Strings
C has no built-in string type. A string is simply an array of char that ends with a special null character '\0', which marks where the string stops.
The string.h header provides helper functions like strlen, strcpy, and strcat for working with strings.
💡 Key insight
Forgetting the null terminator is one of the most common sources of bugs (and security issues) in C string handling.
Syntax
syntax
char str[] = "text";
#include <string.h>
strlen(str);
strcpy(dest, src);
strcat(dest, src);Example
%s prints a string; strlen counts characters up to (but not including) the null terminator.
c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char name[20] = "CodeyHub";
printf("Name: %s\n", name);
printf("Length: %lu\n", strlen(name));
return 0;
}outputName: CodeyHub
Length: 8
Try it yourself
Copy this example into the C compiler and run it — try changing a value and see what happens.