c - How to use default values in a char array?

Question

I have the easiest question possible: how to initialise a value in C? My variable is of the type char[20] and it is declared somewhere outside of my unit. It is impossible to change the type.

Now I would like to give it a default value, let's say all empty characters (or spaces, whatever), but this is not working at all. I have already tried :

Method 1.

host = "";

=> cannot convert from 'const char [1]' to 'char [20]'

Method 2.

host = "                   ";

=> cannot convert from 'const char [20]' to 'char [20]

Method 3.

host = '                   ';

=> cannot convert from 'int' to 'char [20]

Method 4.

host = {"", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", };

=> syntax error : '{'

...

I am getting desperate here: how and why have the inventors of C made it so difficult to simply declare a value to a variable :-( ?

Answer 1

memset(&host, 0, sizeof(host));

will fill it with zeroes.