sprintf : garbage appended

Hi,

I'm performing a simple sprintf :

Code:

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char var[50];

sprintf(var, "%s", var2);

---

let's say var2 is set to "hello world" (I've verified this is correct before the sprintf). The result of this is that var = "hello world,".

However, when I do this :

Code:

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sprintf(var, "%s\n", var2);

---

I get what I want : "hello world".

Was I using sprintf improperly before?

Thanks

That doesn't seem right. Are you sure there isn't something that you can't see at the end of the string [typically a carriage return, '\r' can sneak into strings read from input files or console]? Check strlen() and compare that with what you expect.

sprintf() should work just fine without a newline - I suspect something else is wrong.

--
Mats

Give us the smallest, but complete, full program that demonstrates this error.

This one works as expected.

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
        char szBuffer[100];
        char szHello[50] = "Hello, world!";
       
        sprintf(szBuffer, "&#37;s", szHello);
       
        printf("szBuffer = %s\nszHello = %s\n\n", szBuffer, szHello);
       
        return 0;
}

---

Output:

Code:

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szBuffer = Hello, world!
szHello = Hello, world!

---

I suspect you may have a '\0' problem with var2.

I'll have to get a full program, but in the meantime here's more code that may be affecting :

Code:

---

char var[50];
char var2[50];

cgiFormStringNoNewlines("variable", var2, 50)
mysql_real_escape_string(&db, var, var, (unsigned long)strlen(var));
sprintf(var, "%s", var2);

---

Yes, I'm using the cgic library. The thing that is interesting is that when var2 is set to a string that has a space in it,
that is when I have the problem, not otherwise.

Also, I tested it again, and var was appended with ":" this time.

Finally, what did you mean by "I suspect you may have a '\0' problem with var2."?

Thanks

You've probably omitted a NUL terminator in 'var2'. NUL terminators if you don't already know, represent the end of the string.

You should narrow down the problem.

Code:

---

char var[50];
char var2[50];

cgiFormStringNoNewlines("variable", var2, sizeof(var2));
mysql_real_escape_string(&db, var, var, (unsigned long)strlen(var));
sprintf(var, "%s", var2);

---

It's either one of those functions,
the first = http://csourcesearch.net/package/aut...Newlines/604,1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yeller

Finally, what did you mean by "I suspect you may have a '\0' problem with var2."?

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Since a string in C is basically a block of contiguous sequence of chars that are ended with a '\0', I meant that you may not have a '\0' at the intended place in var2, thereby making all functions continue processing past the end of the string until coming across a '\0' later on.

If you have a block of memory like this:

Code:

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'H', 'i', '!', '\n', '\0', 'h', 'y', '5', 'f', 's', '\0', 'x'

---

And the string starts at the first char, then the string should be "Hi!\n". If, however, you lose the first '\0' -- let's say it got overwritten with another '\n', then you'll have this interpretted as the string: "Hi!\n\nhy5s". Obviously not what you meant.

Quote:

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"Hi!\n\nhy5s"

---

Actually, "Hi!\n\nhy5fs" -- but we know what you mean. ;)

Stop making me look bad. :p

Yes, you're right. lol...

I seem to have found the problem. I've had a similar issue before, and a similar fix before.

The code I'm working with at one point uses the basename command. For some reason, using this on a string variable has devastating effects (as seen in this case).

The fix : What I did was simply create a new variable, copied the original var's data to it, and then send that on to the basename command.

While basename works correctly, it seems to hurt the variable that is passed to it.

Thanks for all replies anyhow.

> The fix : What I did was simply create a new variable, copied the original var's data to it,
> and then send that on to the basename command.
Very few of the standard C library functions (eg. memmove) work reliably when the "source" and "destination" areas overlap.

For example, never assume that this is going to produce the effect you want.
sprintf( b, "%s", b );
OK, most of the time this example will work, but something like this is almost sure to fail horribly.
sprintf( b, "/var/%s", b );