Thread: strcpy not overwriting (segmentation fault)

Hi, I'm trying to understand why I can't overwrite with strcpy on this piece of code:

Code:

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
	char *str2;
	char *str = malloc(sizeof(char)*10000);

	str2 = " Long text 1";

	strcpy(str2, "Long text 2");
		sprintf(str,"%s\n",str2);
		write(1,str,strlen(str));
	exit(0);
}

I know how to work around this without using strcpy, but I need to use strcpy. I've tried allocating memory to str2 via malloc but it's the same issue. Any idea what this code is doing wrong?

Originally Posted by Salem

All string constants are in read-only memory, so you get a segfault if you try to write to them.

str2 = " Long text 1";
This works because all you're doing is setting a pointer to point to the string.


strcpy(str2, "Long text 2");
This doesn't work because you're physically trying to modify the memory holding " Long text 1"

It might be a bit more obvious if you were const correct
const char *str2 = "Long text";

Thanks for the reply Salem, that was helpful.