Strings
▪A string is a sequence of characters treated as a group
▪We have already used some string literals:
◦ “filename”
◦ “output string”
▪Strings are important in many programming contexts:
◦ names
◦ other objects (numbers, identifiers, etc.)
Outline
❖Strings
▪ Representation in C
▪ String Literals
▪ String Variables
▪ String Input/Output
o printf, scanf, gets, fgets, puts, fputs
▪ String Functions
o strlen, strcpy, strncpy, strcmp, strncmp, strcat, strncat, strchr,
strrchr, strstr, strspn, strcspn, strtok
▪ Reading from/Printing to Strings
o sprintf, sscanf
Strings in C
▪No explicit type, instead strings are maintained as arrays
of characters
▪Representing strings in C
o stored in arrays of characters
o array can be of any length
o end of string is indicated by a delimiter, the zero character ‘\0’
"A String" A S t r i n g \0
String Literals
String literal values are represented by sequences
of characters between double quotes (“)
Examples
◦ “” - empty string
◦ “hello”
“a” versus ‘a’
◦ ‘a’ is a single character value (stored in 1 byte) as the
ASCII value for a
◦ “a” is an array with two characters, the first is a, the
second is the character value \0
Referring to String Literals
▪String literal is an array, can refer to a single character
from the literal as a character
Example:
oprintf(“%c”,”hello”[1]);
ooutputs the character ‘e’
▪During compilation, C creates space for each string
literal (# of characters in the literal + 1)
oreferring to the literal refers to that space (as if it is an array)
Duplicate String Literals
▪Each string literal in a C program is stored at a
different location
▪So even if the string literals contain the same
string, they are not equal (in the == sense)
Example:
ochar string1[6] = “hello”;
ochar string2[6] = “hello”;
obut string1 does not equal string2 (they are stored at
different locations)
String Variables
▪Allocate an array of a size large enough to hold the
string (plus 1 extra value for the delimiter)
Examples (with initialization):
o char str1[6] = “Hello”;
o char str2[] = “Hello”;
o char *str3 = “Hello”;
o char str4[6] = {‘H’,’e’,’l’,’l’,’o’,’\0’};
▪Note, each variable is considered a constant in that
the space it is connected to cannot be changed
o str1 = str2; /* not allowable, but we can copy the contents
of str2 to str1 (more later) */
Changing String Variables
▪Cannot change space string variables connected to,
but can use pointer variables that can be changed
▪Example:
ochar *str1 = “hello”; /* str1 unchangeable */
ochar *str2 = “goodbye”; /* str2 unchangeable */
ochar *str3; /* Not tied to space */
ostr3 = str1; /* str3 points to same space str1 connected to */
ostr3 = str2;
Changing String Variables (cont)
▪Can change parts of a string variable
char str1[6] = “hello”;
str1[0] = ‘y’; /* str1 is now “yello” */
str1[4] = ‘\0’; /* str1 is now “yell” */
▪Important to retain delimiter (replacing str1[5] in the
original string with something other than ‘\0’ makes a
string that does not end)
▪Have to stay within limits of array
String Input
❖Use %s field specification in scanf to read string
▪ ignores leading white space
▪ reads characters until next white space encountered
▪ C stores null (\0) char after last non-white space char
▪ Reads into array (no & before name, array is a pointer)
Example:
char name[11];
scanf(“%s”,name);
Problem: no limit on number of characters read (need one
for delimiter), if too many characters for array, problems
may occur
String Input (cont)
❖Can use the width value in the field specification to
limit the number of characters read:
char name[11];
scanf(“%10s”,name);
❖Remember, you need one space for the \0
◦ width should be one less than size of array
❖Strings shorter than the field specification are read
normally, but C always stops after reading 10
characters
String Input (cont)
❖Edit set input %[ListofChars]
◦ ListofChars specifies set of characters (called scan set)
◦ Characters read as long as character falls in scan set
◦ Stops when first non scan set character encountered
◦ Note, does not ignored leading white space
◦ Any character may be specified except ]
◦ Putting ^ at the start to negate the set (any character BUT list
is allowed)
Examples:
scanf(“%[-+0123456789]”,number);
scanf(“%[^\n]”,Line); /* read until newline char */
String Output
❖Use %s field specification in printf:
o characters in string printed until \0 encountered
