C Language Tutorial

This section contains a brief introduction to the C language. It is intended as a tutorial on the
language, and aims at getting a reader new to C started as quickly as possible. It is certainly not
intended as a substitute for any of the numerous textbooks on C.
The best way to learn a new human language is to speak it right from the outset, listening
and repeating, leaving the intricacies of the grammar for later. The same applies to computer
languagesto learn C, we must start writing C programs as quickly as possible.
An excellent textbook on C by two well-known and widely respected authors is: The C Pro-
gramming Language ANSI C, Brian W. C. Kernighan & Dennis M. Ritchie Prentice Hall,
1988.
Dennis Ritchie designed and implemented the rst C compiler on a PDP-11 (a prehistoric
machine by todays standards, yet one which had enormous inuence on modern scientic com-
putation). The C language was based on two (now defunct) languages: BCPL, written by Martin
Richards, and B, written by Ken Thompson in 1970 for the rst UNIX system on a PDP-7. The
original ocial C language was the K & R C, the nickname coming from the names of the
two authors of the original The C Programming Language. In 1988, the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) adopted a new and improved version of C, known today as ANSI
C. This is the version described in the current edition of The C Programming Language ANSI
C. The ANSI version contains many revisions to the syntax and the internal workings of the
language, the major ones being improved calling syntax for procedures and standarization of most
(but, unfortunately, not quite all!) system libraries.
1 A First Program
Lets be polite and start by saluting the world! Type the following program into your favorite
editor:
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
printf("\nHello World\n");
}
Save the code in the le hello.c, then compile it by typing: gcc hello.c
This creates an executable le a.out, which is then executed simply by typing its name. The
result is that the characters Hello World are printed out, preceded by an empty line.
A C program contains functions and variables. The functions specify the tasks to be performed
by the program. The main function establishes the overall logic of the code. It is normally kept
short and calls dierent functions to perform the necessary sub-tasks. All C codes must have a
main function.
Our hello.c code calls printf, an output function from the I/O (input/output) library (dened
in the le stdio.h). The original C language did not have any built-in I/O statements whatsoever.
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Nor did it have much arithmetic functionality. The original language was really not intended for
scientic or technical computation.. These functions are now performed by standard libraries,
which are now part of ANSI C. The K & R textbook lists the content of these and other standard
libraries in an appendix.
The printf line prints the message Hello World on stdout (the output stream corresponding
to the X-terminal window in which you run the code); \n prints a new line character, which
brings the cursor onto the next line. By construction, printf never inserts this character on its
own: the following program would produce the same result:
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
printf("\n");
printf("Hello World");
printf("\n");
}
Try leaving out the \n lines and see what happens.
The rst statement # include < stdio.h> includes a specication of the C I/O library. All
variables in C must be explicitly dened before use: the .h les are by convention header les
which contain denitions of variables and functions necessary for the functioning of a program,
whether it be in a user-written section of code, or as part of the standard C libaries. The directive
\#include tells the C compiler to insert the contents of the specied le at that point in the
code. The < ...> notation instructs the compiler to look for the le in certain standard
system directories.
The void preceeding main indicates that main is of void typethat is, it has no type
associated with it, meaning that it cannot return a result on execution.
The ; denotes the end of a statement. Blocks of statements are put in braces {...}, as in the
denition of functions. All C statements are dened in free format, i.e., with no specied layout or
column assignment. Whitespace (tabs or spaces) is never signicant, except inside quotes as part
of a character string. The following program would produce exactly the same result as our earlier
example:
#include < stdio.h>
void main(){printf("\textbackslash nHello World\textbackslash n");}
The reasons for arranging your programs in lines and indenting to show structure should be
obvious!
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2 Lets Compute
The following program, sine.c, computes a table of the sine function for angles between 0 and
360 degrees.
