Error when passing arguments and convert it to hexadecimal - c++

Question

How could insert text by argument and automatically transform it to hex?
I tried with:
unsigned char aesKey[32] = argv[1];
but get errors
The output would be like this:
unsigned char aesKey[32] = {
0x53, 0x28, 0x40, 0x6e, 0x2f, 0x64, 0x63, 0x5d, 0x2d, 0x61, 0x77, 0x40, 0x76, 0x71, 0x77, 0x28,
0x74, 0x61, 0x7d, 0x66, 0x61, 0x73, 0x3b, 0x5d, 0x66, 0x6d, 0x3c, 0x3f, 0x7b, 0x66, 0x72, 0x36
};
unsigned char *buf;
aes256_context ctx;
aes256_init(&ctx, aesKey);
for (unsigned long i = 0; i < lSize/16; i++) {
buf = text + (i * 16);
aes256_encrypt_ecb(&ctx, buf);
}
aes256_done(&ctx);
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

In C and C++, when you have code like
char name[]="John Smith";
The compiler knows at compile time what the size of that char array, and all the values will be. So it can allocate it on the stack frame and assign it the value.
When you have code like
char * strptr = foo();
char str[] = strptr;
The compiler doesn't know what the size and value of the string pointed by strptr is. That is why this is not allowed in C/C++.
In other words, only string literals can be assigned to char arrays, and that too only at the time of declaration.
So
char name[] = "John Smith";
is allowed.
char name[32];
name = "John Smith";
is not allowed.
Use memcpy
So you could use memcpy. (Or use c++ alternative that others have alluded to)
unsigned char *aesKey;
size_t len = (strlen(argv[1])+1)*sizeof(unsigned char);
aesKey = malloc(len);
memcpy(aesKey, argv[1], len);
The old solution
(here is my previous answer, the answer above is better)
So you need to use strncpy.
unsigned char aesKey[32];
strncpy((char *) aesKey, argv[1], 32);
Notice the routine is strncpy not strcpy. strcpy is unsafe. (Thanks PRouleau for the arg fix)
If strncpy is not available in Visual Studio then you may have to try strcpy_s (Thanks Google: user:427390)

Answer 2

In C/C++, the compiler does not automatically manipulate the arrays. You have to specify how to copy them.
The good old way is with memcpy(). A more modern way is with std::copy(). In any case, you have to validate the length of argv[1] before copying into aesKey.
For the conversion into hex, you probably have to transform a string like "AAEE3311" (up to 2*32 chars) into bytes. You should use std::istringstream and fill your aesKey position by position.
Ex:
std::istringstream Input(argv[1]);
Input >> std::hex >> aesKey[0];

Answer 3

I would imagine a program being called as below -
myprog 0x53 0x28 0x40 0x6e 0x2f 0x64 0x63
Inside the program I would have a loop to assign the arguments to the array -
const int size = 32;
unsigned char aesKey[size];
char* p;
for (int i = 1; i < argc || i < size; ++i)
{
aesKey[i] = (unsigned char)strtol(argv[i], &p, 16);
}