o char name[10] = “Rich”;
o printf(“|%s|”,name); /* outputs |Rich| */
❖Can use width value to print string in space:
o printf(“|%10s|”,name); /* outputs | Rich| */
❖Use - flag to left justify:
o printf(“|%-10s|”,name); /* outputs |Rich | */
Input/Output Example
#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
char lastName[11];
char firstName[11];
printf("Enter your name (last , first): ");
scanf("%10s%*[^,],%10s",lastName,firstName);
printf("Nice to meet you %s %s\n",
firstName,lastName);
}
Reading a Whole Line
❖Commands:
▪ char *gets(char *str)
• reads the next line (up to the next newline) from keyboard and stores it
in the array of chars pointed to by str
• returns str if string read or NULL if problem/end-of-file
• not limited in how many chars read (may read too many for array)
• newline included in string read
▪ char *fgets(char *str, int size, FILE *fp)
• reads next line from file connected to fp, stores string in str
• fp must be an input connection
• reads at most size characters (plus one for \0)
• returns str if string read or NULL if problem/end-of-file
• to read from keyboard: fgets(mystring,100,stdin)
• newline included in string read
Printing a String
❖Commands:
▪ int puts(char *str)
• prints the string pointed to by str to the screen
• prints until delimiter reached (string better have a \0)
• returns EOF if the puts fails
• outputs newline if \n encountered (for strings read with gets or fgets)
▪ int fputs(char *str, FILE *fp)
• prints the string pointed to by str to the file connected to fp
• fp must be an output connection
• returns EOF if the fputs fails
• outputs newline if \n encountered
fgets/fputs Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
void main() {
char fname[81];
char buffer[101];
FILE *instream;
printf("Show file: ");
scanf("%80s",fname);
fgets/fputs Example
if ((instream = fopen(fname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open file %s\n",fname);
exit(-1);
}
printf("\n%s:\n",fname);
fgets/fputs Example (cont)
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream)
!= NULL)
fputs(buffer,stdout);
fclose(instream);
}
Array of Strings
❖Sometimes useful to have an array of string
values
❖Each string could be of different length (producing
a ragged string array)
Example:
char *MonthNames[13]; /* an array of 13 strings */
MonthNames[1] = “January”; /* String with 8 chars */
MonthNames[2] = “February”; /* String with 9 chars */
MonthNames[3] = “March”; /* String with 6 chars */
etc.
Array of Strings Example
#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
char *days[7];
char TheDay[10];
int day;
days[0] = "Sunday";
days[1] = "Monday";
days[2] = "Tuesday";
days[3] = "Wednesday";
days[4] = "Thursday";
days[5] = "Friday";
days[6] = "Saturday";
Array of Strings Example
printf("Please enter a day: ");
scanf("%9s",TheDay);
day = 0;
while ((day < 7) && (!samestring(TheDay,days[day])))
day++;
if (day < 7)
printf("%s is day %d.\n",TheDay,day);
else
printf("No day %s!\n",TheDay);
}
Array of Strings Example
int samestring(char *s1, char *s2) {
int i;
/* Not same if not of same length */
if (strlen(s1) != strlen(s2))
return 0;
/* look at each character in turn */
for (i = 0; i < strlen(s1); i++)
/* if a character differs, string not same */
if (s1[i] != s2[i]) return 0;
return 1;
}
String Functions
❖C provides a wide range of string functions for
performing different string tasks
Examples:
▪ strlen(str) - calculate string length
▪ strcpy(dst,src) - copy string at src to dst
▪ strcmp(str1,str2) - compare str1 to str2
❖Functions come from the utility library string.h
◦ #include <string.h> to use
String Length
❖Syntax: int strlen(char *str)
oreturns the length (integer) of the string argument
ocounts the number of characters until an \0 encountered
odoes not count \0 char
Example:
char str1 = “hello”;
strlen(str1) would return 5
Copying a String
❖Syntax:
▪ char *strcpy(char *dst, char *src)
o copies the characters (including the \0) from the source string (src) to
the destination string (dst)
o dst should have enough space to receive entire string (if not, other
data may get written over)
o if the two strings overlap (e.g., copying a string onto itself) the results
are unpredictable
o return value is the destination string (dst)
▪ char *strncpy(char *dst, char *src, int n)
o similar to strcpy, but the copy stops after n characters