/************************/
/* Table of */
/* Sine Function */
/************************/
/* Michel Vallieres */
/* Written: Winter 1995 */
#include < stdio.h>
#include < math.h>
void main()
{
int angle_degree;
double angle_radian, pi, value;
/* Print a header */
printf ("\nCompute a table of the sine function\n\n");
/* obtain pi once for all */
/* or just use pi = M_PI, where
M_PI is defined in math.h */
pi = 4.0*atan(1.0);
printf ( " Value of PI = %f \n\n", pi );
printf ( " angle Sine \n" );
angle_degree=0; /* initial angle value */
/* scan over angle */
while ( angle_degree <= 360 ) /* loop until angle_degree > 360 */
{
angle_radian = pi * angle_degree/180.0 ;
value = sin(angle_radian);
printf ( " %3d %f \n ", angle_degree, value );
angle_degree = angle_degree + 10; /* increment the loop index */
}
}
The code starts with a series of comments indicating its the purpose, as well as its author. It
is considered good programming style to identify and document your work (although, sadly, most
people only do this as an afterthought). Comments can be written anywhere in the code: any
characters between /* and */ are ignored by the compiler and can be used to make the code easier
to understand. The use of variable names that are meaningful within the context of the problem
is also a good idea.
The # include statements now also include the header le for the standard mathematics library
math.h. This statement is needed to dene the calls to the trigonometric functions atan and sin.
Note also that the compilation must include the mathematics library explicitly by typing
gcc sine.c -lm
3
Variable names are arbitrary (with some compiler-dened maximum length, typically 32 char-
acters). C uses the following standard variable types:
int -> integer variable
short -> short integer
long -> long integer
float -> single precision real (floating point) variable
double -> double precision real (floating point) variable
char -> character variable (single byte)
The compilers checks for consistency in the types of all variables used in any code. This
feature is intended to prevent mistakes, in particular in mistyping variable names. Calculations
done in the math library routines are usually done in double precision arithmetic (64 bits on most
workstations). The actual number of bytes used in the internal storage of these data types depends
on the machine being used.
The printf function can be instructed to print integers, oats and strings properly. The general
syntax is
printf( "format", variables );
where format species the converstion specication and variables is a list of quantities to
print. Some useful formats are
%.nd integer (optional n = number of columns; if 0, pad with zeroes)
%m.nf float or double (optional m = number of columns, n = number of decimal places)
%ns string (optional n = number of columns)
%c character
\n \t to introduce new line or tab
\g ring the bell (beep) on the terminal
3 Loops
Most real programs contain some construct that loops within the program, performing repetitive
actions on a stream of data or a region of memory. There are several ways to loop in C. Two of
the most common are the while loop:
while (expression)
{
...block of statements to execute...
}
and the for loop:
for (expression_1; expression_2; expression_3)
{
...block of statements to execute...
}
The while loop continues to loop until the conditional expression becomes false. The condition
is tested upon entering the loop. Any logical construction (see below for a list) can be used in this
context.
The for loop is a special case, and is equivalent to the following while loop:
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expression_1;
while (expression_2)
{
...block of statements...
expression_3;
}
For instance, the following structure is often encountered:
i = initial_i;
while (i <= i_max)
{
...block of statements...
i = i + i_increment;
}
This structure may be rewritten in the easier syntax of the for loop as:
for (i = initial_i; i <= i_max; i = i + i_increment)
{
...block of statements...
}
Innite loops are possible (e.g. for(;;)), but not too good for your computer budget! C permits
you to write an innite loop, and provides the break statement to breakout of the loop. For
example, consider the following (admittedly not-so-clean) re-write of the previous loop:
angle_degree = 0;
for ( ; ; )
{
...block of statements...
angle_degree = angle_degree + 10;
if (angle_degree == 360) break;
}
The conditional if simply asks whether angle degree is equal to 360 or not; if yes, the loop is
stopped.
4 Symbolic Constants
You can dene constants of any type by using the #define compiler directive. Its syntax is
simplefor instance
#define ANGLE_MIN 0
#define ANGLE_MAX 360
would dene ANGLE MIN and ANGLE MAX to the values 0 and 360, respectively. C distinguishes
between lowercase and uppercase letters in variable names. It is customary to use capital letters
in dening global constants.
5
5 Conditionals
Conditionals are used within the if and while constructs:
if (conditional_1)
{
...block of statements executed if conditional_1 is true...
}
else if (conditional_2)
{
...block of statements executed if conditional_2 is true...
}
else
{
...block of statements executed otherwise...
