xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/string/strcat.3 (revision b2ea75c1b17e1a9a339660e7ed45cd24946b230e)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" Chris Torek and the American National Standards Committee X3,
6.\" on Information Processing Systems.
7.\"
8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
10.\" are met:
11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
14.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
15.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
16.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
17.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
18.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
19.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
20.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
21.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
22.\"    without specific prior written permission.
23.\"
24.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
25.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
26.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
27.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
28.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
29.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
30.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
31.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
32.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
33.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
34.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
35.\"
36.\"	$OpenBSD: strcat.3,v 1.8 2000/04/21 15:24:19 aaron Exp $
37.\"
38.Dd July 8, 1997
39.Dt STRCAT 3
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm strcat ,
43.Nm strncat
44.Nd concatenate strings
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <string.h>
47.Ft char *
48.Fn strcat "char *s" "const char *append"
49.Ft char *
50.Fn strncat "char *s" "const char *append" "size_t count"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Fn strcat
54and
55.Fn strncat
56functions append a copy of the null-terminated string
57.Fa append
58to the end of the null-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 appends not more than
69.Fa count
70characters where space for the terminating
71.Ql \e0
72should not be included in
73.Fa count .
74.Sh RETURN VALUES
75The
76.Fn strcat
77and
78.Fn strncat
79functions return the pointer
80.Fa s .
81.Sh EXAMPLES
82The following appends
83.Dq Li abc
84to
85.Dq Li chararray :
86.Bd -literal -offset indent
87char *letters = "abcdefghi";
88
89(void)strncat(chararray, letters, 3);
90.Ed
91.Pp
92The following example shows how to use
93.Fn strncat
94safely in conjunction with
95.Xr strncpy 3 .
96.Bd -literal -offset indent
97char buf[BUFSIZ];
98char *input, *suffix;
99
100(void)strncpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf) - 1);
101buf[sizeof(buf) - 1] = '\e0';
102(void)strncat(buf, suffix, sizeof(buf) - 1 - strlen(buf));
103.Ed
104.Pp
105The above will copy as many characters from
106.Dq Li input
107to
108.Dq Li buf
109as will fit.
110It then appends as many characters from suffix as will fit (or none
111if there is no space).
112For operations like this, the
113.Xr strlcpy 3
114and
115.Xr strlcat 3
116functions are a better choice, as shown below.
117.Bd -literal -offset indent
118(void)strlcpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf));
119(void)strlcat(buf, suffix, sizeof(buf));
120.Ed
121.Sh SEE ALSO
122.Xr bcopy 3 ,
123.Xr memccpy 3 ,
124.Xr memcpy 3 ,
125.Xr memmove 3 ,
126.Xr strcpy 3 ,
127.Xr strlcat 3 ,
128.Xr strlcpy 3
129.Sh STANDARDS
130The
131.Fn strcat
132and
133.Fn strncat
134functions conform to
135.St -ansiC .
136