cwhile-loopassignment-operatorstrcpy

I have problem understanding the condition of the following while loop


void strcpy(char *s, char *t)
{
    int i;
    i = 0;
    while ((*s = *t) != '\0') {
        s++;
        t++;
    }
}

I made a function to copy string t to string s using pointers from K&R. The while loop uses (*s = *t)!='\0' which is supposed to mean that to run loop till the we reach the end of t string but I didn't understand how it works, According to me: when the end is reached s gets '\0' in end so it got assigned but how the comparision of this is made with !='\0' part, does the bracket (*s=*t) returned '\0' in end and then it is compared and the loop is ended?


Solution

  • Generally, the line

    if ( ( a = b ) != c )
    

    is equivalent to the following:

    a = b;
    if ( a != c )
    

    This is because the sub-expression ( a = b ) evaluates to the new value of a.

    For the same reason, in the line

    while ((*s = *t) != '\0')
    

    the sub-expression ( *s = *t ) will evaluate to the new value of *s, so the loop condition is effectively *s != '\0', where *s is the new value, which is the value of *t.

    So yes, you are correct that the loop will end as soon as *t becomes a null character.