strfry(3)

💖 strfry(3) — bestie edition 💖

okay so like, hi. this is the <strfry> page from section 3 of the manual (library functions, iykyk), and we're gonna talk about the silliest little function in libc. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

strfry — string fry (obfuscate) 🍟

like. it fries your string. that's genuinely the official word. iconic behaviour fr fr.

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📚 LIBRARY 📚

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

yes bestie, it's just chilling in libc. you already have it. no extra linking drama.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#define _GNU_SOURCE         /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <string.h>

char *strfry(char *string);

⚠️ okay important!! see that #define _GNU_SOURCE at the top? that is NOT optional, babes. that's your ✨feature test macro✨ (go read feature_test_macros(7) if you want the lore) and without it this function simply does not exist for you. it's giving locked door energy. 🔐

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so. the strfry() function randomizes the contents of string by randomly swapping characters in the string.

that's it. that's the whole thing. it shuffles your characters around like a deck of cards and hands it back.

and the result? the result is an anagram of string 💫 — same letters, brand new order. not me turning "hello" into "lloeh" and calling it self care.

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🫶 RETURN VALUE 🫶

The strfry() functions returns a pointer to the randomized string.

(she returns a pointer!! to the randomized string!! yes the typo is in the original, we keep it, we're preserving the lore 💅)

lowkey convenient though — you don't even have to remember where your buffer was, she just hands it right back to you.

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👑 ATTRIBUTES 👑

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7). real ones go read it.

here's the vibe check table, translated for the girlies:

• Interface: strfry()
• Attribute: Thread safety
• Value: MT-Safe

that's right bestie — strfry() is MT-Safe ✨ you can call her from multiple threads and she will not start drama. the way that she's just thread safe with zero caveats. ate and left no crumbs. 🍽️

(as always, the man page says see attributes(7) for what "MT-Safe" actually means — go look, don't @ me.)

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🌈 STANDARDS 🌈

GNU.

just GNU. not POSIX, not ISO C, not gonna be portable out here in the wild, bestie. GNU or nothing. periodt.

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• memfrob(3) — the other cursed little GNU goblin. its bestie fr fr.
• string(3) — the whole string function family reunion, go meet the relatives.

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ngl though, quick vibe check before you run off and strfry() everything: it's GNU-only and it needs _GNU_SOURCE. if you need it on a non-glibc system you're on your own, queen. also she mutates your string in place, so don't be passing her a string literal in read-only memory. 😭 that's not a slay, that's a segfault.

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okay that's the whole page, you understood all of it, I'm so proud of you 🥹 mwah 💜

this cutie was brought to you by Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2026-07-26, and yeah — we're in strfry(3), section 3, always and forever. byeeeee 💖✨🎀🦋