nThe binary message is %s", e_array_bin);
  getchar();
  store_message(e_array_bin);    //put in file

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When half the symbols in the code you present aren't shown to us, it's hard to figure out what exactly is going on. Try posting the whole thing.

ok, heres the whole code, apologies that it is quite messy
(Dec2bin is a function that converts a decimal value into a binary string)
Also, this is schoolwork---its not for production! Any help appreciated

Code:

---

// Function gets the message to be encrypted (from a binary file)

#include <stdio.h>                // Code to get message
#include <math.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

FILE *pfile = NULL;      //declare a file pointer for file input/output

void getmsg (void)
{
  char nbin[100];      //binary conversion of n
  char e_array_bin[500];  //binary store encrypted message
  char t_array_bin[500];  //temp binary store encrypted message
  char extra[50]="0";
 
  int msglength=0; // variable to store the length of the message
  int nlength=0; // variable to store the length of nbin
  int encryptlength=0;
  int blocklength=0;
  int messages=0;
  int emsg;
  char msg[500];

  int m_array[50]; //array to store blocks
  int e_array[500];
  char txt_array[500];

  int n=0;
  int m=1;
  int i=0;
  int j=0;
  int count=0;
  int start=0;
  int sum=0;
  int x=0;
  int num=0;

  char *filename4 = "\message.txt";

  //Get the message from the 'message' file
  pfile = fopen(filename4, "r");

        if (pfile == NULL)
                {
                printf("Erorr creating file %s for reading. Terminating....", filename4);
                  getchar();
                }

        fscanf(pfile, "%s", &msg);
        printf("\nValue retrieved: %s\n",msg);
  fclose(pfile);
  getchar();

  // gets the length of the message in bits
  msglength=strlen(msg)-1;
  printf("The length of the message is %d\n\n", msglength);
  getchar();

  n=get_n();  //get n from public key
  // Convert the value of n into a binary string
  dec2bin(n,nbin);

  // gets the length of n in bits
  nlength=strlen(nbin)-1;
  printf("The length of the n is %d bits\n\n", nlength);
  getchar();

  //gets the length of n-1 in bits
  encryptlength=nlength-1;
  printf("The no. of bits to be encrypted per time is %d", encryptlength);
  getchar();

  //Pad the zeros out when the message does not split up evenly
  while ((msglength/encryptlength)%2 != 0)
  {
  strcat(msg, extra);  // Adds a '0' to the end of the message
  msglength++;
  }
  printf("Message is now %s\n", msg);

  // Get the number of individual messages to be encrypted
  messages=msglength/encryptlength;
  printf("Messages to encrypt is %d", messages);
  getchar();

  count=encryptlength;    //count set to no of bits we need to sum for each block
  printf("The value of count is %d", count);
  getchar();

  x=encryptlength-1;
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
            for (j=start; j<count; j++)
      {
        if (msg[j] == '1')
        {
        num = pow(2,x);// Multiply by power of 2 relevant
        sum=sum+num;    //sum will be in decimal
        //printf("Sum = %d\n", sum);
        }
        x--;
      }
      printf("The message:%d is %d\n", m, sum );
      m++;
      m_array[i]=sum;
      //printf("The value to be put in the array is %d\n", sum);
      sum=0;
      x=encryptlength-1;
      start=count;
      count=count+encryptlength;
      getchar();
  }
  printf("Blocks to encrypt are as follows: ");
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
          printf("%d ", m_array[i]);
  }
  getchar();

  //Display the results of encrypting each block
  sum=0;
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
  e_array[i]=encrypt(m_array[i]);
  printf("Encrypted value is: %d\n ", e_array[i]);
  getchar();
  }

  //Display encrypted message
  printf("Encrypted message:");
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
  printf("%d", e_array[i]);
  }

//Convert whole encrypted string to binary
  for (i=0; i<messages; i++)
  {
          dec2bin(e_array[i], t_array_bin);
          printf("\nBinary message of %d is %s\n", e_array[i], t_array_bin);
          strcat(e_array_bin, t_array_bin);
  }
  printf("\nThe binary message is %s", e_array_bin);
  getchar();
  store_emessage(e_array_bin);    //put in file  */
}

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You could just do it the easy way:

Code:

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char buf[BUFSIZ] = {0};
char buf1[] = "Hello";
char buf2[] = "World!";

strcat( buf, buf1 );
strcat( buf, " " );
strcat( buf, buf2 );

printf("%s\n", buf );

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Quzah.