Is it possible to modify a string of char in C?

Question

I have been struggling for a few hours with all sorts of C tutorials and books related to pointers but what I really want to know is if it\'s possible to change a char point

Answer 1

All are good answers explaining why you cannot modify string literals because they are placed in read-only memory. However, when push comes to shove, there is a way to do this. Check out this example:

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

int take_me_back_to_DOS_times(const void *ptr, size_t len);

int main()
{
    const *data = "Bender is always sober.";
    printf("Before: %s\n", data);
    if (take_me_back_to_DOS_times(data, sizeof(data)) != 0)
        perror("Time machine appears to be broken!");
    memcpy((char *)data + 17, "drunk!", 6);
    printf("After: %s\n", data);

    return 0;
}

int take_me_back_to_DOS_times(const void *ptr, size_t len)
{
    int pagesize;
    unsigned long long pg_off;
    void *page;

    pagesize = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
    if (pagesize < 0)
        return -1;
    pg_off = (unsigned long long)ptr % (unsigned long long)pagesize;
    page = ((char *)ptr - pg_off);
    if (mprotect(page, len + pg_off, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE | PROT_EXEC) == -1)
        return -1;
    return 0;
}

I have written this as part of my somewhat deeper thoughts on const-correctness, which you might find interesting (I hope :)).

Hope it helps. Good Luck!