Question

When I try and compile this program, I get errors (included below the code) about strcpy’s second argument. I’m honestly stumped on what to do to fix it. And I’m sorry if my code is not efficient or pretty to look at; I’m just a beginning CS student.

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std;

int main(){   


 int r = 0;
 char *article[]={"the", "a", "one", "some", "any"};
 char *noun[]={"boy","girl","dog","town","car"};
 char *verb[]={"drove","jumped","ran","walked","skipped"};
    char *preposition[]={"to","from","over","under","on"};
    char sentence [80];

 srand(time(NULL));
 for(int i=0;i<=20;i++){

    r = (rand()%5);
 strcpy(sentence,*article[r]);
 strcat(sentence," ");
    r = (rand()%5);
 strcat(sentence,*noun[r]);
 strcat(sentence," ");
 r = (rand()%5);
 strcat(sentence,*verb[r]);
 strcat(sentence," ");
 r = (rand()%5);
 strcat(sentence,*preposition[r]);
 strcat(sentence," ");
 r = (rand()%5);
 strcat(sentence,*article[r]);
 strcat(sentence," ");
 r = (rand()%5);
 strcat(sentence,*noun[r]);
 strcat(sentence,".");
 }

 sentence[0]= toupper(sentence[0]);
 cout<<sentence <<endl;


 system("pause");
 return 0;}

1>Compiling...
1>assignment 8.cpp
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(16) : warning C4244: 'argument' : conversion from 'time_t' to 'unsigned int', possible loss of data
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(20) : error C2664: 'strcpy' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(23) : error C2664: 'strcat' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(26) : error C2664: 'strcat' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(29) : error C2664: 'strcat' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(32) : error C2664: 'strcat' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast
1>e:\assignment 8\assignment 8\assignment 8.cpp(35) : error C2664: 'strcat' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'char' to 'const char *'
1>        Conversion from integral type to pointer type requires reinterpret_cast, C-style cast or function-style cast

Answer 1

DANGER. strcat() AND strcpy() ARE THE LEADING CAUSES OF CODE CANCER. Using them exposes you to all kinds of buffer overflows. Use strncat()/strncpy(), or (even better) just use std::string, since you’re using C++!

strcat() and strcpy() expect their arguments to be strings. *article[r] is a single char—article[r] is the string you want. So, drop the leading asterisks.