STRCAT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual STRCAT(3)NAME
strcat, strncat — concatenate strings
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <string.h>
char *
strcat(char * restrict s, const char * restrict append);
char *
strncat(char * restrict s, const char * restrict append, size_t count);
DESCRIPTION
The strcat() and strncat() functions append a copy of the null-terminated
string append to the end of the null-terminated string s, then add a ter‐
minating ‘\0’. The string s must have sufficient space to hold the
result.
The strncat() function appends not more than count characters from
append, and then adds a terminating ‘\0’.
RETURN VALUES
The strcat() and strncat() functions return the pointer s.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
The strcat() function is easily misused in a manner which enables mali‐
cious users to arbitrarily change a running program's functionality
through a buffer overflow attack. (See the FSA.)
Avoid using strcat(). Instead, use strncat() or strlcat() and ensure
that no more characters are copied to the destination buffer than it can
hold.
Note that strncat() can also be problematic. It may be a security con‐
cern for a string to be truncated at all. Since the truncated string
will not be as long as the original, it may refer to a completely differ‐
ent resource and usage of the truncated resource could result in very
incorrect behavior. Example:
void
foo(const char *arbitrary_string)
{
char onstack[8];
#if defined(BAD)
/*
* This first strcat is bad behavior. Do not use strcat!
*/
(void)strcat(onstack, arbitrary_string); /* BAD! */
#elif defined(BETTER)
/*
* The following two lines demonstrate better use of
* strncat().
*/
(void)strncat(onstack, arbitrary_string,
sizeof(onstack) - strlen(onstack) - 1);
#elif defined(BEST)
/*
* These lines are even more robust due to testing for
* truncation.
*/
if (strlen(arbitrary_string) + 1 >
sizeof(onstack) - strlen(onstack))
err(1, "onstack would be truncated");
(void)strncat(onstack, arbitrary_string,
sizeof(onstack) - strlen(onstack) - 1);
#endif
}
SEE ALSObcopy(3), memccpy(3), memcpy(3), memmove(3), strcpy(3), strlcat(3),
strlcpy(3), wcscat(3)STANDARDS
The strcat() and strncat() functions conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990
(“ISO C90”).
BSD December 1, 2009 BSD