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13 ES 26 - Strings

Strings in C are arrays of characters that are terminated with a null character '\0'. There are implicit strings created between double quotes and explicit strings where a character array is initialized. Common string functions like strlen, strcpy, strcat, and strcmp in the string.h library allow manipulating and comparing strings. The document provides examples of defining, initializing, printing, reading, and modifying strings as well as explanations of common string handling functions.

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158 views21 pages

13 ES 26 - Strings

Strings in C are arrays of characters that are terminated with a null character '\0'. There are implicit strings created between double quotes and explicit strings where a character array is initialized. Common string functions like strlen, strcpy, strcat, and strcmp in the string.h library allow manipulating and comparing strings. The document provides examples of defining, initializing, printing, reading, and modifying strings as well as explanations of common string handling functions.

Uploaded by

Wilmarc
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Strings

13

Introduction to Programming
Strings

• In C, strings like “hello” are just arrays


of characters
• A string is terminated by the sentinel
string character ' \0 ', or null character
which may NOT be the last element in
the array
• Null character: backslash-zero
• This is the only character whose bits are
all zeroes

Introduction to Programming
Implicit Strings

• Created by enclosing some text within


double quotation marks.
• Compiler creates a hidden char array to
represent the characters and ensures
that a '\0' is placed after the last
character in the string.
• ex.: printf(“Welcome\n”);

W e l c o m e \n \0

Introduction to Programming
Implicit Strings

• Why call it hidden array?


It has no name to which the program
can refer to.

• Why implicit?
The program does not have any control
over the size or number of elements
in the array, which was implicitly
sized by the compiler.

Introduction to Programming
Variable/Explicit Strings

• Created by defining an explicit array of


char and then initializing it with other
text.
ex.: char name[] = “Cao”;

• It is not necessary to state the storage


requirements or number of elements,
since this will be calculated by the
compiler. C a o \0

Introduction to Programming
Examples
char first_name[5] = {‘J’,’u’,’a’,’n’,’\0’};
– previous rules on arrays still apply

char last_name[3] = “Tamad”;


– gcc issues a warning but compiles anyway
– “Tam” is stored but not properly terminated
– No way of knowing when the actual string
really ends.

Introduction to Programming
Examples
char other[100] = “Maria Makiling”;
– specifying a larger size leaves space in the
array for other characters to be appended
– compiler still appends '\0' after the implicit
string

char characters[7] = “No null”;


– still valid though string is not properly
terminated.
– No way of knowing when to end.

Introduction to Programming
Printing Strings
• Strings can be printed per element as
they are just arrays:

int i;
char cool[] = “Programming”;
while(cool[i] != ‘\0’)
printf(“%c”, cool[i++]);

• Alternately, printf supports “%s”


printf(“%s \n”,cool);

Introduction to Programming
Printing Strings

• Also, we can use the function puts


declared in stdio.h
puts( cool );

• The use of puts() ALWAYS results in a


new line character '\n' being issued at
the end of each line of output.

Introduction to Programming
Accepting/Reading Strings
• Using scanf()
scanf( “%s”, cool );

• When using “%s”, the required address is the


address of the first element in the array

• The address operator '&' is not required


because the name of an array in C represents
the address of the first element in the array.

Introduction to Programming
Accepting/Reading Strings
• Same as
scanf( “%s”, &name[0] );

• Note that the scanf function uses white


space characters to separate data into
different fields.

• We can use gets() declared in stdio.h to


permit a whole line to be read and does
not use white space characters to
separate various items of data entry.
Introduction to Programming
Example – scanf()
…
printf(“Anong pangalan mo? ”);
scanf(“%s”, string);
printf(“Ikaw si %s.”, string);
...

Anong pangalan mo? Wilmarc Lopez


Ikaw si Wilmarc.

Introduction to Programming
Example – gets()
...
puts(“Anong pangalan mo? ”);
gets( string );
printf(“Ikaw si ”);
puts( string);
...

Anong pangalan mo? Wilmarc Lopez


Ikaw si Wilmarc Lopez.

Introduction to Programming
Assigning to String

• Strings may be initialized with “=“ but


not assigned to with “=“

• Valid (initialization)
– char who[] = “Ser Wilmarc”;
• Invalid
– who = “Mom Wilmarc”;

Introduction to Programming
Assigning to String

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main(void)
{
char who[20];
strcpy(who, “Manong Fishball”);
strcpy(who, “Tuition Fee Increase”);
printf(“%s”,who);

return 0;
}

Introduction to Programming
String Handling Functions in
string.h
char s1[50] = “UP”;
char s2[50] = “UP System”;

String Example Output/value


function
String length strlen(s1); 2
String strcat(s1,” Diliman”); s1 has the
concatenate value “UP
Diliman”
String strcmp(s1,s2)
compare
Introduction to Programming
String Handling Functions in
string.h
strlen(s1) – returns the number of characters
before '\0' of s1 (either implicit or explicit)

char s1[50] = “UP”;


char s2[50] = “UP System”;
int length;
printf(“%d”, strlen(s1));
length = strlen(s2);

• What happens if s1 does not have a '\0'?


Introduction to Programming
String Handling Functions in
string.h
strcpy(destination,source) – copies all of
the characters from source (either
implicit or explicit), including the '\0'
terminator to destination (explicit)
• Whatever exists in destination is
overwritten
• It is assumed that destination has
enough space to hold the result
• The destination array is returned
source = strcpy(destination, “Hello”);
Introduction to Programming
String Handling Functions in
string.h
strcat(s1,s2) – takes two strings (either
implicit or explicit) as arguments,
concatenates them and puts the
result in s1

strcpy(s1,“Hello”);
strcat(s1, “ world!”);
printf(“%s”,s1);

Introduction to Programming
String Handling Functions in
string.h
strcmp(s1,s2) – an integer is returned
that is less than, equal to or greater
than zero, depending on whether s1
is lexicographically less than, equal
to, or greater than s2, respectively.
– Both can either be implicit or explicit
strings.
strcmp(“Hello”,”Hell”); >0
strcmp(“Hell”, “Hello”); <0
strcmp(“Sat”,”Cat”); >0
Introduction to Programming
Lab Exercises

1)Write your own strcmp function. Name it


my_strcmp.

2)Write your own strcpy dunction. Name it


my_strcpy.

Introduction to Programming

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