C Strings in C
From the C cheat sheet · Strings · verified Jul 2026
C Strings
char arrays and the string library.
c
// Quick Reference
char s[] = "hello"; // char array + '\0'
#include <string.h>
strlen(s); strcmp(a, b);
strcpy(dst, src); snprintf(buf, n, "%d", x);💡 C strings are char arrays terminated by '\0'; strlen counts up to (not including) it.
⚡ Compare strings with strcmp (== compares pointers, not contents).
📌 Prefer snprintf/strncpy over sprintf/strcpy - the bounded versions prevent overflows.
🟢 A string literal ("x") is read-only - modifying it via a char* is undefined behavior.
stringsstring-h