.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
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.\"     from: @(#)strcpy.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
.\"     from: NetBSD: strcpy.3,v 1.23 2015/04/01 20:18:17 riastradh Exp
.\"	$NetBSD: strncpy.3,v 1.16.4.2 2024/09/20 11:22:29 martin Exp $
.\"
.Dd August 11, 2023
.Dt STRNCPY 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm stpncpy ,
.Nm strncpy
.Nd copy fixed-width buffers with NUL padding
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In string.h
.Ft char *
.Fn stpncpy "char * restrict dst" "const char * restrict src" "size_t len"
.Ft char *
.Fn strncpy "char * restrict dst" "const char * restrict src" "size_t len"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn stpncpy
and
.Fn strncpy
functions fill a
.Fa len Ns -byte
buffer at
.Fa dst
by copying up to
.Fa len
.No non- Ns Tn NUL
bytes from
.Fa src
followed by enough
.Tn NUL
bytes \(em possibly zero of them \(em to pad the remainder.
.Pp
The buffers
.Fa src
and
.Fa dst
may not overlap.
.Pp
The buffer
.Fa src
is not required to hold a
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated
string on input; it is only required
.Em either
to have at least
.Fa len
bytes allocated and initialized,
.Em or
to have a
.Tn NUL
byte if it is shorter than
.Fa len
bytes.
.Pp
The buffer
.Fa dst
is not guaranteed to hold a
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated
string on output;
.Fn stpncpy
and
.Fn strncpy
write exactly
.Fa len
bytes to it, which includes nonempty
.Tn NUL
padding only if a
.Tn NUL
byte appears in the first
.Fa len
bytes at
.Fa src .
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn strncpy
function returns
.Fa dst .
.Pp
The
.Fn stpncpy
function returns a pointer to the byte after the last
.No non- Ns Tn NUL
byte of
.Fa dst .
This does not necessarily point to a
.Tn NUL
byte;
.Fn stpncpy
may return
.Li \*(Am Ns Fa dst Ns Li "[" Fa len Ns Li "]" Ns ,
if all
.Fa len
bytes starting at
.Fa src
are
.No non- Tn NUL .
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following logic fills a fixed-width field in a record that might
appear on disk with the content of a caller-provided string
.Dv str ,
padded to the end of the field with
.Tn NUL
bytes:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct record {
	uint16_t	id;
	char		name[6];
	uint8_t		tag;
	...
};

struct record *rec = ...;
strncpy(rec->name, str, sizeof(rec->name));
.Ed
.Pp
The following values for
.Dv str
result in the following corresponding contents of
.Dv rec Ns Li "->name" :
.Bl -column -offset indent ".Li \*qabcdefghi\e0\*q" ".Li \*qabc\e0\e0\e0\*q"
.It Dv str Ta Dv rec Ns Li "->name"
.It Li \*qabc\e0\*q Ta Li \*qabc\e0\e0\e0\*q
.It Li \*qabc\e0\e0\e0\*q Ta Li \*qabc\e0\e0\e0\*q
.It Li \*qabcde\e0\*q Ta Li \*qabcde\e0\*q
.It Li \*qabcdef\e0\*q Ta Li \*qabcdef\*q
.It Li \*qabcdef\*q Ta Li \*qabcdef\*q
.It Li \*qabcdefghi\e0\*q Ta Li \*qabcdef\*q
.It Li \*qabcdefghi\*q Ta Li \*qabcdef\*q
.El
.Pp
Note that when
.Dv str
has at least six
.No non- Ns Tn NUL
bytes,
.Dv rec Ns Li "->name"
is
.Em not
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated
\(em it is only
.Em padded
with (possibly zero)
.Tn NUL
bytes to fill the fixed-width buffer.
When
.Dv str
has
.Em more
than six
.No non- Ns Tn NUL
bytes, the additional ones are truncated.
If
.Dv str
has space for
.Em fewer
than six bytes, and the last one is not
.Tn NUL ,
using
.Fn strncpy
is undefined.
.Pp
Because
.Fn strncpy
does
.Em not
guarantee to
.Tn NUL Ns -terminate
the result, if
.Tn NUL Ns -termination
is required it must be done explicitly:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
char buf[1024];

strncpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf) - 1);
buf[sizeof(buf) - 1] = '\e0';
.Ed
.Pp
If
.Va input
is guaranteed to be
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated ,
and if
.Va buf
need only be
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated ,
not fully initialized with
.Tn NUL
padding,
this could be achieved using
.Xr strlcpy 3
as follows:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
strlcpy(buf, input, sizeof(buf));
.Ed
.Pp
It is not enough for
.Va input
to have
.Li sizeof(buf)
bytes allocated; it MUST be
.Tn NUL Ns -terminated
for
.Xr strlcpy 3
to be used.
.Pp
Note that because
.Xr strlcpy 3
is not defined in any standards, it should
only be used when portability is not a concern.
.Pp
.Sy WARNING :
Because
.Xr strlcpy 3
does not fully initialize
.Fa dst ,
but does read all the way to a
.Tn NUL
terminator in
.Fa src
even past
.Fa len
bytes,
.Xr strlcpy 3
is
.Em not
a safe
.Tn NUL Ns -terminating
replacement for
.Fn strncpy .
Naively replacing
.Fn strncpy
by
.Xr strlcpy 3
can lead to crashes, undefined behaviour, and disclosure of secrets
from uninitialized memory.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr bcopy 3 ,
.Xr memccpy 3 ,
.Xr memcpy 3 ,
.Xr memmove 3 ,
.Xr strcpy 3 ,
.Xr strlcpy 3 ,
.Xr wcscpy 3
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Fn strncpy
function conforms to
.St -isoC-99 .
.Pp
The
.Fn stpncpy
function conforms to
.St -p1003.1-2008 .
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn stpncpy
function first appeared in
.Nx 6.0 .
.Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
The
.Fn stpncpy
and
.Fn strncpy
functions are not guaranteed to
.Tn NUL Ns -terminate
the result.