How to copy a string into a char array in C++ without going over the buffer

Question

I want to copy a string into a char array, and not overrun the buffer.

So if I have a char array of size 5, then I want to copy a maximum of 5 bytes from a string in

Answer 1

If you always have a buffer of size 5, then you could do:

std::string s = "Your string";
char buffer[5]={s[0],s[1],s[2],s[3],'\0'};

Edit: Of course, assuming that your std::string is large enough.