Although it's a very easy mistake to make it can, as you say, be a real #@*&%$ to spot - even for seasoned users!


It is working in that it's doing what the code specifically says - the problem is that what the code says is not what you actually wanted to do!

This is a fine example of how a piece of code can compile without errors, and run without crashing, yet not produce the result that you wanted.

It is very important to understand the difference between the syntax & sematics errors that can be spotted by the compiler, and this type of coding error - which cannot.


What do you mean by, "plain old fashioned C"?


It's not a "command"; it's a call to a function - and that function just happens to be provided as part of the standard 'C' library.

Note that the standard 'C' library is plain, old fashioned 'C'!



Note that shorter source code does not equate to smaller executable code.

In this case, as previously noted, it is unlikely that a hand-coded 'C' loop can beat (either on size or speed) the compiler's own strcmp library function - which should have been carefully optimised by the compiler maker.

But calling something apparently (sic) simple like printf can add a huge amount to your executable!

Floating point is another key example.



No - nothing to feel stupid about there!