I've added a couple of examples trying to find a more readable version, which actually isn't trivial. Sorry for the 'post-edit' :) As for performance: I don't

I've added a couple of examples trying to find a more readable version, which actually isn't trivial. Sorry for the 'post-edit' :) As for performance: I don't think such details matter much, first, compilers are pretty good to turn "readable but inefficient" code into the same optimal output (aka "zero cost abstraction"). And a really performance-oriented strcpy() wouldn't simply copy byte by byte anyway, but try to move data in bigger chunks (like 64-bit or even SIMD registers). Whether this is then actually faster also depends on the CPU though.