The strcpy() function is designed to work exclusively with strings. It copies each byte of the source string to the destination string and stops when the terminating null character (\0) has been moved. On the other hand, the memcpy() function is designed to work with any type of data.
Because not all data ends with a null character, you must provide the memcpy() function with the number of bytes you want to copy from the source to the destination. The following program shows examples of both the strcpy() and the memcpy() functions:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct cust_str {
int id;
char last_name[20];
char first_name[15];
} CUSTREC;
void main(void);
void main(void)
{
char* src_string = "This is the source string";
char dest_string[50];
CUSTREC src_cust;
CUSTREC dest_cust;
printf("Hello! I'm going to copy src_string into dest_string!\n");
/* Copy src_string into dest_string. Notice that the destination
string is the first argument. Notice also that the strcpy()
function returns a pointer to the destination string. */
printf("Done! dest_string is: %s\n",
strcpy(dest_string, src_string));
printf("Encore! Let's copy one CUSTREC to another.\n");
printf("I'll copy src_cust into dest_cust.\n");
/* First, initialize the src_cust data members. */
src_cust.id = 1;
strcpy(src_cust.last_name, "Strahan");
strcpy(src_cust.first_name, "Troy");
/* Now, use the memcpy() function to copy the src_cust structure to
the dest_cust structure. Notice that, just as with strcpy(), the
destination comes first. */
memcpy(&dest_cust, &src_cust, sizeof(CUSTREC));
printf("Done! I just copied customer number #%d (%s %s).",
dest_cust.id, dest_cust.first_name, dest_cust.last_name);
}
When dealing with strings, you generally should use the strcpy() function, because it is easier to use with strings. When dealing with abstract data other than strings (such as structures), you should use the memcpy() function.