How to convert const char* to char* in C?

To be safe you don't break stuff (for example when these strings are changed in your code or further up), or crash you program (in case the returned string was literal for example like "hello I'm a literal string" and you start to edit it), make a copy of the returned string.

You could use strdup() for this, but read the small print. Or you can of course create your own version if it's not there on your platform.


You can use the strdup function which has the following prototype

char *strdup(const char *s1);

Example of use:

#include <string.h>

char * my_str = strdup("My string literal!");
char * my_other_str = strdup(some_const_str);

or strcpy/strncpy to your buffer

or rewrite your functions to use const char * as parameter instead of char * where possible so you can preserve the const


First of all you should do such things only if it is really necessary - e.g. to use some old-style API with char* arguments which are not modified. If an API function modifies the string which was const originally, then this is unspecified behaviour, very likely crash.

Use cast:

(char*)const_char_ptr