xref: /netbsd/lib/libc/string/strdup.3 (revision 6550d01e)
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28.\"     from: @(#)strdup.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
29.\"	$NetBSD: strdup.3,v 1.18 2009/01/29 10:15:39 wiz Exp $
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31.Dd January 28, 2009
32.Dt STRDUP 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm strdup ,
36.Nm strndup
37.Nd save a copy of a string
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In string.h
42.Ft char *
43.Fn strdup "const char *str"
44.Ft char *
45.Fn strndup "const char *str" "size_t len"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Fn strdup
49function
50allocates sufficient memory for a copy
51of the string
52.Fa str ,
53does the copy, and returns a pointer to it.
54The pointer may subsequently be used as an
55argument to the function
56.Xr free 3 .
57.Pp
58If insufficient memory is available,
59.Dv NULL
60is returned.
61.Pp
62The
63.Fn strndup
64function copies at most
65.Fa len
66characters from the string
67.Fa str
68always
69.Dv NUL
70terminating the copied string.
71.Sh EXAMPLES
72The following will point
73.Va p
74to an allocated area of memory containing the nul-terminated string
75.Qq foobar :
76.Bd -literal -offset indent
77char *p;
78
79if ((p = strdup("foobar")) == NULL) {
80	fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory.\en");
81	exit(1);
82}
83.Ed
84.Sh ERRORS
85The
86.Fn strdup
87function may fail and set the external variable
88.Va errno
89for any of the errors specified for the library function
90.Xr malloc 3 .
91.Sh SEE ALSO
92.Xr free 3 ,
93.Xr malloc 3 ,
94.Xr strcpy 3 ,
95.Xr strlen 3
96.Sh STANDARDS
97The
98.Fn strdup
99function conforms to
100.St -p1003.1-2001 .
101.Sh HISTORY
102The
103.Fn strdup
104function first appeared in
105.Bx 4.4 .
106The
107.Fn strndup
108function was added in
109.Nx 4.0 .
110