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In other words, yes everything about char c[] = ""; is a "potential hazard". Just do char c = '\0'; if you want to store a null character, because that's essentially all you're doing. ... smoothly, and doesn't crash until the end of the program. Also, the crash can be bypassed by using exit().

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reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › c - why can't we store the null character at the beginning of a string?

r/learnprogramming on Reddit: C - why can't we store the null character at the beginning of a string?

February 28, 2023 -

Or could we?

Top answer

1 of 7

Sure you can. What makes you think you can't? By definition, C strings are terminated by a null character, so saying the null character is at the beginning of a string is just another way of saying the string is empty.

2 of 7

You can make a string array full of null char if you want. In C its just an array. Just make sure you keep track of the supposed length of your array. Now like u/teraflop said, c generic functions that manipulate strings expect the null to be the end of a string.

C For Dummies

c-for-dummies.com › blog

Null Versus Empty Strings | C For Dummies Blog

An empty string has a single element, the null character, '\0'. That’s still a character, and the string has a length of zero, but it’s not the same as a null string, which has no characters at all.

Stack Overflow

stackoverflow.com › questions › 31193454 › empty-character-constant-in-c

Empty character constant in C++ - Stack Overflow

Top answer

1 of 3

This line:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = '';

What you probably mean is:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = '\0';

Or even:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = 0;

Strings are zero terminated, which is written as a plain 0 or the null character '\0'. For double quote strings "" the zero termintation character is implicitly added to the end, but since you explicitly set a single character you must specify which.

2 of 3

You've said that you "get an error stating that strncpy is unsafe to use if I use the null terminator," but you use strlen, which simply does not work if the string isn't null terminated. From cplusplus:

The length of a C string is determined by the terminating null-character

My suggestion would be to use null or 0 like others are suggesting and then just use strcpy instead of strncpy as you copy the whole string every time anyway.

GeeksforGeeks

geeksforgeeks.org › c language › how-to-empty-a-char-array-in-c

How to Empty a Char Array in C? - GeeksforGeeks

July 23, 2025 - We can empty a char array in C by setting all of the elements to ‘\0’. So, we can change every index element to '\0', as the first element is '\0' so the char array[] will be treated as empty.

Quora

quora.com › How-do-you-initialize-char*-to-an-empty-string-in-C

How to initialize char* to an empty string in C - Quora

Answer (1 of 8): An empty string in C - meaning one that would be a legal-formed string that would be regarded as a string of zero-length by the string.h string functions and other functions that operate on strings - is simply [code ]""[/code]. It is an array of [code ]char [/code]with a element,...

Cplusplus

cplusplus.com › reference › cctype › isblank

Cplusplus

Checks whether c is a blank character. A blank character is a space character used to separate words within a line of text. The standard "C" locale considers blank characters the tab character ('\t') and the space character (' '). Other locales may consider blank a different selection of ...

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Empty Character

emptycharacter.com

Empty Characters, Whitespaces & Blank Unicode Characters

Empty characters, blank characters, invisible characters and whitespace characters. They look like a space, but are in fact a different (unicode) character. They can be used if you want to represent an empty space without using space. Let's say you want to use an empty value in a website or application, but spaces are not accepted.

LinuxQuestions.org

linuxquestions.org › questions › programming-9 › how-to-return-empty-char-*-750700

How to return empty char * ?

Hi: Here is my code: Code: char * func1(){ ... ... return ""; } This code give me warning "deprecated convertion from string to char *

Cprogramming

cboard.cprogramming.com › cplusplus-programming › 26100-empty-character-constant-error.html

empty character constant error - C Board - Cprogramming.com

++b; } } if(b==0) cout << "There are no cars whose last name begins with " << let <<".

DaniWeb

daniweb.com › programming › software-development › threads › 242081 › error-c2137-empty-character-constant

c++ - Error C2137: Empty Character Constant? | DaniWeb

The compiler error comes from the use of '': C/C++ does not allow an empty character literal. A character literal must contain exactly one character (e.g. 'a') and a string literal ("") is an array/type incompatible with char.