}
and any variant that derives from it, either by omitting branches or by including nested condition-
als.
Conditionals are logical operations involving comparison of quantities (of the same type) using
the conditional operators:
<smaller than
<= smaller than or equal to
== equal to
!= not equal to
>= greater than or equal to
>greater than
and the boolean operators
&& and
|| or
! not
Another conditional use is in the switch construct:
switch (expression)
{
case const_expression_1:
{
...block of statements...
break;
}
case const_expression_2:
{
...block of statements...
break;
}
default:
{
...block of statements..
}
}
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The appropriate block of statements is executed according to the value of the expression, com-
pared with the constant expressions in the case statement. The break statements insure that the
statements in the cases following the chosen one will not be executed. If you would want to execute
these statements, then you would leave out the break statements. This construct is particularly
useful in handling input variables.
6 Pointers
The C language allows the programmer to peek and poke directly into memory locations. This
gives great exibility and power to the language, but it also one of the great hurdles that the
beginner must overcome in using the language.
All variables in a program reside in memory; the statements
float x;
x = 6.5;
request that the compiler reserve 4 bytes of memory (on a 32-bit computer) for the oating-point
variable x, then put the value 6.5 in it.
Sometimes we want to know where a variable resides in memory. The address (location in
memory) of any variable is obtained by placing the operator & before its name. Therefore &x is
the address of x. C allows us to go one stage further and dene a variable, called a pointer, that
contains the address of (i.e. points to) other variables. For example:
float x;
float* px;
x = 6.5;
px = &x;
denes px to be a pointer to objects of type oat, and sets it equal to the address of x:
Figure 1: Pointer use for a variable
The content of the memory location referenced by a pointer is obtained using the * operator
(this is called dereferencing the pointer). Thus, px refers to the value of x.
C allows us to perform arithmetic operations using pointers, but beware that the unit in
pointer arithmetic is the size (in bytes) of the object to which the pointer points. For example, if
px is a pointer to a variable x of type oat, then the expression px+1 refers not to the next bit or
byte in memory but to the location of the next oat after x (4 bytes away on most workstations);
if x were of type double, then px + 1 would refer to a location 8 bytes (the size of a double)away,
and so on. Only if x is of type char will px + 1 actually refer to the next byte in memory.
Thus in
char* pc;
float* px;
float x;
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x = 6.5;
px = &x;
pc = (char*) px;
(the (char*) in the last line is a cast, which converts one data type to another), px and pc
both point to the same location in memorythe address of xbut px+1 and pc+1 point to dierent
memory locations.
Consider the following simple code.
void main()
{
float x, y; /* x and y are of float type */
float *fp, *fp2; /* fp and fp2 are pointers to float */
x = 6.5; /* x now contains the value 6.5 */
/* print contents and address of x */
printf("Value of x is %f, address of x %ld\n", x, &x);
fp = &x; /* fp now points to location of x */
/* print the contents of fp */
printf("Value in memory location fp is %f\n", *fp);
/* change content of memory location */
*fp = 9.2;
printf("New value of x is %f = %f \n", *fp, x);
/* perform arithmetic */
*fp = *fp + 1.5;
printf("Final value of x is %f = %f \n", *fp, x);
/* transfer values */
y = *fp;
fp2 = fp;
printf("Transfered value into y = %f and fp2 = %f \n", y, *fp2);
}
Run this code to see the results of these dierent operations. Note that, while the value of
a pointer (if you print it out with printf) is typically a large integer, denoting some particular
memory location in the computer, pointers are not integersthey are a completely dierent data
type.
