C String Input: Security Best Practices

When reading strings in C language, it is important to keep the following points in mind:

1. When using the scanf function to read a string, make sure the length of the inputted string does not exceed the size of the target character array to avoid buffer overflow.
2. When using the gets function to read a string, it is important to note that it does not check the length of the input string, which may lead to buffer overflow. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid using the gets function as much as possible.
3. It is recommended to use the fgets function to read strings, as you can specify the number of characters to read and the target character array, in order to avoid buffer overflow.
4. For strings allocated dynamically, it is important to release the memory promptly after use to prevent memory leaks.
5. It is important to pay attention to the ending symbol ‘\0’ of strings, to ensure that strings are correctly terminated with ‘\0’, otherwise it will cause errors in string processing functions.
6. When handling user input strings, it is important to consider dealing with invalid inputs, such as special characters or empty strings.