Thread: Assingment of an element of 2D character array to a 1D character array

Can we do this :

Code:

char strings[][100]={"ABC","EFG","IJK","LKM"};
char temp[100];
temp=strings[1];

Please help!

While you can create "aliases" for any of the strings in your strings[] array, you can't copy their content with a simple assigment like temp=strings[1]. You have to copy the entire sequence of characters one by one with a loop, or you can take advantage from the services provided by the standard library strings.h. More precisely, have a look at the strcpy() function:

Code:

char *strcpy( char *destination, const char *source );

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Pingu

Can we do this :

Code:

char strings[][100]={"ABC","EFG","IJK","LKM"};
char temp[100];
temp=strings[1];

Please help!

You need to study the C Standard Library that is provided with all C compilers, One of the possible resources is:
The C Library Reference Guide (Section 2.4, "String.h")

Also, if programming on a Linux system, the "man" command is your best friend!
"man 3 strcpy" (Section 3 is for programming.)

You should also be aware that the C String Library is also one of the weakest parts of the programming in C. Please be aware that strcpy(), strcat(), gets(), and others can write beyond the end of the buffer. For example:

Code:

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

int main(void)
{
   char buff[5];

   strcpy(buff, "This is a test of a string larger than the buffer.");
   printf("%s\n", buff); /* Segmentation fault! (On my Linux system) */

   return 1; /* This program does NOT work correctly! */
}

You solution, with additional error checking could be:

Code:

char strings[][100]={"ABC","EFG","IJK","LKM"};
char temp[100];
/* error check for possible overflow before copying! */
strcpy(temp, strings[1]);