7 Arrays
Arrays of any type can be formed in C. The syntaz is simple:
type name[dim];
In C, arrays starts at position 0. The elements of the array occupy adjacent locations in
memory. C treats the name of the array as if it were a pointer to the rst elementthis is important
in understanding how to do arithmetic with arrays. Thus, if v is an array, v is the same thing as
v[0], (v + 1) is the same thing as v[1], and so on:
Consider the following code, which illustrates the use of pointers:
8
Figure 2: Pointer use for an array
#define SIZE 3
void main()
{
float x[SIZE];
float *fp;
int i;
/* initialize the array x */
/* use a "cast" to force i */
/* into the equivalent float */
for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
x[i] = 0.5*(float)i;
/* print x */
for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
printf(" %d %f \n", i, x[i]);
/* make fp point to array x */
fp = x;
/* print via pointer arithmetic */
/* members of x are adjacent to */
/* each other in memory */
/* *(fp+i) refers to content of */
/* memory location (fp+i) or x[i] */
for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
printf(" %d %f \n", i, *(fp+i));
}
(The expression i++ is C shorthand for i = i + 1.) Since x[i] means the i-th element of the
array x, and fp = x points to the start of the x array, then *(fp+i) is the content of the memory
address i locations beyond fp, that is, x[i].
8 Character Arrays
A string constant, such as
"I am a string"
is an array of characters. It is represented internally in C by the ASCII characters in the string,
i.e., I, blank, a, m,... for the above string, and terminated by the special null character \0
so programs can nd the end of the string.
String constants are often used in making the output of code intelligible using printf ;
printf("Hello, world\n");
printf("The value of a is: %f\n", a);
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String constants can be associated with variables. C provides the char type variable, which can
contain one character1 byteat a time. A character string is stored in an array of character type,
one ASCII character per location. Never forget that, since strings are conventionally terminated
by the null character \0, we require one extra storage location in the array!
C does not provide any operator which manipulate entire strings at once. Strings are manipu-
lated either via pointers or via special routines available from the standard string library string.h.
Using character pointers is relatively easy since the name of an array is a just a pointer to its rst
element. Consider the following code:
void main()
{
char text_1[100], text_2[100], text_3[100];
char *ta, *tb;
int i;
/* set message to be an arrray */
/* of characters; initialize it */
/* to the constant string "..." */
/* let the compiler decide on */
/* its size by using [] */
char message[] = "Hello, I am a string; what are you?";
printf("Original message: %s\n", message);
/* copy the message to text_1 */
/* the hard way */
i=0;
while ( (text_1[i] = message[i]) != \0 )
i++;
printf("Text_1: %s\n", text_1);
/* use explicit pointer arithmetic */
ta=message;
tb=text_2;
while ( ( *tb++ = *ta++ ) != \0 )
;
printf("Text_2: %s\n", text_2);
}
The standard string library contains many useful functions to manipulate strings; a descrip-
tion of this library can be found in an appendix of the K & R textbook. Some of the most useful
functions are:
char *strcpy(s,ct) -> copy ct into s, including \0; return s
char *strncpy(s,ct,n) -> copy ncharcater of ct into s, return s
char *strncat(s,ct) -> concatenate ct to end of s; return s
char *strncat(s,ct,n) -> concatenate n character of ct to end
of s, terminate with \0; return s
int strcmp(cs,ct) -> compare cs and ct; return 0 if cs=ct,
<0 if cs0 if cs>ct
char *strchr(cs,c) -> return pointer to first occurence of c
in cs or NULL if not encountered
size_t strlen(cs) -> return length of cs
(s and t are char*, cs and ct are const char*, c is an char converted to type int, and n is an int.)
Consider the following code which uses some of these functions:
10
#include < string.h>
void main()
{
char line[100], *sub_text;
/* initialize string */
strcpy(line,"hello, I am a string;");
printf("Line: %s\n", line);
/* add to end of string */
strcat(line," what are you?");
printf("Line: %s\n", line);
/* find length of string */
/* strlen brings back */
/* length as type size_t */
printf("Length of line: %d\n", (int)strlen(line));
/* find occurence of substrings */
if ( (sub_text = strchr ( line, W ) )!= NULL )
printf("String starting with \"W\" ->%s\n", sub_text);
if ( ( sub_text = strchr ( line, w ) )!= NULL )
printf("String starting with \"w\" ->%s\n", sub_text);
if ( ( sub_text = strchr ( sub_text, u ) )!= NULL )
printf("String starting with \"w\" ->%s\n", sub_text);
}
9 I/O Capabilities
9.1 Character level I/O
C provides (through its libraries) a variety of I/O routines. At the character level, getchar() reads
one character at a time from stdin, while putchar() writes one character at a time to stdout. For
example, consider
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i, nc;
nc = 0;
i = getchar();
while (i != EOF) {
nc = nc + 1;
i = getchar();
}
printf("Number of characters in file = %d\n", nc);
}
This program counts the number of characters in the input stream (e.g. in a le piped into it at
execution time). The code reads characters (whatever they may be) from stdin (the keyboard),
uses stdout (the X-terminal you run from) for output, and writes error messages to stderr (usually
11
also your X-terminal). These streams are always dened at run time. EOF is a special return value,
dened in stdio.h, returned by getchar() when it encounters an end-of-le marker when reading.
