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Computer Programming

Strings

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Introduction
String: group of characters

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Implemented as arrays of char Essential for several applications manipulating textual data
Word processing Databases Scientific computing (Ex: DNA sequence, chemical compounds)

Already used string constants

printf and scanf format strings

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String Variables
char string_var[30];

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Declaration: same as declaring array of chars

The variable string_var can hold a string of 0 to 29 characters

Not 30!.. How is varying size handled? Use of null character: \0

String variables can be initialized char string_var[30] = initial value; char str[] = initial value; What is the size of str? The part of array after null character is ignored
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Arrays of Strings

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An array of strings: a two-dimensional array of chars

Ex: Array of 30 names which is less than 25 characters
#define NUM_PEOPLE 30 #define NAME_LEN 25 char names[NUM_PEOPLE][NAME_LEN];

Ex: Array of 12 month names

char months[12][10] = {January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November, December};
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Input/Output of Strings

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Place holder: %s printf prints characters until null character

printf(The value is: %s \n, string_var); What if the array does not contain null character? Do not forget to insert null character while building strings
This is automatic for constant strings

printf(***%7s**** \n, Ali); printf(***%7s**** \n, MehmedAli); printf(***%-7s**** \n, Ali);

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Input/Output of Strings
Place holder: %s scanf can used to input strings scanf(%s, string_var);
Remember string_var is an array

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scanf
skips leading whitespace characters copies subsequent characters in memory cells copying stops when a whitespace character is seen places a null character at the end of string

EX: See following simple example..

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Input/Output of Strings

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Input/Output of Strings

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How to enter the values in previous example?

In more than one line or in diferent formats?
> 1270 TR 1800 > MATH 1270 TR 1800 > MATH1270 TR 1800 > MATH,1270,TR,1800 MATH

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Input/Output of Strings

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EX: Read in 30 names together with their ages

#define NUM_PEOPLE 30 #define NAME_LEN 25 char names[NUM_PEOPLE][NAME_LEN]; int ages[NUM_PEOPLE]; for(..){ .. }

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String Library Functions: Assignment

Assignment operator: =
Used for assigning simple types Can not be used for arrays and strings
Other than in declaration with initialization What is array name without subscript? char str[20]; str = test value;

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C provides library function for assignment

Library in string.h Includes several operations
Substring functions, concatenation, comparison, length, etc
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String Library Functions

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String Assignment
strcpy
strcpy(str, test value);

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Be careful about overflow!

strcpy(str, A very long string test value );

strncpy : copies first n characters

strncpy(str, test value, 20);

Be careful to copy a valid string!

strncpy(str, A very long string test value, 20);

Safer to use
strncpy(str, A very long string test value, 19); str[19] = \0;
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Substring copy
char result[10], s1[15] = Jan. 30, 1996; strncpy(result, s1, 9);

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Substring copy
char result[10], s1[15] = Jan. 30, 1996;
strncpy(result, &s1[5], 2);

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Substring copy
char result[10], s1[15] = Jan. 30, 1996;
strcpy(result, &s1[9]);

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Separate Compounds into Elemental Components

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Ex: Break compound names into their elemental components

Assume element names start with a capital letter Assume ASCII character set

Use strncpy
to copy parts of compound names into elemental components

Use strlen
To check termination of the loop

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Separate Compounds into Elemental Components

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Concatenation

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Add a string at the end of the other string strcat and strncat
Assumes sufficient space available for the concatenated string
char f[15] = Fatih , m[15] = Erdogan , l[15] = Sevilgen; strcat(f, l); strcat(m, l); printf(%d %d \n, strlen(m), strlen(l)) strncat(m, l, 5); printf(%d \n, strncat(m, l, 15 - strlen(m) - 1));
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Scanning a Full Line

Input one complete line of data

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Do not stop at space or tab characters Do not store end-of-line (new-line, return, enter) character char line[80]; gets(line);

