Re: avoiding strdup()

On 10/03/2024 18:47, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Kaz Kylheku <433-929-6894@kylheku.com> writes:

On 2024-03-10, Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Sat, 09 Mar 2024 16:37:19 -0800
Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> wrote:

strdup() and strndup() are being added to the C23 standard.
>

>
What is justification?

>
strdup is required by POSIX already and thus widely implemented.
Many programmers who are not into standards already assume it's in C.
>
For decades, portable programs have been doing things like this:
>
#if HAVE_STRDUP
#define xstrdup(s) strdup(s)
#else
char *xstrdup(const char *); // own definition
#endif
>

What strdup() can do better, for any chosen value of better, than
strlen()+malloc()+memcpy() ?

>
Not take up space in every application for a common library routine.

 It's a form of lazy programming.  I've seen a lot of open source
code that uses strdup without checking for failure and frequently
"forgetting" to free the result.

The hidden use of malloc was one of the reasons it was left out of the standard library.