strcpy_s weirdness

[mike7411]

I was playing around in Microsoft Visual C++, and I noticed something weird about this code:

void setname(char name[80])
{
strcpy_s(name, "joebob");

char name2\[80\];
strcpy\_s(name2, "joebob");

}

It looks like the compiler complains about the first strcpy_s but not the second one. If I comment out the first one, the program compiles fine. Can anyone explain this? BTW, I know strcpy_s should probably take 3 arguments, but I'm trying to understand this weirdness. Thanks.

[Mircea Neacsu]

Remember that in C arrays and pointers are the same thing so the argument name is a pointer to char. For the compiler, your code fragment is the same as:

void setname(char *name)
{
strcpy_s(name, "joebob");

char name2\[80\];
strcpy\_s(name2, "joebob");

}

In the case of the second call to strcpy_s, the compiler can figure out the size parameter through some template magic. For the first one however you have to use the explicit size form.

Mircea

[Lost User]

It would help when posting questions that you include the exact error message(s), so it makes it clear what your problem is.

[CPallini]

See, for instance Array Decay In C - GeeksforGeeks[^].

"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?" -- Rigoletto