Its value is computer dependent, but the C compiler hides this fact from the user by dening the
variable EOF. Thus the program reads characters from stdin and keeps adding to the counter nc,
until it encounters the end of le.
An experienced C programmer would probably code this example as:
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
int c, nc = 0;
while ( (c = getchar()) != EOF ) nc++;
printf("Number of characters in file = %d\n", nc);
}
C allows great brevity of expression, usually at the expense of readability!
The () in the statement (c = getchar()) says to execute the call to getchar() and assign the
result to c before comparing it to EOF; the brackets are necessary here. Recall that nc++ (and,
in fact, also ++nc) is another way of writing nc = nc + 1. (The dierence between the prex C
allows great brevity of expression, usually at the expense of readability!
The () in the statement (c = getchar()) says to execute the call to getchar() and assign the
result to c before comparing it to EOF; the brackets are necessary here. Recall that nc + + (and,
in fact, also + + nc) is another way of writing nc = nc + 1. (The dierence between the prex
and postx notation is that in + + nc, nc is incremented before it is used, while in nc + +, nc
is used before it is incremented. In this particular example, either would do.) This notation is
more compact (not always an advantage, mind you), and it is often more eciently coded by the
compiler.
The UNIX command wc counts the characters, words and lines in a le. The program above
can be considered as your own wc. Lets add a counter for the lines. and postx notation is that in
++nc, nc is incremented before it is used, while in nc ++, nc is used before it is incremented. In
this particular example, either would do.) This notation is more compact (not always an advantage,
mind you), and it is often more eciently coded by the compiler.
The UNIX command wc counts the characters, words and lines in a le. The program above
can be considered as your own wc. Lets add a counter for the lines..
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
int c, nc = 0, nl = 0;
while ( (c = getchar()) != EOF )
{
nc++;
if (c == \n) nl++;
}
printf("Number of characters = %d, number of lines = %d\n",
nc, nl);
}
Can you think of a way to count the number of words in the le?
12
9.2 Higher-Level I/O capabilities
We have already seen that printf handles formatted output to stdout. The counterpart statement
for reading from stdin is scanf. The syntax
scanf("format string", variables);
resembles that of printf. The format string may contain blanks or tabs (ignored), ordinary ASCII
characters, which must match those in stdin, and conversion specications as in printf.
Equivalent statements exist to read from or write to character strings. They are:
sprintf(string, "format string", variables);
scanf(string, "format string", variables);
The string argument is the name of (i.e. a pointer to) the character array into which you
want to write the information.
9.3 I/O to and from les
Similar statements also exist for handling I/O to and from les. The statements are
#include < stdio.h>
FILE *fp;
fp = fopen(name, mode);
fscanf(fp, "format string", variable list);
fprintf(fp, "format string", variable list);
fclose(fp );
The logic here is that the code must
dene a local pointer of type FILE (note that the uppercase is necessary here), which is
dened in < stdio.h>
open the le and associate it with the local pointer via fopen
perform the I/O operations using fscanf and fprintf
disconnect the le from the task with fclose
The mode argument in the fopen species the purpose/positioning in opening the le: r for
reading, w for writing, and a for appending to the le. Try the following:
#include < stdio.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fp;
int i;
fp = fopen("foo.dat", "w"); /* open foo.dat for writing */
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fprintf(fp, "\nSample Code\n\n"); /* write some info */
for (i = 1; i <= 10 ; i++)
fprintf(fp, "i = %d\n", i);
fclose(fp); /* close the file */
}
Compile and run this code; then use any editor to read the le foo.dat.
