TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

KATHMANDU ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Kalimati, Kathmandu

A
REFERENCE
BOOK
ON
C - PROGRAMMING
(EG 442 CT)

By:
Er. SAMEER SHRESTHA

Kathmandu, Nepal

Year 2063 (2006)

 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY
KATHMANDU ENGINEERING COLLEGE
Kalimati, Kathmandu

A
REFERENCE
BOOK
ON
C - PROGRAMMING
(EG 442 CT)

By:
Er. SAMEER SHRESTHA
Department of Electronics and Computer
Kathmandu Engineering College
Kathmandu, Nepal

Year 2063 (2006)

 Acknowledgement

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Hirendra Man Pradhan,
Chairman, Kathmandu Engineering College for inspiring us to write the manual “A
Reference Book on C Programming” that is required for the students of the Electronics
and Computer Engineering.

We would like to thank Er. Ramesh Shrestha, Kathmandu Engineering College for
his necessary advice and encouragement to us while preparing this manual.

We would also like to express our thankfulness to Er. Paras Pant, Head of
Department, Kathmandu Engineering College providing us with all the necessary
books and manuals as needed. Many thanks to friends and family for inspiring and
helping us in times of need.

We would like to thank all the good people who helped us directly and indirectly in
making this manual.

May, 2006

I
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement I

1. Introduction to Computers 1

2. Problem Solving Using Computer 14

3. Introduction to C 29

4. Input and Output 48

5. Structured Programming Fundamentals 51

6. Functions 72

7. Arrays Pointers and Strings 99

7.1. Arrays 99
7.2. Pointers 112
7.3. String and String Handling Functions 137

8. Structures 173

9. File and File Handling in ‘C’ 186

10. Appendix

10.1. Syllabus 195

10.2. Practice Questions 197

References
 A Reference Book on C Programming

Chapter 1.0

1. Introductions to Computers
Computer is a programmable machine capable of performing computations and making
logical decisions.

1.1. Historical Development

The development of computing dates back from the early Sumerian civilization (4000-
1200 BC) when people started to keep records of transactions on clay tables. The actual
computing using a machine started around 3000 BC when Babylons invented the abacus
and Chinese people started using them around 1200 BC.

No significant development took place until seventeenth century. In 1642-43 Blaise

Pascal created a gear-driven adding machine named Pascalene. It was the first
mechanical adding machine. Later, in 1673-74, Leibnitz joined the crew with his version
of mechanical calculator named “Stepped Reckoner” that could multiply. In 1801
Jacquard constructed a Loom, which is the first machine programmed with punched
cards. In 1822, Charles Babbage designed and built his first Difference Engine, which is
credited the first mechanical computer. For this machine, Babbage is known as the
“Father of Computer”. In 1842, Ada Augusta Lovelace wrote the first program for the
Difference Engine made by Babbage. A programming language (Ada) has been named
after her. In 1847-49, Babbage designed his second version of Difference Engine but he
could not complete it. The same machine was conceived in 1991 by the Science Museum
in Kensington, England, and it worked!

In 1854 George Bool developed Boolean Logic, which is a system for symbolic and
logical reasoning and the basis for computer design. In 1890, computations for the US
Census were carried out by Herman Hollerith’s punched card machine. Hollerith started
Tabulating Company, which eventually became IBM.

Before the 20th century, all the machines were mechanical. With the advent of vacuum
tubes, the electronics era of computers started. In 1944, Harvard Mark I, the first large
scale, automatic, general purpose, electromechanical calculator driven by a paper tape
containing the instructions was constructed. In the second version of this machine, Grace
Hopper, found the first computer bug, a bug beaten to death in the jaws of a relay, which
she glued into the logbook. The logbook is now in the National Museum of American
History of the Smithsonian.

The first electronic computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)
was built in 1946. It was programmed through rewiring between the various components.
After this, many machines like EDVAC, IBM 701, 704 were built and some of them were
commercially successful at that time because they used transistors in place of vacuum
tubes thereby increasing the reliability and performance.