Quora

quora.com › How-do-I-check-if-a-char-array-is-empty

How to check if a char array is empty - Quora

Answer (1 of 10): Alan gave good answer but let me extend a bit. What empty char array means? Let me use C++ array (vector) class to explain. [code]std::vector String; [/code]In C world this is something like: [code]char* pString = NULL; // non allocated, zero sized array pString = (c...

Stack Overflow

stackoverflow.com › questions › 74854267 › using-empty-char-in-c

Using empty char in C - Stack Overflow

Top answer

1 of 2

You could use a non-printable character but they may end up looking like something else.

You'd be better off using strings:

printf("There %s %d neighbor%s\n",
 nbNeighbors != 1 ? "are" : "is",
 nbNeighbors,
 nbNeighbors != 1 ? "s" : ""
);

2 of 2

OP: "I want to use the ternary operator..."
Unless the exercise is to practice the ternary operator, committing to a particular technique blinds one to possibilites.

The example below uses 'branchless' code to deliver a grammatically correct result (ignoring the American spelling of "neighbour".)

printf( "There %s %d neighbor%s\n",
    "are\0is" + (nbNeighbors == 1)*4,
    nbNeighbors,
    "s" + (nbNeighbors == 1) );

I'd never recommend manipulating the truth, but manipulating a truth value can come in handy sometimes.

EDIT
The above may be difficult for some to read/understand.

Below is the same thing expressed slightly differently:

printf( "There %s %d neighbor%s\n",
    !(nbNeighbors-1)*4 + "are\0is",
    nbNeighbors,
    !(nbNeighbors-1) + "s" );

Tested, functional and branchless.

Stack Overflow

stackoverflow.com › questions › 53869877 › where-to-use-empty-character-constant-in-c

Where to use empty character constant '' in C++? - Stack Overflow

Top answer

1 of 3

Can we put it in C++ source code?

No, it would be a syntax error.

If not, what's the usage of ''?

There is no usage, unless your purpose is to cause a compilation error (for which there are probably better alternatives such as static_assert).

Can it be understood that empty character constant '' is just a pure grammar error just like a variable being named as 2018ch ?

Yes. The grammar says:

character-literal:
     encoding-prefix opt ' c-char-sequence '

Notice that unlike the encoding-prefix, c-char-sequence is not optional.

Side note: Yes, it is a character sequence - multi character literals exist. But you don't need to learn about them yet other than knowing that you probably won't need them. Just don't assume that they're strings.

2 of 3

'' makes no sense and thus it won't compile, what value is it supposed to have?

Remember, it's all just bits and bytes in memory at some point so what value should the bytes have that represent ''?

char a = 0;
//or
char a = '\0';

These represent "empty" chars which is the closest you'll get to ''.

Arduino Forum

forum.arduino.cc › projects › programming

Empty value detection for char* type variable - Programming - Arduino Forum

September 20, 2022 - Hi all, I just simply want to detect whether a char * variable is empty or not. For example, char* token =""; If( token != '\0' ){ Serial.println("okay"); }else{ Serial.println("Something is wrong!!!!"); } But it wi…

reddit.com › r/csharp › [help] empty character literal

r/csharp on Reddit: [HELP] Empty character literal

March 20, 2013 -

So i have been willing to learn to code for a long time and i started 4 days ago and im watching some youtube tutorials but my VisualStudio 2012 is typing ' ' instead of '' and it keep giving me Empty character literal error. Any solutions ? ( i already tried to google it but i couldnt understand a word)

Top answer

1 of 4

So, strings are made up of characters. You can have literals of them both. Double-quotes indicate string literals, and single-quotes indicate character literals.

It's ok to have a zero-length string (""), but a zero-length character doesn't make any sense and isn't valid. This is what the compiler is telling you.

Bonus credit: Try not to use "" for empty strings - use String.Empty instead. It communicates your intent better, and reduces the chance of a space accidentally getting in there via typing error.

2 of 4

Use "" for the empty string. Single quotes need exactly one character between them.

'' doesn't make any sense. Try 'A' or 'z' or '%' or '.' instead.