Hi all,

Please any one give best use of memset() function..

thanks
- sri

: Hi all,
:
: Please any one give best use of memset() function..
:
: thanks
: - sri
:
:

initialize a buffer to all known values -- normally 0.

char buf[255];
memset(buf,0,sizeof(buf));

: : Hi all,
: :
: : Please any one give best use of memset() function..
: :
: : thanks
: : - sri
: :
: :
:
: initialize a buffer to all known values -- normally 0.
:

: char buf[255];
: memset(buf,0,sizeof(buf));
: 

:

Thanks for the reply.

Is there any other way available for initializing the buffer ?

: Is there any other way available for initializing the buffer ?

certainly. here are some

char buffer[BUFSIZ];
// initialize it
for(int i = 0; i < BUFSIZE; i++)
  buffer[i] = 0;

or

char buffer[] = "Hello World";

or
char buffer[255] = {0} // only 1st byte set to 0

I managed to use the memset()... but what the arguments signifies?
memset(buf, 0, sizeof(buf)) : why the 0 ? can we any other integer ? what happens when we use any other integer ?

- sri



: : Is there any other way available for initializing the buffer ?
:
: certainly. here are some
:

: char buffer[BUFSIZ];
: // initialize it
: for(int i = 0; i < BUFSIZE; i++)
:   buffer[i] = 0;
: 
: or
: 
: char buffer[] = "Hello World";
: 
: or
: char buffer[255] = {0} // only 1st byte set to 0
: 

:

: I managed to use the memset()... but what the arguments signifies?
: memset(buf, 0, sizeof(buf)) : why the 0 ? can we any other integer ? what happens when we use any other integer ?
:
: - sri

you could use other integers, but 0 is the normal one, and is used by all standard c and c++ libraries to indicate "no data" or "end of string". You can use any value between 0 and 255, but their significance would only be in your program. You can't use values outside that range because a char data type will not hold them.

Whether the 0 is used for filling all the elements in the buffer ? or it specifies the starting element from which we have to initialize the memory ? This memset applicable only for the character buffers or can we use it for any pointer ?

thanks for the reply.

- sri



: : I managed to use the memset()... but what the arguments signifies?
: : memset(buf, 0, sizeof(buf)) : why the 0 ? can we any other integer ? what happens when we use any other integer ?
: :
: : - sri
:
: you could use other integers, but 0 is the normal one, and is used by all standard c and c++ libraries to indicate "no data" or "end of string". You can use any value between 0 and 255, but their significance would only be in your program. You can't use values outside that range because a char data type will not hold them.
:

: Whether the 0 is used for filling all the elements in the buffer ? or it specifies the starting element from which we have to initialize the memory ? This memset applicable only for the character buffers or can we use it for any pointer ?
:

memset() can be used to initialize arrays of any type -- just don't use it on c++ classes! Using values other than 0 will not work if you attempt to initialize an int array with memset(). If you want it initialized with some value other than 0 you will have to do it the hard way with a loop.

int array[255];
// initialize all elements to 0
memset((char *)array,0,sizeof(array));

memset(*destination, value_stored_in_destination, Size_of_value);

for eg:

char buf[100];
memset(buf, 5 , 5);

Ans : buf[0], buf[1], buf[2], buf[3], buf[4] all are initiallized to Zero.

I hope that memset is a function that will did...

KNDLY TELL ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS .. PLS
Muthukumar Pavel