UNIT - III: POINTERS, STRINGS &STRUCTURES

Pointers: Idea of pointers, Defining pointers, usage of self-referential structures in linked list
(noimplementation), passing pointers to functions, idea of call by reference.

Strings: Introduction to strings, handling strings as array of characters, basic string functions
available in C (strlen( ), strcat( ), strcpy( ), strstr( ) etc.), arrays of strings

Structures: Defining structures, initializing structures, unions, Array of structures, Pointers to Arrays
and Structures, Use of Pointers in self-referential structures, Enumerationdata type.
C Strings
 So scanf function read entire line you are supposed to mention like

scanf(“ %[^\n]s “, name); this statement read multiple words like complete line . NEW YORK
String Library functions
The predefined functions which are designed to handle strings are available in
the library string.h. They are −

 strlen ()
 strcmp ()
 strcpy ()
 strncmp ()
 strncpy ()
 strrev ()
 strcat ()
 strstr ()
 strncat ()

The strlen () function

It returns the number of characters in a string.

Syntax
int strlen (string name)

Example

#include <string.h>
main (){
char a[30] = “Hello”;
int l;
l = strlen (a);
printf (“length of the string = %d”, l);
getch ();
}

Output
length of the string = 5
The strcpy () function
 It is for copying source string into destination string.
 The length of the destination string >= source string.

Syntax
strcpy (Destination string , Source String);

For example,

1) char a[50];
strcpy (“Hello”,a);
o/p: error
2) char a[50];
strcpy ( a,”hello”);
o/p: a= “Hello”

Example

#include <string.h>
main (){
char a[50], b[50];
printf ("enter a source string");
scanf("%s", a);
printf("enter destination string");
scanf("%s",b);
strcpy ( b,a);
printf ("copied string = %s",b);
getch ();
}

Output
Enter a source string : Hello
Copied string = Hello
The strncpy () function
 It copy’s ‘n’ characters of source string into destination string.
 The length of the destination string must >= that of the source string.

Syntax
strncpy (Destination string , Source String , n);

Example

#include<string.h>
main (){
char a[50], b[50];
printf ("enter a string");
gets (a);
 gets(b);
strncpy (b,a,3);// copy first 3 char from a string
b[3] = '\0';
printf ("copied string = %s",b);
getch ();
}

Output
Enter a string : Hello
Copied string = Hel
It is also used for extracting substrings;

The strcat () function

 It combines two strings.
 The length of the destination string must be > than the source string.

Syntax
strcat (Destination String , Source string);

Example

#include <string.h>
main(){
char a[50] = "Hello";
char b[20] = "Good Morning";
clrscr ();
strcat (a,b);
printf("concatenated string = %s", a);
getch ();
}

Output
Concatenated string = Hello Good Morning
The strncat () function
 This is used for combining or concatenating n characters of one string into another.
 The length of the destination string must be greater than the source string
 The resultant concatenated string will be in the destination string.

Syntax
strncat (Destination String , Source string , n);

Example

#include <string.h>
main (){
char a [30] = "Hello";
char b [20] = "Good Morning";
clrscr ();
strncat (a,b,4);
a [9] = '\0';
printf("concatenated string = %s", a);
getch ();
}

Output
Concatenated string = Hello Good.

The strcmp() function (String comparison)

 This function compares 2 strings.
 It returns the ASCII difference of the first two non – matching characters in both the
strings.

Syntax
int strcmp (string1 , string2);
//If the difference is equal to zero, then string1 = string2
//If the difference is positive, then string1 > string2
//If the difference is negative, then string1 < string2
Example

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
int main (){
char a[50], b [50];
int d;
printf ("Enter 2 strings:");
scanf ("%s %s", a,b);
d = strcmp(a,b);
if (d==0){
printf("%s is (alphabetically) equal to %s",
a,b);
}else if (d>0){
printf("%s is (alphabetically) greater than
%s",a,b);
}else if (d<0){
printf("%s is (alphabetically) less than %s",
a,b);
}
}

Output
Enter 2 strings:apple ball
apple is (alphabetically) less than ball

The strncmp () function

This function is used for comparing first ‘n’ characters of 2 strings.

Syntax
strncmp ( string1 , string2,2)

For example, char a[10] = “there”;

char b[10] = “there”

strncmp (a,b,4);
 Output − Both strings are equal

The strrev() function

 The function is used for reversing a string.
 The reversed string will be stored in the same string.

Syntax
strrev (string)

Example

#include<stdio.h>
main (){
char a[50] ;
clrscr();
printf ("enter a string");
gets (a);
strrev (a);
printf("reversed string = %s",a)
getch ();
}

Output
enter a string Hello
reversed string = olleH

The strstr() function

 It is used to search whether a substring is present in the main string or not.
 It returns pointer to first occurrence of s2 in s1.

Syntax
strstr(mainsring , substring);

Example
#include<stdio.h>
void main(){
char a[30],b[30];
char *found;
printf("Enter a string:\t");
gets(a);
printf("Enter the string to be searched for:\t");
gets(b);
found=strstr(a,b);
if(found)
printf("%s is found in %s in %d
position",b,a,found-a);
else
printf("-1 since the string is not found");
getch();
}

Output
Enter a string: how are you
Enter the string to be searched for: you
you is found in 8 position

arrays of strings
arrays of strings
arrays of strings
arrays of strings
Program to read and display array of strings
Structures
Ex: struct book {

char name[30];

int pages;

float price;

} b1,b2,b3;
Define a structure type book, that would contain book name, author, pages and price. Write a
program to read this data using member operator (‘.’) and display the same.

