C-strings merging

This handy code snippet plays a crucial role in merging C strings seamlessly. By leveraging the built-in C-string function strcpy, it allows us to effortlessly combine various strings into a single one, all without the hassle of manually managing memory space. The simplicity of this approach ensures efficiency in string concatenation. I

t’s worth noting that the implementation of this function necessitates the inclusion of the Linux Library va_args, enhancing its versatility and compatibility within the Linux environment.

char* str_merge(int count, ...) {
    va_list ap;
    va_start(ap, count);

    int total_length = 1; // Start with 1 for the null terminator
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        char* va_tmp = va_arg(ap, char*);
        if (va_tmp != NULL) {
            total_length += strlen(va_tmp);
        }
    }
    va_end(ap);

    char* merged = (char*)calloc(total_length, sizeof(char));
    if (merged == NULL) {
        // Handle memory allocation failure if needed
        return NULL;
    }

    int null_pos = 0;
    va_start(ap, count);
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        char* s = va_arg(ap, char*);
        if (s != NULL) {
            strcpy(merged + null_pos, s);
            null_pos += strlen(s);
        }
    }
    va_end(ap);

    return merged;
}

This is a simpler yet equally efficient function without the va_args library

char * str_merge(char **strings) 
{
 int counter1 = 0, counter2 = 0, totalLength = 0;

    // Calculate the total length of merged string
    do {
        totalLength += strlen(strings[counter1]);
    } while (strings[++counter1] != NULL);

    // Allocate memory for the merged string
    char* mergedString = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * (totalLength + 1));

    // Copy the first string to the merged string
    strcpy(mergedString, strings[0]);

    // Concatenate the remaining strings
    for (counter2 = 1; counter2 < counter1; counter2++) {
        strcat(mergedString, strings[counter2]);
    }

    return mergedString;
}