Question

I have a function that will parse some data coming in. My problem is that after using strncpy I get some garbage when I try to print it. I try using malloc to make the char array the exact size.

Code:

void parse_data(char *unparsed_data)
{
char *temp_str;
char *pos;
char *pos2;
char *key;
char *data;
const char newline = '\n';

int timestamp = 0;

temp_str = (char*)malloc(strlen(unparsed_data));

g_print("\nThe original string is: \n%s\n",unparsed_data);


//Ignore the first two lines
pos = strchr(unparsed_data, newline);
strcpy(temp_str, pos+1);
pos = strchr(temp_str, newline);
strcpy(temp_str, pos+1);

//Split the line in two; The key name and the value
pos = strchr(temp_str, ':'); // ':' divides the name from the value
pos2 = strchr(temp_str, '\n'); //end of the line
key = (char*)malloc((size_t)(pos-temp_str)-1); //allocate enough memory
data = (char*)malloc((size_t)(pos2-pos)-1);

strncpy(key, temp_str, (size_t)(pos-temp_str));
strncpy(data, pos + 2, (size_t)(pos2-pos));

timestamp = atoi(data);

g_print("size of the variable \"key\" = %d or %d\n", (size_t)(pos-temp_str), strlen(key));
g_print("size of the variable \"data\" = %d or %d\n", (size_t)(pos2-pos), strlen(data));

g_print("The key name is %s\n",key);
g_print("The value is %s\n",data);
g_print("End of Parser\n");
  }

Output:

The original string is: 
NEW_DATAa_PACKET
Local Data Set 16-byte Universal Key
Time Stamp (microsec): 1319639501097446
Frame Number: 0
Version: 3
Angle (deg): 10.228428

size of the variable "key" = 21 or 22
size of the variable "data" = 18 or 21
The key name is Time Stamp (microsec)
The value is 1319639501097446
F32
End of Parser

Run it again:

  The original string is: 
  NEW_DATAa_PACKET
  Local Data Set 16-byte Universal Key
  Time Stamp (microsec): 1319639501097446
  Frame Number: 0
  Version: 3
  Angle (deg): 10.228428

  size of the variable "key" = 21 or 25
  size of the variable "data" = 18 or 18
  The key name is Time Stamp (microsec)ipe 
  The value is 1319639501097446
  F
  End of Parser

Answer 1

Your strncpy(data, pos + 2, (size_t)(pos2-pos)); doesn’t add a terminating \0 character at the end of the string. Therefore when you try to print it later, printf() prints your whole data string and whatever is in the memory right after it, until it reaches zero – that’s the garbate you’re getting. You need to explicitly append zero at the end of your data. It’s also needed for atoi().

Edit:
You need to allocate one more byte for your data, and write a terminating character there. data[len_of_data] = '\0'. Only after that it becomes a valid C string and you can use it for atoi() and printf().