Thread: Copying contents of two char arrays into a char[20] inside a struct without strcpy

Hey all!

I have been tackling a problem that I have in my assignment for the better part of ten hours now and I am at an utter loss.

My problem is that I do not understand how to go about copying the information from two separate char arrays into a a char[20] inside a struct without using strcpy.

First, I will explain the context.

In the given main program,
I have the following enums:

Code:

enum card_suits { Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades, Suits };
enum card_values { Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six,
    Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen,
    King, Values };

and the following representations of them:

Code:

static char *suits[Suits] = { "Diamonds", "Hearts", "Clubs", "Spades" };
static char *values[Values] = { "ace", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "jack", "queen", "king" };

In addition, I have the following struct to work with:

Code:

typedef struct Cardstruct {
    enum Card_suits suit;
    enum Card_values value;
    char cardname[20];
} *Card;

Don't ask me why the struct uses *Card instead of Card, I would like to know that as well, but this is how the main program is given. The cardname should hold a string that is a fusion of the presentations of suit and value of a given card. For example, for two of hearts, the cardname should be "Hearts2".

My assignment was to write a function which takes a card suit and value, and then creates a new card.

Based on this, I have written the following function:

Code:

Card newcard(int suit, int value)
{
	card newCard = malloc(sizeof(*newCard));
	
	if ((suit<=3)&&(value<=12)){
		
	newCard->suit = suit;
    	newCard->value = value;
		
		
		char *buffer = malloc(sizeof suits[suit]+1);
		char *buffer2 = malloc(sizeof values[value]+1);
		char *pointer = malloc(20*sizeof(char));
		
		pointer = (*newCard).cardname;
		
		int i = 0;
		
		while(*buffer){
      		pointer[i++]=*buffer++;
 		}
 		while(*buffer2){
			pointer[i++]=*buffer2++;
  		}
  		pointer[i]='\0';
		
		free(*buffer);
		buffer = NULL;
		
		free(*buffer2);
		buffer2 = NULL;
		
		return newCard;
		
	}
	else
		return NULL;
}

However, I am unable to understand how I should go about copying the representations of a card from the static chars into the cardname[20] field of each card. The libraries that are allowed to be used in the assignment are stdlib.h and stdio.h, and therefore I am not allowed to use strcpy.

Please help me fix my function . For each hint that points me in the right direction, I promise a cookie to that hint's giver