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In 1961, Integrated Circuit (IC) were commercially available and since then computers
use ICs instead of individual transistors or other components. IBM 360 and DEC PDP 8
were the most popular machines during that time. The invention of microprocessor
further reduced the size and increased the performance of the computers. Altair 8800 was
the first easily available microcomputer for which Bill Gates co-wrote BASIC.

1981 was the year of IBM when it launched the PC. Since then, there had been significant
development in the field of microelectronics and microprocessor. Today, we run a 2GHz
processor on our desk with 256MB of memory (640KB was considered more than
sufficient once upon a time) and more than 40G of storage.

Five Generations of Modern Computers

The development of computers has been divided into generations. Computers of each
generation have certain common characteristics in terms of components used, computing
power, reliability etc.

First Generation (1945-1956)

The computers of this generation we entirely mechanical or electromechanical that use
vacuum tubes and relays. Some of the important machines of this generation were
Colossus, Mark I, ENIAC, EDVAC etc. The machines were very slow (3-5 seconds per
calculation to few thousands of calculations per second) and inflexible (mostly built for
special purpose) and could perform basic operations. The machines were huge (eg.
ENIAC -18000 ft3, 18000 vacuum tubes) and consume a lot of power (160 KW for
ENIAC).

Second Generation Computers (1957-1963)

By 1948, the invention of the transistor greatly changed the computer's development. The
transistor replaced the large, cumbersome vacuum tube in televisions, radios and
computers. As a result, the size of electronic machinery has been shrinking ever since.
The transistor was at work in the computer by 1956. Coupled with early advances in
magnetic-core memory, transistors led to second generation computers that were smaller,
faster, more reliable and more energy-efficient than their predecessors.

Throughout the early 1960's, there were a number of commercially successful second-
generation computers used in business, universities, and government. These second
generation computers contained transistors in place of vacuum tubes. They also contained
all the components we associate with the modern day computer: printers, tape storage,
disk storage, memory, operating systems, and stored programs. One important example
was the IBM 1401. High-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented
Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) came into common use during this time,
and have expanded to the current day. These languages replaced cryptic binary machine
code with words, sentences, and mathematical formulas, making it much easier to

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program a computer. New types of careers (programmer, analyst, and computer systems
expert) and the entire software industry began with second-generation computers.

Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)

Though transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube, they still
generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the computer's sensitive internal parts. The
Integrated Circuits (IC) were invented and used to fit even more components on a single
chip. As a result, computers became ever smaller as more components were squeezed
onto the chip. Another third-generation development included the use of an operating
system that allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central
program that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory and other resources.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present)

After the integrated circuits, the only place to go was down - in size, that is. Large Scale
Integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip. By the 1980's, Very
Large Scale Integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a
chip. Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. It also
increased their power, efficiency and reliability. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971,
took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer
(central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls) on a minuscule chip.
Whereas previously the integrated circuit had had to be manufactured to fit a special
purpose, now one microprocessor could be manufactured and then programmed to meet
any number of demands. Soon everyday household items such as microwave ovens,
television sets and automobiles with electronic fuel injection incorporated
microprocessors.

Such condensed power allowed everyday people to harness a computer's power. They
were no longer developed exclusively for large business or government contracts. By the
mid-1970's, computer manufacturers sought to bring computers to general consumers.
These minicomputers came complete with user-friendly software packages that offered
even non-technical users an array of applications, most popularly word processing and
spreadsheet programs. Pioneers in this field were Commodore, Radio Shack and Apple
Computers.

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer (PC) for use in the home, office and
schools. The 1980's saw an expansion in computer use in all three arenas as clones of the
IBM PC made the personal computer even more affordable. The number of personal
computers in use more than doubled from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in 1982. Ten
years later, 65 million PCs were being used. Computers continued their trend toward a
smaller size, working their way down from desktop to laptop computers (which could fit
inside a briefcase) to palmtop (that could fit inside a pocket).

