https://github.com/demindiro/c-string

C library for strings that are both null-terminated and length-prefixed.
https://github.com/demindiro/c-string

Last synced: over 1 year ago
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C library for strings that are both null-terminated and length-prefixed.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/demindiro/c-string
• Owner: Demindiro
• License: gpl-3.0
• Created: 2018-11-17T12:35:13.000Z (over 7 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2018-12-19T11:20:18.000Z (over 7 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-02-07T06:26:58.418Z (over 1 year ago)
• Language: C
• Size: 26.4 KB
• Stars: 0
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 1
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

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README

          
C Strings

=========

A library for manipulating length-prefixes strings.

Why use length-prefixed strings instead of just null-terminated strings?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are two major advantages:

- **Speed**: knowing how long a string is makes it much easier to predict how

  large a buffer should be, avoiding a lot of `realloc`s.

- **Simplicty**: There is no need to constantly check for a null terminator,

  nor is there any need to always use `strlen`: just use the `len` member

  of `string`or `string_t`.

The only disadvantage is an extra 8 bytes of memory used - whcich is negligible

considering how much RAM most devices have nowadays.

FAQ

---

Or well, questions I assume will be asked :P

### Why both null-terminated and length-prefixed?

Having null-terminated strings allows the use of ANSI C functions directly

without having to go through the hassle of converting back and forth.

### Why both `string_t` and `string`?

Using `string_t` may be faster in some edge cases because it is stack-allocated

and doesn't use `malloc` and `free`. However, it is only recommended to use it

to solve significant bottlenecks.