strcpy, wcscpy, _mbscpy

Article
11/16/2012

Copy a string. More secure versions of these functions are available; see strcpy_s, wcscpy_s, _mbscpy_s.

char *strcpy(
   char *strDestination,
   const char *strSource 
);
wchar_t *wcscpy(
   wchar_t *strDestination,
   const wchar_t *strSource 
);
unsigned char *_mbscpy(
   unsigned char *strDestination,
   const unsigned char *strSource 
);
template <size_t size>
char *strcpy(
   char (&strDestination)[size],
   const char *strSource 
); // C++ only
template <size_t size>
wchar_t *wcscpy(
   wchar_t (&strDestination)[size],
   const wchar_t *strSource 
); // C++ only
template <size_t size>
unsigned char *_mbscpy(
   unsigned char (&strDestination)[size],
   const unsigned char *strSource 
); // C++ only

Parameters

strDestination
Destination string.
strSource
Null-terminated source string.

Return Value

Each of these functions returns the destination string. No return value is reserved to indicate an error.

Remarks

The strcpy function copies strSource, including the terminating null character, to the location specified by strDestination. The behavior of strcpy is undefined if the source and destination strings overlap.

Security Note:
Because strcpy does not check for sufficient space in strDestination before copying strSource, it is a potential cause of buffer overruns. Consider using strcpy_s instead.

wcscpy and _mbscpy are wide-character and multibyte-character versions of strcpy. The arguments and return value of wcscpy are wide-character strings; those of _mbscpy are multibyte-character strings. These three functions behave identically otherwise.

In C++, these functions have template overloads that invoke the newer, secure counterparts of these functions. For more information, see Secure Template Overloads.

Generic-Text Routine Mappings

TCHAR.H routine	_UNICODE & _MBCS not defined	_MBCS defined	_UNICODE defined
_tcscpy	strcpy	_mbscpy	wcscpy

Requirements

Routine	Required header
strcpy	<string.h>
wcscpy	<string.h> or <wchar.h>
_mbscpy	<mbstring.h>

For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Example

// crt_strcpy.c
// compile with: /W3
// This program uses strcpy
// and strcat to build a phrase.

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main( void )
{
   char string[80];

   // Note that if you change the previous line to
   //   char string[20];
   // strcpy and strcat will happily overrun the string
   // buffer.  See the examples for strncpy and strncat
   // for safer string handling.

   strcpy( string, "Hello world from " ); // C4996
   // Note: strcpy is deprecated; consider using strcpy_s instead
   strcat( string, "strcpy " );           // C4996
   // Note: strcat is deprecated; consider using strcat_s instead
   strcat( string, "and " );              // C4996
   strcat( string, "strcat!" );           // C4996
   printf( "String = %s\n", string );
}

String = Hello world from strcpy and strcat!

.NET Framework Equivalent

System::String::Copy

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