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2.4) Strings

The document discusses strings in C programming. It defines strings as arrays of characters that end with a null character. It shows how to declare and initialize character arrays with strings, print strings, take string input, assign one string to another using strcpy, and use common string functions like strlen, strcat, strcmp. It also discusses character operations using functions in ctype.h like isalpha and isdigit.

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36 views

2.4) Strings

The document discusses strings in C programming. It defines strings as arrays of characters that end with a null character. It shows how to declare and initialize character arrays with strings, print strings, take string input, assign one string to another using strcpy, and use common string functions like strlen, strcat, strcmp. It also discusses character operations using functions in ctype.h like isalpha and isdigit.

Uploaded by

arupghosh123
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 9 (Strings)

Outline
• Declare a String

• Input a String

• Assign a String

• String functions

• Character type operations


Print a character Array

Program:
// character array
char c[10] = {‘E’, ‘E’, ‘/’,‘C’, ‘p’, ‘r’,‘E’};
for(i=0; i< 7; i++)
{
printf(“%c“, c[i]);
}
____________________________________________
Output: EE/CprE
Print another way

Program:
// character array
char c[10] = {‘E’, ‘E’, ‘/’,‘C’, ‘p’, ‘r’,‘E’};

printf(“%s”, c); //%s to print a string

____________________________________________
Output: EE/CprE
Declare another way

Program:
// define character array with a string
char c[10] = “EE/CprE”;
printf(“%s”, c); //%s to print a string

____________________________________________
Output: EE/CprE
Character vs. String
• Do NOT confuse strings with individual characters
‘E’ is a character

“E” is a string
• initialize a character array with
1) Array of characters
{‘E’,‘E’,‘/’,‘C’,‘p’,‘r’,‘E’}
2) A String
“EE/CprE” //easier to type
Declaring strings

char c[10] = “EE/CprE”; //only 7 chars

•What about the uninitialized characters in the


string?
Array contents
• Contents of the c array

c E
E
/
C
p
r
E
\0
NULL character
automatically
?
assigned
?
Array Contents

Program:
// character array
char c[10] = “EE/CprE”; c E
E
printf(“%s”, c); //output 1
/
c[8] = ‘a’;
C
printf(“%s”, c); //output 2 p
r
_________________________ E
Output 1: EE/CprE \0
Output 2: EE/CprE a
?
Strings, what’s happening
• Prints until NULL character is reached
▪ leave room for it!
Program:
// array size should be >= 8
char c[7] = “EE/CprE”;
printf(“%s”, c); //%s to print a string

____________________________________________
Output:
Strings
• Length is determined by first NULL in the string

• Most string functions in C add NULL automatically

• Array of strings is a double array of characters


▪ From the book:

char month[12][10] = {“January”, “February”,


… , “December”};
Input a String
Program:

char c[N];
scanf(“%s”, c); //no & symbol is required
printf(“%s”, c);

____________________________________________
Input: “EE CprE”
Output: EE //input separated by white space
Input a String
• gets
▪ Get a string from user input
▪ reads until enter is pressed

char c[N];
gets(c);
printf(“%s\n”, c);
____________________________________________
Input: “EE CprE”
Output: EE CprE
Assign value to a String
• Cannot use = operator in C to assign a String

Program:
// character array
char c[N];
c[N] = “Monday”; //will NOT work
Assign value to a String
• Use the String function strcpy in string.h
▪ Copies a string into a destination string

#include <string.h>
…
char c[N];
char tomorrow[] = “Tuesday”;
…
strcpy(c, “Monday”); //c is the destination
…
strcpy(c, tomorrow); //another assignment
Assign value to a String
• Watch out for overflow (bad)

c W
#include <string.h> e
… d
n
char c[7];
e
strcpy(c, “Wednesday”);
s
d
a
overflow y
\0
Assign value to a String
• Better to use strncpy
▪ copies up to n characters from the source

#include <string.h> c W
… e
char c[7]; d
n
strncpy(c, “Wednesday”, 7);
e
s
need NULL d
Assign value to a String
• Better to use strncpy
▪ assign NULL to the end afterword
c W
#include <string.h> e
… d
n
char c[7];
e
strncpy(c, “Wednesday”, 6);
s
c[6] = ‘\0’; \0
//OR
c[6] = NULL; //NULL and ‘\0’ are the same
String Functions <string.h>
• strcmp or strncmp
▪ Compares two strings (good for sorting)
strcmp(“Saturday”, “Sunday”); //answer is -1

strncmp(“way”, “wash”, 2); //answer is 0

• strlen
▪ Returns the number of characters in “Saturday”
strlen(“Saturday”) //answer is 8
String Functions <string.h>
• strcat
▪ Concatenate two strings (good for sorting)

char a[N] = “Hello ”;


char b[N] = “World!\n”;
strcat(a, b);

printf(“%s”, a);

____________________________________________
Output: Hello World!
Character Operations <ctype.h>
• isalpha
▪ is the character a letter of the alphabet?

• isdigit
▪ Is the character a number?

• islower, isupper
▪ Checks the case of the letter

• ispunct

• isspace
A good reference
• http://www.crasseux.com/books/ctutorial/String-
library-
functions.html#String%20library%20functions

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