C - Incompatible types when assigning to type 'char[LENGTH]' from type 'char *'

Question

I want to assign a struct value (that can be max 50 characters) from standard input but am getting the error:

Incompatible types when assigning to type 'char[50]' from type 'char *'

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define MAX_LEN 50

struct msgbuf {
 char mtext[MAX_LEN];
};


int main (int argc, char *argv)
{
    struct msgbuf m;
    char in[MAX_LEN];

    scanf ("%s", in);
    m.mtext = in;

}

Why are you trying to cast `in` to a `char*`? – mstbaum Mar 31 '15 at 19:00 — mstbaum, Mar 31 '15 at 19:00
@mstbaum Since it makes no difference I edited it out – Jebathon Mar 31 '15 at 19:01 — Jebathon, Mar 31 '15 at 19:01
you can't assign an array to another. – Jason Hu Mar 31 '15 at 19:02 — Jason Hu, Mar 31 '15 at 19:02

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 31 '15 at 19:01

1

Arrays have no the copy assignment operator. You have to copy arrays element by element. You can use standard function strcpy declared in header <string.h> that to copy strings. For example

#include <string.h>

//...

strcpy( m.mtext, in );

answered Mar 31 '15 at 19:01

Vlad from Moscow

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C - Incompatible types when assigning to type 'char[LENGTH]' from type 'char *'

1 Answers1