C memset() function

C memset() function - set bytes in memory

Syntax:

void *memset(void *dest, int c, size_t n)

The memset() function is used to set the first n bytes of dest to the value c. The value of c is converted to an unsigned character.

Parameters:

Return value from memset()

The value of dest.

Example: memset() function

Following program uses memset to set the first five characters of buffer to "#".

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

int main( void )
{
   char buffer[] = "C programming memset function";
   printf( "Before: %s\n", buffer );
   memset( buffer, '#', 5 );
   printf( "After:  %s\n", buffer );
}

Output:

Before: C programming memset function
After:  #####gramming memset function

Example that uses memset() function:

Following program sets 10 bytes of the buffer to1 and the next 10 bytes to 2.

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

#define  BUF_SIZE  20 
int main(void)
{
   char buffer[BUF_SIZE + 1];
   char *string;
 
   memset(buffer, 0, sizeof(buffer));
   string = (char *) memset(buffer,'1', 10);
   printf("\nBuffer contents: %s\n", string);
   memset(buffer+10, '2', 10);
   printf("\nBuffer contents: %s\n", buffer);
}

Output:

Buffer contents: 1111111111

Buffer contents: 11111111112222222222

C Programming Code Editor:

Previous C Programming: C memmove()
Next C Programming: C strcat()