How to Use memcpy Function in Arduino

Arduino boards can be programmed using IDE. Arduino programming is based upon simplified versions of C and C++. Arduino inherits a lot of its programming techniques from these two languages. Many of the functions used in Arduino are the same as in C language. Sometimes we need to optimize our Arduino boards using programming techniques, so multiple functions are there that make the code more simplified and easier to read, which overall improves Arduino efficiency.

What is memcpy() in Arduino

The memcpy() is a function used in Arduino programming that can copy a block of memory from source location to the memory block of destination. It can copy “n” characters from source to destination memory.

Here we will discuss how memcpy() is used in Arduino programming. The memcpy() function can be represented in following syntax:

mempcpy(destination, source, strlen(source));

memcpy() Parameters

memcpy() function has three parameters:

1: Destination

Destinations indicate the memory block where the source memory will be copied. This shows a pointer towards the destination array where the source array will be copied.

2: Source

This is the source point from which the array memory block will be copied. This array memory block will be pasted to the destination location.

3: Size/Length

This indicates the size of the memory block which we are going to copy from source to destination. It is strlen() type.

How to Use memcpy() in Arduino

In Arduino we use memcpy() to copy data from source to destination with a specified number of bytes. It is used to copy memory blocks from one location to another.

To get more understanding about memcpy() function, we will take an Arduino sketch and try to copy an array from one to another destination.

void setup()

{

Serial.begin(115200);

char source[14] = "LinuxHint.com"; //This is Source Array

char destination[14];

strcpy(destination, "Website"); //This is Destination Array

Serial.print("Before memcpy() destination = ");

Serial.println(destination); //Destination before memcpy()

memcpy(destination, source, strlen(source)+1); //memcpy() function

Serial.print("After memcpy() destination = ");

Serial.println(destination); //Destination Array after memcpy()

}

void loop()

{

}

In the above example we have declared a two-character array source and destination. Size of the source char array is 14 and the size of the destination char array is 8.

In line 7 we have printed the output of the destination array on the serial monitor as “Before memcpy() destination”.

After that we have executed memcpy() function which will copy and replace source array char “LinuxHint.com” to our destination array that is “Website”.

In line 10 we have printed the output of the destination array after applying memcpy() function on the serial monitor. Pictorial representation of memcpy() function can be given as below:

Output on serial monitor is shown in figure below:

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how memcpy() function works in Arduino programming. The memcpy() function in Arduino can copy any array from source to destination memory block. Using this function, you can optimize overall code performance.