As computers became more widespread in the workplace, new ways to harness their
potential developed. As smaller computers became more powerful, they could be linked

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together, or networked, to share memory space, software, information and communicate

with each other. As opposed to a mainframe computer, which was one powerful
computer that shared time with many terminals for many applications, networked
computers allowed individual computers to communicate with each other. A global web
of computer circuitry, the Internet, for example, links computers worldwide into a single
network of information.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond)

Defining the fifth generation of computers is somewhat difficult because the field is in its
infancy. With artificial intelligence, these computers will be able to hold conversations
with its human operators, use visual input, and learn from its own experiences. Using
recent engineering advances, computers are able to accept spoken word instructions
(voice recognition) and imitate human reasoning. The ability to translate a foreign
language is also moderately possible with fifth generation computers. This feat seemed a
simple objective at first, but appeared much more difficult when programmers realized
that human understanding relies as much on context and meaning as it does on the simple
translation of words.

Many advances in the science of computer design and technology are coming together to
enable the creation of fifth-generation computers. Two such engineering advances are
parallel processing, which replaces von Neumann's single central processing unit design
with a system harnessing the power of many CPUs to work as one. Another advance is
superconductor technology, which allows the flow of electricity with little or no
resistance, greatly improving the speed of information flow. Computers today have some
attributes of fifth generation computers. For example, expert systems assist doctors in
making diagnoses by applying the problem-solving steps a doctor might use in assessing
a patient's needs. It will take several more years of development before expert systems
are in widespread use.

1.2. Computer Systems and Organization

Computer is a machine capable of performing computations and making logical
decisions. Because of these capabilities, a computer can process data and automate tasks.
All the modern computers are digital and operate in binary system. In binary system we
have only two digits (bits) – 0 and 1 to represent the data. Since the bit is very small unit,
virtually, it cannot represent any information while used single. A combination of eight
bits is called a byte. A byte is the fundamental unit of data representation in computer. A
byte can represent one character of data. Modern computers are capable of processing
more than one byte at a time (usually 2, 4 or 8 bytes)

The computer consists of two major components - hardware and software. The physical
components – from nuts and bolts to tiny chips to the processor and connecting wires,
which we can touch, is called the hardware. The instructions (also called programs) and
data (processed or unprocessed) are the software. Without software to drive the hardware,
a computer is just an empty shell.

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1.2.1 Computer Hardware (Block Diagram of Digital Computer)

Figure 1: Block diagram of a computer

The major parts of a computer system are shown in figure 1. It can be seen that a
computer mainly consists of three parts – input device, processing unit and output device.
The function of input device is to provide the necessary data and instructions to the
processing unit. The processing unit then operates on the data with the instructions that
user has given to it through the input device. The result of the processing is then
presented to the user through output device. Besides these three major parts, there are two
other parts inside the computer used for storing data and instructions. These are called
mass storage device and memory. The mass storage device (also called the secondary
memory) usually stores the data and programs. These devices could be made of magnetic
or optical media. The hard disk drive (usually magnetic) is used to store the program
(software) and data (processed or unprocessed). The floppy (also a magnetic media) can
store only a small amount of data. This is a portable media. Data can be erased and
rewritten on hard drive and floppy. The other media CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only
Memory) is an optical media and generally non-rewritable. But, writable and rewritable
are also available.

The data, temporary results of processing and currently running programs are stored on
the primary memory known as RAM (Random Access Memory) inside the computers.

A computer that can reside (in terms of dimension) on user’s desktop is called a
microcomputer. But this definition is rather vague because computers having smaller
dimension (not in power) are also available. Microcomputers include PC's, laptops,
notebooks, and hand-held computers.

Larger computers fall into a mini, mainframe or super category. A mini-computer is

(used to be) 3-25 times faster than a micro. It is physically larger and has a greater

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storage capacity. A mainframe is a larger type of computer and is typically 10-100 times
faster than the micro. These computers require a controlled environment both for
temperature and humidity. Super computer is the most powerful computer that can
process at speeds of several hundred or even thousands of millions of instructions
(mflops) per second.

Computers have evolved over the years from machinery that literally filled rooms to the
desktop and laptop computers of today. The desktop computer debuted to mass audiences
in 1980 as an 8088 computer that processed information at a rate of 5-8 MHz. Over the
next fourteen years, computers progressed from the 80286 at 8-16 MHz to the 80386 to a
high of 32 MHz speed. Since the mid 1990's, the progression has been much more rapid
moving from a 80486 at a top capacity of 100 MHz to the first Pentium 60 MHz to the
Pentium IV of today that processes above 1000 MHz.

