What is a String?

A string is an array of characters ending with a null character \0.

Example:

char name[] = “Alice”;

Equivalent to:

char name[] = {‘A’,’l’,’i’,’c’,’e’,’\0′};

String Input and Output:

char name[20];

scanf(“%s”, name);

printf(“Hello %s”, name);

• scanf() does not read spaces. Use gets() / fgets() if spaces are needed.
• Common String Functions (from <string.h>):

Function	Purpose	Example
strlen()	Returns length of string	strlen(“Hello”) → 5
strcpy()	Copies one string to another	strcpy(str2, str1)
strcmp()	Compares two strings	strcmp(s1, s2)
strcat()	Concatenates (joins) two strings	strcat(s1, s2)

 

Difference: Character Array vs String

Character Array	String Literal
char name[5] = {‘A’,’B’,’C’,’\0′};	char name[] = “ABC”;
Needs \0 manually	Adds \0 automatically