File input, fgets has different format

Final character is always \0 Stores \n character if the line is not truncated fgets(line, 80, inp);

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Scanning a Full Line

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Ex: Scans a data file and create a new doublespaced version with line numbers

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String Comparison

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Comparison operators can not be used

Strings are implemented as arrays What is the meaning of string1 < string2 strcmp: compares two strings and returns an integer strcmp(str1,str2) Has negative value if str1 is less than str2 Has value 0 if str1 is equal to str2 Has positive value if str1 is greater than str2 strncmp: compares first n characters

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Sentinel-Controlled Loop for String Input

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Sorting and Searching

char list[30][20]; Comparison Swap

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Sorting a list of words (array of strings)

What do we mean by list[i]?

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Executing strcpy(list[index_of_min], list[fill]);

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Arrays of Pointers
Three copy operations per exchange

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Previous example requires a lot of copying of characters to sort a list of strings Alternative approach: use arrays of pointers
Pointers to strings (arrays) Sort the pointers not the strings Saves the original order as well.

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Arrays of Pointers
char orignal[5][10]; for(i = 0; i < 5; ++i) printf(%s\n, alphap[i]); for(i = 0; i < 5; ++i) printf(%s\n, original[i]);

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How to define alphap array?

char *alphap[5];

How to initalize alphap array?

for(i = 0; i < 5; ++i) alphap[i] = original[i];
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Arrays of Pointers
Arrays of pointers has several advantages
Can represents many orderings
All refers to the same string One corrected all corrected

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Requires less space

Pointer vs string

Can sort faster

Array of String constants

char months[12][10] = {January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November, December}; char *months[] = {January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, November, December};
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Arrays of Pointers

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EX: Input a list of names and access it in sorted order and original order.

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Two Orderings of One List

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Character Operations
Include ctype.h

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Strings processing usually requires character manipulation Character library provides several functions

Character I/O getchar

returns the next character from standard input Return value of getchar is an integer.
Return EOF if getchar end-of-file is reached. The value of EOF is -1 which is not of type char

ch = getchar();

scanf(%c,&ch);

getc: get a single character from a file putchar and putc are used to display a character
putchar(a); putc(a,outp);
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scanline Function Using getchar

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Character Analysis and Conversion

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Greater-Than Operator Ignoring Case

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String-Number Conversion

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scanf and printf uses such a conversion

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String-Number Conversion

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String-Number Conversion

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sscanf and sprintf similar to scanf and printf

They perform the operation on a string sscanf: reads input from the parameter string sprintf: outputs into the parameter string char s[100]; sprintf(s, %d/%d/%d, mon, day, year); sscanf( 85 96.5 hello, %d %lf %s, &n, &f, w); You can read the entire data as a line of input, verify its format and convert to correct values using sscanf

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Validate Input Line Before Storing Values

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Ex: Date Conversion

Date representations
(12 June 1968)

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string containing day month name and year three integers (day month year)
(12 6 1968)

Convert a string representation of date to three integer representation and vice versa

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Figure 9.18 Functions That Convert Representations of Dates (contd)

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Case Study: Text Editor

Locate a target string Delete a substring Insert a substring at a location

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Problem: Editing operations on a line of text:

Analysis:
Keep the source line to edit Get the operation until it is Q

Data Requirements
source array command

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Sample Run of Text Editor

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Case Study: Text Editor

Algorithm
1. Scan the string 2. Get an edit command 3. While command is not Q 4. Perform operation 4.1 switch command D: 4.2 Get the substring 4.3 Find the position 4.4 If found delete it I 4.5 Get the substring 4.6 Get the position index 4.7 Perform insertion F 4.8 Get the substring 4.9 Find the position 4.10 Report position o/w 4.11 Display error message 5. Get an edit command
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Structure Chart for Text Editor Program

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Text Editor Program

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scanline Returns Address of Deallocated Space

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