The microprocessor contains the CPU (Central Processing Unit), which is made up of
three components – the control unit supervises everything that is going on inside the
computer, the arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) performs the mathematical and comparison
(logical) operations, and main memory (RAM) to store the programs and data.

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1.2.1. Computer Hardware (Block Diagram of Digital Computer)

COMPUTER SYSTEM ORGANIZATION/ COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

The processor
CONTROL UNIT
Interprets the stores instructions in sequence
Issues commands to all elements of the computer

ARITHMETIC & LOGIC UNIT

(ALU)

OUTPUT
INPUT Information
Data and - The result of
Instructions processing

MAIN MEMORY
(MAIN STORAGE)
Holds data, instructions and results of processing

SECONDARY/AUXIAILARY STORAGE

(BACKING STORAGE)

Key Data/Instruction flow

Command/Signal flow

Fig. Block diagram of Computer Architecture

INPUT UNIT

This unit consists of the devices used to tale information and data that are external to the
computer and put them into memory unit or ALU. The input unit is used to enter data and
program into the memory unit and ALU prior to the starting of the computer and also
during the execution of the program. Most systems have a keyboard and one or more
additional devices specially designed for interactive input. These include a mouse,
tracker ball, joystick, digitizer, scanner, touch panel etc.

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THE CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The heart of any computer system is the processor unit or Central Processing Unit or
Central Processing Unit, which consists of
Primary storage unit
Arithmetic-logic unit and
Control unit

The CPU lays in side a box called main machine or chasis. It is connected with the timing
chips (clock generators), ROM BIOS (Read Only Memory Basic Input Output System),
floppy drives, hard disk drivers (fixed disks), expansion slots, HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
control cards, FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) control cards, etc. They are located inside the
main machine. The architecture of Central processing unit and a computer system is
shown block diagram.

1. The primary storage section:

The primary storage (also called the main memory) section is used for four purposes, out
which three are related data processing.

Data are fed into an input storage area where they are held until ready to be processed.

A working storage space that is like a sheet of scratch paper is used to hold the data being
processed and the intermediate results of such processing.
An output storage area holds the finished results of the processing operations until they
can e released.

In addition to these data-related purposes, the primary storage section is also contains a
program storage area that holds the processing instructions.

Semiconductor memory RAMs and ROMs are used as main memory. The main memory
is a fast memory but expensive.

2. The arithmetic-logic section

The arithmetic-logic and control sections together make up the Central Processing Unit
(CPU). All calculations are performed and all comparisons (decisions) are made in the
arithmetic-logic section of the CPU. Once data are fed into primary storage from input
devices, they are held and transferred, when needed, to the arithmetic –logic section,
where the processing takes place. No processing occurs in primary storage. Intermediate
results generated in the arithmetic –logic unit are temporarily placed in a designated
working storage area until needed at a later time. Data may thus move many times before
the processing is finished. Once completed, the final results are released to an output
device.

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Logic unit is a section of CPU and it has the basic function of comparing two digits
(binary digits) on the basis of “on” of “off” state representing true and false conditions.
The comparison is related to logical operations such as and, or and not. The general
operation is based on Boolean algebra.

3. The Control Section

By selection, interpretation and seeing to the execution of program instructions, the

control section of the CPU maintains order and directs the operation of the entire system.
Although the control section doesn’t process data, it acts as a central nervous system for
the other data-manipulating components of the computer. At the beginning of processing,
the first program storage area. There it is interpreted, and from there signals are sent to
other components execute the necessary action. Further program instructions are selected
are executed, one after, until the processing is completed.

OUTPUT UNIT

This unit consists of the devices used to transfer data and information from the computer
to the ″outside world″. The output devices are directed by the control unit and can receive
the data from memory or the ALU, which is then put into appropriate form for external
use. Example of common output devices are CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screen and
printers. Other output devices are LEDs ( Light Emitting Diodes), LCDs ( Liquid Crystal
Display), indicator lights, disk or tape units and digital to analog converters (DAC).

