Strings in C

📘 C 👁 53 views 📅 Dec 22, 2025

⏱ Estimated reading time: 1 min

A string in C is a sequence of characters stored in an array of type char and terminated by a null character ('\0').

Declaration of String

char str[20];

Initialization of String

char str[] = "Hello";
char str[6] = {'H','e','l','l','o','\0'};

Input and Output of Strings

Using scanf() and printf()

scanf("%s", str);
printf("%s", str);

Note: scanf() stops reading at whitespace.

Using gets() and puts()

gets(str);
puts(str);

Note: gets() is unsafe and not recommended.

Using fgets() (Recommended)

fgets(str, sizeof(str), stdin);

String Handling Functions

(Require #include )

Function	Description
`strlen()`	Finds length
`strcpy()`	Copies string
`strcat()`	Concatenates strings
`strcmp()`	Compares strings
`strlwr()`	Converts to lowercase
`strupr()`	Converts to uppercase

Example Program

#include 
#include 

int main() {
    char s1[20] = "Hello";
    char s2[20] = "World";

    strcat(s1, s2);
    printf("%s\n", s1);
    printf("Length = %d", strlen(s1));

    return 0;
}

Difference Between Character Array and String

Character array may not end with '\0'
String must end with '\0'

Summary

Strings are character arrays ending with null character
Stored using char type
string.h provides string functions
fgets() is safer for input

🔒 Some advanced sections are available for Registered Members
Register Now

← Previous

Arrays in C

Share this Post

🚀 Want to Test Your Knowledge?

Take quizzes related to this topic and see where you stand!

Start Quiz Now

← Back to Tutorials

Popular Competitive Exam Quizzes

GK/GS Quiz | UPSC Exam Quiz | English Grammar Basics Quiz | Science Quiz

C Tutorials