Null-terminated string: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:45, 10 December 2006

Revision as of 02:47, 10 December 2006

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In computing, '''C strings''' are [[character string|character sequence]]s stored as one-dimensional [[character (computing)|character]] [[array]]s and terminated with a [[null character]] ('\0' or ASCII 0). The name refers to the ubiquitous [[C (programming language)|C programming language]] using this [[string (computer science)#Representations|string representation]], and is used elsewhere to distinguish this often-used representation from others.

The null-termination characteristic has historically created [[computer insecurity|security problems]] related to the length of the string. If the null character is not putadded to the end of the string for some reason, any following non-related memory area is also processed as a part of the character sequence. This can lead to program crashes or leakage of program internal information to attackers or non-understanding users. This problem can (and should) be prevented by appropriate error checking.

In the [[C++]] [[programming language]], C strings are used in addition to another representation of character sequences, the <code>std::string</code> container found in the [[Standard Template Library]] (STL). Thus, it is important to differentiate between the traditional "C strings" and the more advanced "string" objects provided by the STL.