As the computer executes its program, it usually has results or control signals that it must
present to the external world. For example, a large computer system might have a line
printer as an output device. Here, the computer sends out signals to print out the results
on paper. A computer mighty displays its results on indicator lights or LED displays.

SECONDARY/AUXILIARY STORAGE

Secondary or auxiliary storage stores operation system, data files, compilers, assemblers,
application programs etc. The CPU does not read information (residing in the secondary
memory) directly from the secondary storage. The programs and data residing in the
secondary storage, if needed by CPU are first transferred from the secondary storage to
the primary memory. Then the CPU reads from the primary memory. The results are also
stored in the secondary storage. The secondary storage is the mass storage. It is slow but
cheap. Some of the examples of the secondary storage are Hard Disk, CD−ROM, DVDs,
Pen Drives etc.

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1.2.2. Computer Software

The software is what really gives the computer life. It is a set of instructions that tells the
computer what to do when the computer operator does something. Software is installed
onto your computer and stored in mass storage devices. Software can actually be placed
into two separate categories system of applications.

1.2.2.1. System software

System software, (popularly called the operating system) is the foundation software for a
computer. An operating system (OS) controls all parts of the computer. The major
functions of the OS ate to handle all input devices (keyboard, mouse, disk), handle all
output devices (screen, printer, disk), coordinate and manage use of other resources
(memory, disk, CPU, etc.), accept commands from users, provide an environment over
which other programs (software) can run.

Examples of popular OS are DOS (Disk Operating System), Windows, Unix, Linux,
OS/2, and Solaris etc. Some of these OSes are specific to a particular computer system –
e.g. Solaris runs on Sun SPARC machines.

1.2.2.2. Application software

Application software is the software that is developed for a particular use. These software
run over the environment provided by the system software. Most of these process our
data. There are thousands of application software. They are further divided into numerous
categories depending on the operation they perform on our data, i.e. their application.
Some of them are described below.

Word processing software allows you to process and manipulate test. Examples are Corel
WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. Spreadsheets, very simply put, gives you 4 when you
input 2+2. Examples are Quattro Pro and Excel. Databases are most useful for organizing
data. For example, database software can keep track of your friend’s name; address,
telephone numbers and you can add or remove whenever you want. Some examples are
Paradox and Access. Internet browsers give us access to the world. When this software is
installed and you are connected to an ISP (Internet Service Provider), you have access to
worldwide information. Common examples are Netscape and Explorer. There are other
utility programs that check if the units inside your machine are functioning properly as
they should. Examples are the disk scanner that checks if the surface of your disks are
damaged, anti-virus that checks if your computer has been infected with some virus (a
malicious program that may just annoy you or even delete all the content of your hard
drive) and clean if found etc.

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1.2.3. Programming Languages

There is another type of software that enables us to make software (program) on our own.
This is called programming language. It operates in close conjunction with operating
system and enables us (the programmer) to exploit certain capabilities of operating
system while creating the program. This software is called language because it resembles
different characteristics of human language (for example syntax rules that are similar to
our grammar). Programming languages are categorized in different types according to
the method by which a programmer creates the instructions. Programming languages are
mainly categorized into two types – low level and high languages.

1.2.3.1. Low-level language

A low-level language is a programming language much closer to the hardware. It requires
a thorough knowledge (low level) of the hardware for which the program is being created.
Program written for one type of machine may not run (in fact does not run) on other
machines of different manufacture. These can be divided into two types – machine
language and assembly language.

1.2.3.1.1. Machine Language

Machine language is the lowest level programming language, which is the only language
understood by a computer. While easily understood by computers, machine languages are
almost impossible for humans to use because they consist entirely of numbers. Early
computers were usually programmed using machine language.

1.2.3.1.2. Assembly Language

As the machine language involves only numbers specific to a machine, developers
thought that if they can represent those numbers by some symbols, it would be easier to
make programs. So, they developed assembly languages in which those numbers are
replaced by some symbols (called mnemonic). (For example if 78 is the number that tells
the computer to add two numbers, ADD could be used to represent it.) Each number is
replaced by a symbol so that by remembering the symbol for each number, programmers
now can write programs. As machine language is the only language understood by
computers, they also developed a program that could convert the programs written in
symbols into machine language. This converting program is called assembler. Like the
machine language, assembly language programs are also dependent on the machine
because numbers may vary form machine to machine. But the flexibility it offered was it
could be made to run on other machines by slightly changing the code or changing the
assembler. Moreover, it’s easier to learn assembly language than the machine language.

