DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

STRCAT(3)             DragonFly 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
     terminating `\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.

SEE ALSO
     bcopy(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'').

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
     The strcat() function is easily misused in a manner which enables
     malicious 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
     concern 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
     different 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
     }

DragonFly 3.5                  December 1, 2009                  DragonFly 3.5