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.\" Copyright, The contributors to the Linux man-pages project
.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft
.\"
.TH memmove 3 2025-05-06 "Linux man-pages 6.14"
.SH NAME
memmove \- copy memory area
.SH LIBRARY
Standard C library
.RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <string.h>
.P
.BI "void *memmove(size_t " n ;
.BI "              void " dest [ n "], const void " src [ n "], size_t " n );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR memmove ()
function copies
.I n
bytes from memory area
.I src
to memory area
.IR dest .
The memory areas may overlap: copying takes place as though
the bytes in
.I src
are first copied into a temporary array that does not overlap
.I src
or
.IR dest ,
and the bytes are then copied from the temporary array to
.IR dest .
.SH RETURN VALUE
The
.BR memmove ()
function returns a pointer to
.IR dest .
.SH ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
.BR attributes (7).
.TS
allbox;
lbx lb lb
l l l.
Interface	Attribute	Value
T{
.na
.nh
.BR memmove ()
T}	Thread safety	MT-Safe
.TE
.SH STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008.
.SH HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, C89, SVr4, 4.3BSD.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR bcopy (3),
.BR bstring (3),
.BR memccpy (3),
.BR memcpy (3),
.BR strcpy (3),
.BR strncpy (3),
.BR wmemmove (3)