o if n non-null (not \0) characters are copied, then no \0 is copied
String Comparison
❖Syntax:
▪ int strcmp(char *str1, char *str2)
o compares str1 to str2, returns a value based on the first character
they differ at:
less than 0
if ASCII value of the character they differ at is smaller for str1
or if str1 starts the same as str2 (and str2 is longer)
greater than 0
if ASCII value of the character they differ at is larger for str1
or if str2 starts the same as str1 (and str1 is longer)
0 if the two strings do not differ
String Comparison (cont)
▪strcmp examples:
ostrcmp(“hello”,”hello”) -- returns 0
ostrcmp(“yello”,”hello”) -- returns value > 0
ostrcmp(“Hello”,”hello”) -- returns value < 0
ostrcmp(“hello”,”hello there”) -- returns value < 0
ostrcmp(“some diff”,”some dift”) -- returns value < 0
▪expression for determining if two strings s1,s2 hold
the same string value:
o!strcmp(s1,s2)
String Comparison (cont)
▪Sometimes we only want to compare first n chars:
oint strncmp(char *s1, char *s2, int n)
▪Works the same as strcmp except that it stops at the
nth character
olooks at less than n characters if either string is shorter than n
ostrcmp(“some diff”,”some DIFF”) -- returns value > 0
ostrncmp(“some diff”,”some DIFF”,4) -- returns 0
strcpy/strcmp Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void main() {
char fname[81];
char prevline[101] = "";
char buffer[101];
FILE *instream;
strcpy/strcmp Example
printf("Check which file: ");
scanf("%80s",fname);
if ((instream = fopen(fname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open file %s\n",fname);
exit(-1);
}
strcpy/strcmp Example
/* read a line of characters */
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL) {
/* if current line same as previous */
if (!strcmp(buffer,prevline))
printf("Duplicate line: %s",buffer);
/* otherwise if the first 10 characters of the current
and previous line are the same */
else if (!strncmp(buffer,prevline,10))
strcpy/strcmp Example
printf(”Start the same:\n %s %s",prevline,buffer);
/* Copy the current line (in buffer) to the previous
line (in prevline) */
strcpy(prevline,buffer);
}
fclose(instream);
}
String Comparison (ignoring case)
❖Syntax:
▪ int strcasecmp(char *str1, char *str2)
o similar to strcmp except that upper and lower case characters (e.g., ‘a’
and ‘A’) are considered to be equal
▪ int strncasecmp(char *str1, char *str2, int n)
o version of strncmp that ignores case
String Concatenation
❖Syntax:
▪ char *strcat(char *dstS, char *addS)
o appends the string at addS to the string dstS (after dstS’s delimiter)
o returns the string dstS
o can cause problems if the resulting string is too long to fit in dstS
▪ char *strncat(char *dstS, char *addS, int n)
o appends the first n characters of addS to dstS
o if less than n characters in addS only the characters in addS appended
o always appends a \0 character
strcat Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void main() {
char fname[81];
char buffer[101];
char curraddress[201] = "";
FILE *instream;
int first = 1;
strcat Example
printf("Address file: ");
scanf("%80s",fname);
if ((instream = fopen(fname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open file %s\n",fname);
exit(-1);
}
strcat Example
/* Read a line */
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL) {
if (buffer[0] == '*') { /* End of address */
printf("%s\n",curraddress); /* Print address */
strcpy(curraddress,""); /* Reset address to “” */
first = 1;
}
strcat Example
else {
/* Add comma (if not first entry in address) */
if (first) first = 0; else strcat(curraddress,",
");
/* Add line (minus newline) to address */
strncat(curraddress,buffer,strlen(buffer)-1);
}
}
fclose(instream);
}
Searching for a Character/String
❖Syntax:
▪ char *strchr(char *str, int ch)
o returns a pointer (a char *) to the first occurrence of ch in str
o returns NULL if ch does not occur in str
o can subtract original pointer from result pointer to determine which
character in array
▪ char *strstr(char *str, char *searchstr)
o similar to strchr, but looks for the first occurrence of the string searchstr
in str
▪ char *strrchr(char *str, int ch)
o similar to strchr except that the search starts from the end of string str
and works backward
strchr Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void main() {
char fname[81];
char buffer[101];
char noncom[101];
FILE *instream;
char *loc;
