Look at the declarations: char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src); char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n); size_t strlcpy(char *dest, con

Look at the declarations: char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src); char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n); size_t strlcpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t size); From that, how do you know that strncpy expects and produces a character array, strcpy expects and produces a string, and strlcpy takes either a character array or string and produces a string? Your descriptions of the string/character copy functions are factual and accurate. But correct use depends on programmer understanding. You do not get any runtime guarantee. And IME, when you are under a deadline, 13 function calls and 3 message queues deep in some ancient codebase, while trying to get a non-trivial feature working, the distinction between a character array and a string is easily forgotten. Anyways, my assertions are: 1) Using C for strings is a poor choice 2) If your compiler vendor or cranky boss forces use of C, use strlcpy to handle string copying.