10 Functions
Functions are easy to use; they allow complicated programs to be parcelled up into small blocks,
each of which is easier to write, read, and maintain. We have already encountered the function
main and made use of I/O and mathematical routines from the standard libraries. Now lets look
at some other library functions, and how to write and use our own.
10.1 Calling a function
The call to a function in C simply entails referencing its name with the appropriate arguments.
The C compiler checks for compatibility between the arguments in the calling sequence and the
denition of the function.
Library functions are generally not available to us in source form. Argument type checking is
accomplished through the use of header les (like stdio.h) which contain all the necessary informa-
tion. For example, as we saw earlier, in order to use the standard mathematical library you must
include math.h via the statement #include <math.h> at the top of the le containing your code.
The most commonly used header les are
< stdio.h> -> defining I/O routines
< ctype.h> -> defining character manipulation routines
< string.h> -> defining string manipulation routines
< math.h> -> defining mathematical routines
< stdlib.h> -> defining number conversion, storage allocation
and similar tasks
< stdarg.h> -> defining libraries to handle routines with variable
numbers of arguments
< time.h> -> defining time-manipulation routines
In addition, the following header les exist:
< assert.h> -> defining diagnostic routines
< setjmp.h> -> defining non-local function calls
< signal.h> -> defining signal handlers
< limits.h> -> defining constants of the int type
< float.h> -> defining constants of the float type
10.2 Writing your own functions
A function has the following layout:
return-type function-name ( argument-list-if-necessary )
{
...local-declarations...
...statements...
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return return-value;
}
If return-type is omitted, C defaults to int. The return-value must be of the declared type.
A function may simply perform a task without returning any value, in which case it has the
following layout:
void function-name ( argument-list-if-necessary )
{
...local-declarations...
...statements...
}
As an example of function calls, consider the following code:
/* include headers of library */
/* defined for all routines */
/* in the file */
#include < stdio.h>
#include < string.h>
/* prototyping of functions */
/* to allow type checks by */
/* the compiler */
void main()
{
int n;
char string[50];
/* strcpy(a,b) copies string b into a */
/* defined via the stdio.h header */
strcpy(string, "Hello World");
/* call own function */
n = n_char(string);
printf("Length of string = %d\n", n);
}
/* definition of local function n_char */
int n_char(char string[])
{
/* local variable in this function */
int n;
/* strlen(a) returns the length of */
/* string a */
/* defined via the string.h header */
n = strlen(string);
if (n > 50)
printf("String is longer than 50 characters\n");
/* return the value of integer n */
15
return n;
}
Arguments are always passed by value in C function calls. This means that local copies of the
values of the arguments are passed to the routines. Any change made to the arguments internally
in the function are made only to the local copies of the arguments. In order to change (or dene)
an argument in the argument list, this argument must be passed as an address, thereby forcing C
to change the real argument in the calling routine.
As an example, consider exchanging two numbers between variables. First lets illustrate what
happen if the variables are passed by value:
#include < stdio.h>
void exchange(int a, int b);
void main()
{ /* WRONG CODE */
int a, b;
a = 5;
b = 7;
printf("From main: a = %d, b = %d\n", a, b);
exchange(a, b);
printf("Back in main: ");
printf("a = %d, b = %d\n", a, b);
}
void exchange(int a, int b)
{
int temp;
temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
printf(" From function exchange: ");
printf("a = %d, b = %d\n", a, b);
}
Run this code and observe that a and b are NOT exchanged! Only the copies of the arguments
are exchanged. The RIGHT way to do this is of course to use pointers:
#include < stdio.h>
void exchange ( int *a, int *b );
void main()
{ /* RIGHT CODE */
int a, b;
a = 5;
b = 7;
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printf("From main: a = %d, b = %d\n", a, b);
exchange(&a, &b);
printf("Back in main: ");
printf("a = %d, b = %d\n", a, b);
}
void exchange ( int *a, int *b )
{
int temp;
temp = *a;
*a = *b;
*b = temp;
printf(" From function exchange: ");
printf("a = %d, b = %d\n", *a, *b);
}
The rule of thumb here is that
You use regular variables if the function does not change the values of those arguments
You MUST use pointers if the function changes the values of those arguments
11 Command-line arguments
It is standard practice in UNIX for information to be passed from the command line directly into
a program through the use of one or more command-line arguments, or switches. Switches are
typically used to modify the behavior of a program, or to set the values of some internal parameters.
