byte_equal(3)

🦋 byte_equal(3) 🦋

okay bestie, welcome to the Library Functions Manual page for byte_equal(3) — she's a tiny little function with main character energy, and she has ONE job: comparing two strings. let's get into it 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

byte_equal — compare two strings 🫶

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🌸 SYNTAX 🌸

#include <libowfat/byte.h>

int byte_equal(const char *one,size_t len,const char *two);

like, that's the whole vibe. include the header, call the function, boom. ⭐

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so byte_equal returns 1 if the strings are equal, and 0 otherwise. that's it, that's the tea. 🍓

BUT here's the part you actually need to know, bestie, because it's giving important: when the strings are different, byte_equal does not read bytes past the first difference. so it stops the second it finds a mismatch. lowkey efficient, highkey a problem depending on what you're doing. 👀

the way that an attacker observing the execution timing can learn where the first mismatch happened?? yeah. that's a real thing. the time it takes leaks info, and that's not the vibe you want for secrets. 💀

so if you're comparing keys, passphrases, cookies or hashes — do NOT use byte_equal, okay?? use byte_equal_notimingattack instead. periodt. 🔥

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• byte_diff(3)
• byte_equal_notimingattack(3)

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okay that's the whole page, bestie!! tysm for reading, you ate that. this was the byte_equal(3) manual page, mwah 💖✨🌈 bye bye 🦋💅