xref: /minix/lib/libc/string/strcat.3 (revision 0a6a1f1d)
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32.\"     from: @(#)strcat.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\"	$NetBSD: strcat.3,v 1.16 2006/10/16 08:48:45 wiz Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd August 11, 2002
36.Dt STRCAT 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm strcat ,
40.Nm strncat
41.Nd concatenate strings
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In string.h
46.Ft char *
47.Fn strcat "char * restrict s" "const char * restrict append"
48.Ft char *
49.Fn strncat "char * restrict s" "const char * restrict append" "size_t count"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Fn strcat
53and
54.Fn strncat
55functions
56append a copy of the nul-terminated string
57.Fa append
58to the end of the nul-terminated string
59.Fa s ,
60then add a terminating
61.Ql \e0 .
62The string
63.Fa s
64must have sufficient space to hold the result.
65.Pp
66The
67.Fn strncat
68function
69appends not more than
70.Fa count
71characters where space for the terminating
72.Ql \e0
73should not be included in
74.Fa count .
75.Sh RETURN VALUES
76The
77.Fn strcat
78and
79.Fn strncat
80functions
81return the pointer
82.Fa s .
83.Sh EXAMPLES
84The following appends
85.Dq Li abc
86to
87.Dq Li chararray :
88.Bd -literal -offset indent
89char *letters = "abcdefghi";
90
91(void)strncat(chararray, letters, 3);
92.Ed
93.Pp
94The following example shows how to use
95.Fn strncat
96safely in conjunction with
97.Xr strncpy 3 .
98.Bd -literal -offset indent
99char buf[BUFSIZ];
100char *input, *suffix;
101
102(void)strncpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf) - 1);
103buf[sizeof(buf) - 1] = '\e0';
104(void)strncat(buf, suffix, sizeof(buf) - 1 - strlen(buf));
105.Ed
106.Pp
107The above will copy as many characters from
108.Dq Li input
109to
110.Dq Li buf
111as will fit.
112It then appends as many characters from suffix as will fit (or none
113if there is no space).
114For operations like this, the
115.Xr strlcpy 3
116and
117.Xr strlcat 3
118functions are a better choice, as shown below.
119.Bd -literal -offset indent
120(void)strlcpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf));
121(void)strlcat(buf, suffix, sizeof(buf));
122.Ed
123.Sh SEE ALSO
124.Xr bcopy 3 ,
125.Xr memccpy 3 ,
126.Xr memcpy 3 ,
127.Xr memmove 3 ,
128.Xr strcpy 3 ,
129.Xr strlcat 3 ,
130.Xr strlcpy 3
131.Sh STANDARDS
132The
133.Fn strcat
134and
135.Fn strncat
136functions
137conform to
138.St -isoC-99 .
139