You have already encountered several of thesefor example, the ls command lists the les in your
current directory, but when the switch -l is added, ls -l produces a so-called long listing instead.
Similarly, ls -l -a produces a long listing, including hidden les, the command tail -20 prints
out the last 20 lines of a le (instead of the default 10), and so on.
Conceptually, switches behave very much like arguments to functions within C, and they are
passed to a C program from the operating system in precisely the same way as arguments are
passed between functions. Up to now, the main() statements in our programs have had nothing
between the parentheses. However, UNIX actually makes available to the program (whether the
programmer chooses to use the information or not) two arguments to main: an array of character
strings, conventionally called argv, and an integer, usually called argc, which species the number
of strings in that array. The full statement of the rst line of the program is
main(int argc, char** argv)
(The syntax charargv declares argv to be a pointer to a pointer to a character, that is, a pointer
to a character array (a character string)in other words, an array of character strings. You could
also write this as char argv[]. Dont worry too much about the details of the syntax, howeverthe
use of the array will be made clearer below.)
When you run a program, the array argv contains, in order, all the information on the command
line when you entered the command (strings are delineated by whitespace), including the command
itself. The integer argc gives the total number of strings, and is therefore equal to equal to the
number of arguments plus one. For example, if you typed
a.out -i 2 -g -x 3 4
the program would receive
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argc = 7
argv[0] = "a.out"
argv[1] = "-i"
argv[2] = "2"
argv[3] = "-g"
argv[4] = "-x"
argv[5] = "3"
argv[6] = "4"
Note that the arguments, even the numeric ones, are all strings at this point. It is the pro-
grammers job to decode them and decide what to do with them.
The following program simply prints out its own name and arguments:
#include < stdio.h>
main(int argc, char** argv)
{
int i;
printf("argc = %d\n", argc);
for (i = 0; i < argc; i++)
printf("argv[%d] = \"%s\"\n", i, argv[i]);
}
UNIX programmers have certain conventions about how to interpret the argument list. They
are by no means mandatory, but it will make your program easier for others to use and understand
if you stick to them. First, switches and key terms are always preceded by a - character. This
makes them easy to recognize as you loop through the argument list. Then, depending on the
switch, the next arguments may contain information to be interpreted as integers, oats, or just
kept as character strings. With these conventions, the most common way to parse the argument
list is with a for loop and a switch statement, as follows:
#include < stdio.h>
#include < stdlib.h>
main(int argc, char** argv)
{
/* Set defaults for all parameters: */
int a_value = 0;
float b_value = 0.0;
char* c_value = NULL;
int d1_value = 0, d2_value = 0;
int i;
/* Start at i = 1 to skip the command name. */
for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
/* Check for a switch (leading "-"). */
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if (argv[i][0] == -) {
/* Use the next character to decide what to do. */
switch (argv[i][1]) {
case a: a_value = atoi(argv[++i]);
break;
case b: b_value = atof(argv[++i]);
break;
case c: c_value = argv[++i];
break;
case d: d1_value = atoi(argv[++i]);
d2_value = atoi(argv[++i]);
break;
}
}
}
printf("a = %d\n", a_value);
printf("b = %f\n", b_value);
if (c_value != NULL) printf("c = \"%s\"\n", c_value);
printf("d1 = %d, d2 = %d\n", d1_value, d2_value);
}
Note that argv[i][j] means the j-th character of the i-th character string. The if statement
checks for a leading - (character 0), then the switch statement allows various courses of action to
be taken depending on the next character in the string (character 1 here). Note the use of argv[++i]
to increase i before use, allowing us to access the next string in a single compact statement. The
functions atoi and atof are dened in stdlib.h. They convert from character strings to ints and
doubles, respectively.
A typical command line might be:
a.out -a 3 -b 5.6 -c "I am a string" -d 222 111
(The use of double quotes with -c here makes sure that the shell treats the entire string,
including the spaces, as a single object.)