strchr Example
printf("File: ");
scanf("%80s",fname);
if ((instream = fopen(fname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open file %s\n",fname);
exit(-1);
}
strchr Example
/* read line */
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL) {
/* Look for the character % in the line */
if ((loc = strchr(buffer,'%')) != NULL) {
/* Copy the characters before the % to noncom */
strncpy(noncom,buffer,(loc - buffer));
strchr Example
/* Add a delimiter to noncom */
noncom[loc - buffer] = '\0';
printf("%s\n",noncom);
}
else
printf("%s",buffer);
}
flose(instream);
}
strstr Example
/* read line */
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL) {
/* Look for the character % in the line */
if ((loc = strstr(buffer,”\\”)) != NULL) {
/* Copy the characters before the % to noncom */
strncpy(noncom,buffer,(loc - buffer));
strstr Example
/* Add a delimiter to noncom */
noncom[loc - buffer] = '\0';
printf("%s\n",noncom);
}
else
printf("%s",buffer);
}
flose(instream);
}
String Spans (Searching)
The strcspn function searches within the string pointed to by str for the string
pointed to by cset. It returns the index of the first character that is in the set.
❖Syntax:
▪ int strspn(char *str, char *cset)
o specify a set of characters as a string cset
o strspn searches for the first character in str that is not part of cset
o returns the number of characters in set found before first non-set
character found
▪ int strcspn(char *str, char *cset)
o similar to strspn except that it stops when a character that is part of the set
is found
Examples:
strspn(“a vowel”,”bvcwl”) returns 2 //Students find 0
strcspn(“a vowel”,”@,*e”) returns 5
Parsing Strings
❖The strtok routine can be used to break a string of
characters into a set of tokens
▪ we specify the characters (e.g., whitespace) that separate
tokens
▪ strtok returns a pointer to the first string corresponding to a
token, the next call returns the next pointer, etc.
example:
call strtok repeatedly on “A short string\n” with whitespace (space, \t, \n)
as delimiters, should return
first call: pointer to string consisting of “A”
second call: pointer to string consisting of “short”
third call: pointer to string consisting of “string”
fourth call: NULL pointer
Parsing Strings
❖Syntax:
▪ char *strtok(char *str, char *delimiters)
o delimiters is a string consisting of the delimiter characters (are ignored,
end tokens)
o if we call strtok with a string argument as the first argument it finds the
first string separated by the delimiters in str
o if we call strtok with NULL as the first argument it finds the next string
separated by the delimiters in the string it is currently processing
o strtok makes alterations to the string str (best to make a copy of it first
if you want a clean copy)
strtok Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void main() {
FILE *instream;
char fname[81];
char buffer[101]; /* current line */
char *token; /* pointer to current token */
char *tokens[100]; /* array of unique tokens in file */
int tokenline[100]; /* line number where token found */
int ntokens = 0; /* number of tokens found so far */
int linenum = 0; /* current line number */
strtok Example
int tnum;
printf("File: ");
scanf("%80s",fname);
if ((instream = fopen(fname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open file %s\n",fname);
exit(-1);
}
strtok Example (cont)
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL) {
linenum++;
/* Get first token from string buffer */
token = strtok(buffer," \t\n");
while (token != NULL) {
tnum = 0;
/* Search for current token in tokens */
while ((tnum < ntokens) &&
(strcmp(token,tokens[tnum])))
tnum++;
strtok Example (cont)
/* If the token isn’t found, add it to the tokens */
if (tnum == ntokens) {
tokens[tnum] = (char *) calloc(strlen(token) +
1,sizeof(char));
strcpy(tokens[tnum],token);
tokenline[tnum] = linenum;
ntokens++;
}
/* Get next token from string buffer */
token = strtok(NULL," \t\n");
}
}
strtok Example (cont)
/* print out the set of tokens appearing in the file */
for (tnum = 0; tnum < ntokens; tnum++)
printf("%s first appears on line %d\n",
tokens[tnum],tokenline[tnum]);
fclose(instream);
}
Printing to a String
▪The sprintf function allows us to print to a string argument using
printf formatting rules
▪First argument of sprintf is string to print to, remaining
arguments are as in printf.