Ans
 union
A union is a special data type available in C that allows to store different data types in the same
memory location. You can define a union with many members, but only one member can
contain a value at any given time. Unions provide an efficient way of using the same memory
location for multiple-purpose.

Defining a Union

To define a union, you must use the union statement in the same way as you did while defining
a structure. The union statement defines a new data type with more than one member for your
program. The format of the union statement is as follows −

union [union tag]

{
member definition;
member definition;
...
member definition;
} [one or more union variables];

The union tag is optional and each member definition is a normal variable definition, such as
int i; or float f; or any other valid variable definition. At the end of the union's definition, before
the final semicolon, you can specify one or more union variables but it is optional. Here is the
way you would define a union type named Data having three members i, f, and str −

union Data {
int i;
float f;
char str[20];
} data;

Now, a variable of Data type can store an integer, a floating-point number, or a string of
characters. It means a single variable, i.e., same memory location, can be used to store multiple
types of data. You can use any built-in or user defined data types inside a union based on your
requirement.

The memory occupied by a union will be large enough to hold the largest member of the union.
For example, in the above example, Data type will occupy 20 bytes of memory space because
this is the maximum space which can be occupied by a character string. The following example
displays the total memory size occupied by the above union −

Accessing Union Members

To access any member of a union, we use the member access operator (.). The member access
operator is coded as a period between the union variable name and the union member that we
wish to access. You would use the keyword union to define variables of union type. The
following example shows how to use unions in a program −
 Array of structures
 The most common use of structure in C programming is an array of
structures.
 To declare an array of structure, first the structure must be defined and then
an array variable of that type should be defined.
 For Example − struct book b[10]; //10 elements in an array of structures
of type ‘book’
Pointers with Arrays
 Pointer to arrays
The pointer that points to whole array instead of only one element of the array is called pointer
to array.

Syntax:

data_type (*var_name)[size_of_array];
Example:

int (*p)[5];

Here p is pointer that can point to an array of 5 integers.Since subscript have higher
precedence than indirection, it is necessary to enclose the indirection operator and pointer name
inside parentheses. Here the type of p is ‘pointer to an array of 5 integers’.
Note : The pointer that points to the 0th element of array and the pointer that points to the whole
array are totally different. The following program shows this:

// C program to understand difference between

// pointer to an integer and pointer to an array of integers.
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int *p1; // Pointer to an integer
int (*p2)[5]; // Pointer to an array of 5 integers
int a[5];
p1 = a; // Points to 0th element of the a
p2 = &a;// Points to the whole array a.
printf("p1 = %p, p2 = %p\n", p1, p2);
p1++;
p2++;
printf("p1 = %p, p2 = %p\n", p1, p2);
return 0;
}
output

p1 = 5000, p2 = 5000
p1 = 5002, p2 = 5010

p1: is pointer to 0th element of the array a, while p2 is a pointer that points to the whole array a.
 The base type of p1 is int while base type of p2 is ‘an array of 5 integers’.
 We know that the pointer arithmetic is performed relative to the base size, so if we write
p2++, then the pointer p2 will be shifted forward by 10 bytes.
 for(i=0;i<=3-1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<=3-1;j++)
{
printf(“\t %d “, *(*(p+i)+j));
}
}
}
Out put:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
 Pointer to Structure:

Its members cab be accessed by the following notation.

p->name;
p->age;
p->grade;
when ptr is incrtemented by one it is made to point to the next
record.
Program: /* pointers to structures*/
#include<stdio.h>
struct student
{
char name[20];
int age;
char grade;
};
void main()
{
struct student s[2],*p;
p=&s;
printf("\n size of structure is %d bytes", sizeof(s1));
printf("\n enter details");
for(p=s; p<s+2; p++)
{
printf("\n enter name age grade:\n");
fflush(stdin);
scanf("%s %d %c", p->name, &p->age, &p->grade);
}
printf("\n name age grade \n );
for(p=s;p<s+2;p++)
printf("\n %s %d %c",p->name,p->age, p->grade);
}

output
What is Enumerated data type? Explain with example
An enumeration is a user-defined data type consists of integral constants and
each integral constant is give a name. Keyword enum is used to defined
enumerated data type.

enum type_name{ value1, value2,...,valueN };

Here, type_name is the name of enumerated data type or tag. And
value1,
value2,....,
valueN
are values of type type_name.
By default, value1 will be equal to 0, value2 will be 1 and so on but, the
programmer can change the default value.
// Changing the default value of enum elements

enum suit
{
club=0;
diamonds=10;
hearts=20;
spades=3;
};
Declaration of enumerated variable
Above code defines the type of the data but, no any variable is created. Variable
of type enum can be created as:

enum Boolean
{
 false;
true;
};

enum boolean check;

Here, a variable check is declared which is of type enum boolean.
Example of enumerated type
#include <stdio.h>
enum week{ sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday};
int main()
{
enum week today;
today=wednesday;
printf("%d day",today+1);
return 0;
}
Output
4 day
You can write any program in C language without the help of enumerations but,
enumerations helps in writing clear codes and simplify programming