Arbitrarily complex command lines can be handled in this way. Finally, heres a simple program
showing how to place parsing statements in a separate function whose purpose is to interpret the
command line and set the values of its arguments:
/********************************/
/* */
/* Getting arguments from */
/* */
/* the Command Line */
/* */
/********************************/
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/* Steve McMillan */
/* Written: Winter 1995 */
#include < stdio.h>
#include < stdlib.h>
void get_args(int argc, char** argv, int* a_value, float* b_value)
{
int i;
/* Start at i = 1 to skip the command name. */
for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
/* Check for a switch (leading "-"). */
if (argv[i][0] == -) {
/* Use the next character to decide what to do. */
switch (argv[i][1]) {
case a: *a_value = atoi(argv[++i]);
break;
case b: *b_value = atof(argv[++i]);
break;
default: fprintf(stderr,
"Unknown switch %s\n", argv[i]);
}
}
}
}
main(int argc, char** arg
/********************************/
/* */
/* Getting arguments from */
/* */
/* the Command Line */
/* */
/********************************/
/* Steve McMillan */
/* Written: Winter 1995 */
#include < stdio.h>
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#include < stdlib.h>
void get_args(int argc, char** argv, int* a_value, float* b_value)
{
int i;
/* Start at i = 1 to skip the command name. */
for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
/* Check for a switch (leading "-"). */
if (argv[i][0] == -) {
/* Use the next character to decide what to do. */
switch (argv[i][1]) {
case a: *a_value = atoi(argv[++i]);
break;
case b: *b_value = atof(argv[++i]);
break;
default: fprintf(stderr,
"Unknown switch %s\n", argv[i]);
}
}
}
}
main(int argc, char** argv)
{
/* Set defaults for all parameters: */
int a = 0;
float b = 0.0;
get_args(argc, argv, &a, &b);
printf("a = %d\n", a);
printf("b = %f\n", b);
}
v)
{
/* Set defaults for all parameters: */
int a = 0;
float b = 0.0;
get_args(argc, argv, &a, &b);
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printf("a = %d\n", a);
printf("b = %f\n", b);
}
12 Graphical Interfaces: Dialog Boxes
Suppose you dont want to deal with command line interpretation, but you still want your program
to be able to change the values of certain variables in an interactive way. You could simply program
in a series printf/scanf lines to quiz the user about their preferences:
.
.
.
printf("Please enter the value of n: ");
scanf("%d", &n);
printf("Please enter the value of x: ");
scanf("%f", &x);
.
.
.
and so on, but this wont work well if your program is to be used as part of a pipeline (see the
UNIX primer), for example using ther graphics program plot
d
ata, since the questions and answers
will get mixed up with the data stream.
A convenient alternative is to use a simple graphical interface which generates a dialog box,
oering you the option of varying key parameters in your program. Our graphics package provides
a number of easy-to-use tools for constructing and using such boxes. The simplest way to set the
integer variable n and the oat variable x (i.e. to perform the same eect as the above lines of
code) using a dialog box is as follows:
/* Simple program to illustrate use of a dialog box */
main()
{
/* Define default values: */
int n = 0;
float x = 0.0;
/* Define contents of dialog window */
create_int_dialog_entry("n", &n);
create_float_dialog_entry("x", &x);
/* Create window with name "Setup" and top-left corner at (0,0) */
set_up_dialog("Setup", 0, 0);
/* Display the window and read the results */
read_dialog_window();
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/* Print out the new values */
printf("n = %d, x = %f\n", n, x);
}
Compile this program using the alias Cgfx (see the page on compilation) to link in all necessary
libraries.
The two create lines dene the entries in the box and the variables to be associated with
them, set up dialog names the box and denes its location. Finally, read dialog window pops up
a window and allows you to change the values of the variables. When the program runs, you will
see a box that looks something like this:
Modify the numbers shown, click OK (or just hit carriage return), and the changes are made.
Thats all there is to it! The great advantage of this approach is that it operates independently of
the ow of data through stdin/stdout. In principle, you could even control the operation of every
stage in a pipeline of many chained commands, using a separate dialog box for each.
References
[1] http:// www.physics.drexel.edu/courses/Comp Phys/General/C basics/index.html
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