In C, the **`memset()` function** stores a specific character in the first `n` number of places of a memory block. 



# Syntax
The general syntax for the `memset()` function is:

void *memset(void *string, int c, size_t n)


## Parameters
Let's look at the parameters that the `memset()` function takes as input:

* **string:** Pointer to the memory block where data will be set

* **C:** The character to be copied

* **N:** The number of bytes to be set

> **Note:** 
>
>1. The pointer has been declared `void *` so that it may be used for any data type.
> 2. The character **c** is passed as an integer value but it is converted to an unsigned character.


## Return value
The function returns a pointer to the memory block **string**. 

# Examples
1. Let's look at a simple example of modifying a string to understand the use of the `memset()` function.


#include<stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() {
  char string[20] = "Hello World!";
  printf("String before memset(): %s \n", string);
  memset(string, '*', 4 * sizeof(string[0])); //setting first 4 characters to '*'
  printf("String after memset(): %s \n", string);
  return 0;
}

> **Note:** Since a character is of 1 byte, to set 4 characters, we will pass **n** as 4

2. Using `memset()` on a block of memory storing Integer values is just as simple. Execute the following code to see how it works:

#include<stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main() {
  int str[5] = {1,2,3,4,5};
  /* Printing array before memset */
  for (int i=0;i<5;i++)
  {
    printf("%d \t", str[i]);
  }
  printf("\n");
  /* setting first 2 elements to 0 */
  memset(str, 0, 8);
  /* Printing array after memset */
  for (int i=0;i<5;i++)
  {
    printf("%d \t", str[i]);
  }
  return 0;
}

> **Note:** Since an Integer is of 4 bytes, to set the first 2 elements of the array, we will pass **n** as 8, i.e. 4 * 2 = 8

Copying data using the memset() function in C

Syntax

Parameters

Return value

Examples