Null-terminated byte strings

A null-terminated byte string (NTBS) is a sequence of nonzero bytes followed by a byte with value zero (the terminating null character). Each byte in a byte string encodes one character of some character set. For example, the character array {'\x63','\x61','\x74','\0'} is an NTBS holding the string "cat" in ASCII encoding.

Functions

Defined in header `<ctype.h>`
Character classification
isalnum	checks if a character is alphanumeric (function)
isalpha	checks if a character is alphabetic (function)
islower	checks if a character is lowercase (function)
isupper	checks if a character is an uppercase character (function)
isdigit	checks if a character is a digit (function)
isxdigit	checks if a character is a hexadecimal character (function)
iscntrl	checks if a character is a control character (function)
isgraph	checks if a character is a graphical character (function)
isspace	checks if a character is a space character (function)
isblank (C99)	checks if a character is a blank character (function)
isprint	checks if a character is a printing character (function)
ispunct	checks if a character is a punctuation character (function)
Character manipulation
tolower	converts a character to lowercase (function)
toupper	converts a character to uppercase (function)

Note: additional functions whose names begin with either to or is, followed by a lowercase letter, may be added to the header ctype.h in future and should not be defined by programs that include that header.

ASCII values			characters	`iscntrl` `iswcntrl`	`isprint` `iswprint`	`isspace` `iswspace`	`isblank` `iswblank`	`isgraph` `iswgraph`	`ispunct` `iswpunct`	`isalnum` `iswalnum`	`isalpha` `iswalpha`	`isupper` `iswupper`	`islower` `iswlower`	`isdigit` `iswdigit`	`isxdigit` `iswxdigit`
decimal	hexadecimal	octal	characters	`iscntrl` `iswcntrl`	`isprint` `iswprint`	`isspace` `iswspace`	`isblank` `iswblank`	`isgraph` `iswgraph`	`ispunct` `iswpunct`	`isalnum` `iswalnum`	`isalpha` `iswalpha`	`isupper` `iswupper`	`islower` `iswlower`	`isdigit` `iswdigit`	`isxdigit` `iswxdigit`
0–8	`\x0`–`\x8`	`\0`–`\10`	control codes (`NUL`, etc.)	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
9	`\x9`	`\11`	tab (`\t`)	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
10–13	`\xA`–`\xD`	`\12`–`\15`	whitespaces (`\n`, `\v`, `\f`, `\r`)	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
14–31	`\xE`–`\x1F`	`\16`–`\37`	control codes	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
32	`\x20`	`\40`	space	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
33–47	`\x21`–`\x2F`	`\41`–`\57`	`!"#$%&'()*+,-./`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
48–57	`\x30`–`\x39`	`\60`–`\71`	`0123456789`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`
58–64	`\x3A`–`\x40`	`\72`–`\100`	`:;<=>?@`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
65–70	`\x41`–`\x46`	`\101`–`\106`	`ABCDEF`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`
71–90	`\x47`–`\x5A`	`\107`–`\132`	`GHIJKLMNOP` `QRSTUVWXYZ`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
91–96	`\x5B`–`\x60`	`\133`–`\140`	[\]^_`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
97–102	`\x61`–`\x66`	`\141`–`\146`	`abcdef`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`
103–122	`\x67`–`\x7A`	`\147`–`\172`	`ghijklmnop` `qrstuvwxyz`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`
123–126	`\x7B`–`\x7E`	`\172`–`\176`	`{\|}~`	`0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`≠0`	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`
127	`\x7F`	`\177`	backspace character (`DEL`)	`≠0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`	`0`

Defined in header `<stdlib.h>`
Conversions to and from numeric formats
atof	converts a byte string to a floating-point value (function)
atoiatolatoll (C99)	converts a byte string to an integer value (function)
strtolstrtoll (C99)	converts a byte string to an integer value (function)
strtoul strtoull (C99)	converts a byte string to an unsigned integer value (function)
strtofstrtodstrtold (C99)(C99)	converts a byte string to a floating point value (function)
strfromfstrfromdstrfromld (C23)(C23)(C23)	converts a floating point value to a byte string (function)
Defined in header `<inttypes.h>`
strtoimaxstrtoumax (C99)(C99)	converts a byte string to `intmax_t` or `uintmax_t` (function)
String manipulation
Defined in header `<string.h>`
strcpystrcpy_s (C11)	copies one string to another (function)
strncpystrncpy_s (C11)	copies a certain amount of characters from one string to another (function)
strcatstrcat_s (C11)	concatenates two strings (function)
strncatstrncat_s (C11)	concatenates a certain amount of characters of two strings (function)
strxfrm	transform a string so that strcmp would produce the same result as strcoll (function)
strdup (C23)	allocates a copy of a string (function)
strndup (C23)	allocates a copy of a string of specified size (function)
String examination
Defined in header `<string.h>`
strlenstrnlen_s (C11)	returns the length of a given string (function)
strcmp	compares two strings (function)
strncmp	compares a certain amount of characters of two strings (function)
strcoll	compares two strings in accordance to the current locale (function)
strchr	finds the first occurrence of a character (function)
strrchr	finds the last occurrence of a character (function)
strspn	returns the length of the maximum initial segment that consists of only the characters found in another byte string (function)
strcspn	returns the length of the maximum initial segment that consists of only the characters not found in another byte string (function)
strpbrk	finds the first location of any character in one string, in another string (function)
strstr	finds the first occurrence of a substring of characters (function)
strtokstrtok_s (C11)	finds the next token in a byte string (function)
Character array manipulation
Defined in header `<string.h>`
memchr	searches an array for the first occurrence of a character (function)
memcmp	compares two buffers (function)
memsetmemset_explicitmemset_s (C23)(C11)	fills a buffer with a character (function)
memcpymemcpy_s (C11)	copies one buffer to another (function)
memmovememmove_s (C11)	moves one buffer to another (function)
memccpy (C23)	copies one buffer to another, stopping after the specified delimiter (function)
Miscellaneous
Defined in header `<string.h>`
strerrorstrerror_sstrerrorlen_s (C11)(C11)	returns a text version of a given error code (function)

References

C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

7.4 Character handling <ctype.h> (p: 200-204)
7.8 Format conversion of integer types <inttypes.h> (p: 217-220)
7.22 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 340-360)
7.24 String handling <string.h> (p: 362-372)
7.31.2 Character handling <ctype.h> (p: 455)
7.31.5 Format conversion of integer types <inttypes.h> (p: 455)
7.31.12 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 456)
7.31.13 String handling <string.h> (p: 456)
K.3.6 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 604-613)
K.3.7 String handling <string.h> (p: 614-623)

C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

7.4 Character handling <ctype.h> (p: 181-185)
7.8 Format conversion of integer types <inttypes.h> (p: 198-201)
7.20 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 306-324)
7.21 String handling <string.h> (p: 325-334)
7.26.2 Character handling <ctype.h> (p: 401)
7.26.4 Format conversion of integer types <inttypes.h> (p: 401)
7.26.10 General utilities <stdlib.h> (p: 402)
7.26.11 String handling <string.h> (p: 402)

C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

4.3 CHARACTER HANDLING <ctype.h>
4.10 GENERAL UTILITIES <stdlib.h>
4.11 STRING HANDLING <string.h>
4.13.2 Character handling <ctype.h>
4.13.7 General utilities <stdlib.h>
4.13.8 String handling <string.h>

Null-terminated byte strings

Functions

Character classification

Character manipulation

Conversions to and from numeric formats

String manipulation

String examination

Character array manipulation

Miscellaneous

References

See also