▪Instead of printing on console, it store output on char buffer
specified in sprintf.
Example:
char buffer[100];
sprintf(buffer,”%s, %s”,lastName,firstName);
if (strlen(buffer) > 15)
printf(“Long name %s %s\n”,firstName,lastName);
sprintf Example
#include <stdio.h> printf("File Prefix: ");
#include <string.h> scanf("%80s",basefname);
printf("Save to File: ");
void main() { scanf("%80s",savefname);
FILE *instream;
FILE *outstream; if ((outstream =
char basefname[81]; fopen(savefname,"w")) ==
NULL){
char readfname[101];
printf("Unable to open %s\n",
char savefname[81];
savefname);
char buffer[101];
exit(-1);
int fnum;
}
sprintf Example
for (fnum = 0; fnum < 5; fnum++) {
/* file name with basefname as prefix, fnum as suffix
*/
sprintf(readfname,"%s.%d",basefname,fnum);
if ((instream = fopen(readfname,"r")) == NULL) {
printf("Unable to open input file %s\n",readfname);
exit(-1);
}
sprintf Example
while (fgets(buffer,sizeof(buffer)-1,instream) != NULL)
fputs(buffer,outstream);
fclose(instream);
}
fclose(outstream);
}
sprintf Example 2
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
char buffer[50];
int a = 10, b = 20, c;
c = a + b;
sprintf(buffer, "Sum of %d and %d is %d", a, b, c);
// The string "sum of 10 and 20 is 30" is stored into buffer instead
// of printing on stdout
printf("%s", buffer);
return 0;
}
Reading from a String
▪The sscanf function allows us to read from a string
argument using scanf rules
▪First argument of sscanf is string to read from,
remaining arguments are as in scanf
Example:
char buffer[100] = “A 10 50.0”;
sscanf(buffer,”%c%d%f”,&ch,&inum,&fnum);
/* puts ‘A’ in ch, 10 in inum and 50.0 in fnum */
Sscanf example
#include <stdio.h>
int main ()
{
// declaring array s
char s [] = "20 Students Y1C 18 Eleves Y1B 22 Abanyeshuri Y1A";
char str [10],str2 [10];
int i;
// sscanf() is used to read formatted input from the string
// %*s is used to skip a word
sscanf (s,"%d %*s %*s %*s %s %s %*s %*s %*s", &i, str, str2);
printf ("%d %s %s \n", i, str, str2);
return 0;
}
Rewind() function
▪It sets the file position to the beginning of the file of
the given stream
▪Does not return anything
▪Syntax
void rewind(FILE *stream)
▪Parameters
stream − is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream
Rewind function with example
#include <stdio.h>
int main () {
char str[] = “This is the content to be written in the file";
FILE *fp;
int ch;
/* First let's write some content in the file [Link] */
fp = fopen( “[Link]" , "w" );
fwrite(str , 1 , sizeof(str) , fp );
fclose(fp);
Rewind function with example
fp = fopen( " [Link]" , "r" );
while(1) {
ch = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) ) {
break ;
}
printf("%c", ch);
}
rewind(fp);
printf("\n");
Rewind function with example
while(1) {
ch = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) ) {
break ;
}
printf("%c", ch);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}
Other important functions
▪scanf_s():
▪ This function is specific to Microsoft compilers. It is the same as scanf,
except it does not cause buffer overload.
▪fscanf_s():
▪ Difference between fscanf() and fscanf_s() is same as that of scanf() and
scanf_s(). fscanf_s() is secure function and secure functions require the
size of each c, C, s, S and [ type field to be passed as an argument
immediately following the variable
▪sscanf_s():
▪ is secure function of sscanf() and secure functions require the size of each
c, C, s, S and [ type field to be passed as an argument immediately
following the variable.
Regular expression
▪A regular expression is a sequence of characters used to match a pattern to
a string. The expression can be used for searching text and validating input.
▪[Link]
expressions-in-c
▪IIII More resources