strcat and pointer problem

[Harman]

The last line doesnot concatenate the 2 values, doesanybody know why???

some code......
mDir = strtok(NULL, "=");
//mDir has the value "Profiles/p41ad5yo.default"
...............

strtok(mDir, "/");
sDir = strtok(NULL, "/");

printf("%s\n", sDir);//it prints fine
pathAb = mDir;
strcat(pathAb, "\\");
strcat(pathAb, sDir);
*********//does not add the value of sDir to the end of pathAb

[quzah]

Try posting an actual working (non-working) example, instead of just some random lines of code. I bet I know where your problem is though:

pathAb = mDir;

1) If pathAb is just a pointer, then this is definately wrong, as you have no space to strcat anything into.
2) If pathAb is not a simple pointer, and is in fact an array, you're wrong also. The reason being, you cannot copy arrays with the assignment operator.

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

int main( void )
{
    char buf[ BUFSIZ ] =
        "apparentlyanequalssignisinheresomeplace=Profiles/p41ad5yo.default";
    char buf2[ BUFSIZ ] = {0};
    char *ptr;

    ptr = strtok( buf, "=" );
    if( ptr )
        printf( "%s\n", ptr );

    ptr = strtok( NULL, "/" );
    if( ptr )
        printf( "%s\n", ptr );

    /* pathAb = mDir; equivilant */
    strcpy( buf2, buf );

    strcat( buf2, "\\" );
    strcat( buf2, ptr );

    printf("%s\n", buf2 );

    return 0;
}

/*

 My output:

apparentlyanequalssignisinheresomeplace
Profiles
apparentlyanequalssignisinheresomeplace\Profiles

*/

Quzah.

[Harman]

here is the function...

char *getAddressbookDir(char tbIni[]){

	char line[SIZE], tLine[SIZE], *pathAb, *mDir, *sDir;
	int lnLen;
	FILE *ifp;

	ifp = fopen(tbIni, "r");
	if(ifp == NULL){
		printf("\"%s\" could not be opened", tbIni);
		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
	}

	while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), ifp) != NULL){
		//remove the new line char
		if (line[strlen(line)-1] == '\n'){
			line[strlen(line)-1] = '\0';
		}
		strcpy(tLine, line);
		lnLen = strlen(line);

		if(lnLen > 1 && strncmp(line, "Path", 4) == 0){
			strtok(tLine, "=");
			mDir = strtok(NULL, "=");
		}//end if (lnLen > 1...

	}//end while

	//pathAb has something like "Profiles/p41ad5yo.default"
	//we need something like "Profiles\p41ad5yo.default"
	strtok(mDir, "/");
	sDir = strtok(NULL, "/");

	//printf("%s\n", sDir);
	//pathAb = mDir;
	//strcat(pathAb, "\\");
	//strcat(pathAb, sDir);
	

	return pathAb;
}

[quzah]

Well there you go. It's as stated. All you're doing is assigning one pointer to another. From the man page:

The strcat() function appends the src string(3,n) to the dest string(3,n) over-
writing the `\0' character at the end of dest, and then adds a termi-
nating `\0' character. The strings may not overlap, and the dest
string(3,n) must have enough space for the result.

All you're doing it simply assigning one pointer to another, which has no purpose at all, and then trying to concatenate onto the end of it. Look at what I've done instead.

Quzah.

[Harman]

Thank you sir...Let me try it your way...thanks again

[Harman]

How do i return the pointer of the string buf2.

[Harman]

resolved...