1.2.3.2. High Level Language

A high level language is a programming language that enables a programmer to write
programs more or less independent of a particular type of computer. Such languages are

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considered high-level because they are closer to human languages and further from
machine languages. Every high level language has its own set of rules to represent
instructions. This rule is called syntax. The main advantage of high-level languages over
low-level languages is that they are easier to read, write, and maintain.

The first high-level programming languages were designed in the 1950s. Now there are
dozens of different languages, such as Ada, Algol, BASIC, COBOL, C, C++ ,
FORTRAN, LISP, Pascal, and Prolog etc.
Like assembly language programs, programs written in a high-level language also need to
be translated into machine language. This can be done in two ways – by a compiler or
interpreter.

Compiler
A compiler is a program that translates program (called source code) written in some
high level language into object code. The compiler derives its name from the way it
works, looking at the entire piece of source code and collecting and reorganizing the
instructions. A compiler translates high-level instructions directly into machine language
and this process is called compiling.

Interpreter
An interpreter translates high-level instructions into an intermediate form, which it then
executes. Interpreter analyzes and executes each line of source code in succession,
without looking at the entire program; the advantage of interpreters is that they can
execute a program immediately. Compilers require some time before an executable
program emerges. However, programs produced by compilers run much faster than the
same programs executed by an interpreter.

Compiled programs generally run faster than interpreted programs. The advantage of an
interpreter, however, is that it does not need to get through the compilation stage during
which machine instructions are generated. This process can be time-consuming if the
program is long. The interpreter, on the other hand, can immediately execute high-level
programs. For this reason, interpreters are sometimes used during the development of a
program, when a programmer wants to add small sections at a time and test them quickly.

Because compilers translate source code into object code, which is unique for each type
of computer, many compilers are available for the same language. For example, there is a
C compiler for PCs and another for Unix computers.

Compile
Compiling is a process of transforming a program written in a high-level programming
language from source code into object code. Programmers write programs in a form
called source code. Source code must go through several steps before it becomes an
executable program. The first step is to pass the source code through a compiler, which

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translates the high-level language instructions in the source code follow its syntax rules.
If not it will inform the programmer where rules have been violated.

The final step in producing an executable program –after the compiler has produced
object code - is to pass the object code through a linker. The linker combines molecules
(different program segments) and gives real values to all symbolic addresses (memory
locations), thereby producing machine code.

Source code
Program written in a particular programming language in its original form is called
source code (program). The word source differentiates code from various other forms
that it can have (for example, object code and executable code). To execute the program,
however, the programmer must translate it into machine language. The compiler
translates the source code into a form called object code. Source code is the only format
that s readable by humans. When we purchase programs, we usually receive them in their
machine-language format. This means that we can execute them directly, but cannot read
or modify them.

Object code
Object code is the code produced by a compiler. Object code is often the same as or
similar to a computer’s machine language. The final step in producing an executable
program is to transform the object code into machine languages, if it is not already in this
form. A program called linker does this job.

Liveware
Liveware refers to all personnel who deals with the computer and its management
Example:
• Hardware Maintenance Engineer
• Software Engineer
• System Analyst
• Programmer
• Data Operator
• Computer Technicians

Firmware

This is the term given to in-built programs of the computer, which give instructions to the
computer. It is placed within computer systems at the time of manufacturing. ROM can
be taken as firmware, which is hardware-containing software to control the computer
software. Firmware is a hardware and a software in one.

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Chapter 2.0

2. Problem solving using Computers

Standard software packages available in the market are intended for general-purpose
applications. However, the users often require custom-tailored software, for performing
specific data processing or computational tasks. Application software development is the
process of creating such software, which satisfies the end user’s requirements and needs.
In simple language it can be said that problem solving using computers is the
development of the application software.

Following steps needs to be followed for developing the application software.

1. Problem Analysis
2. Algorithm Development and Flowcharting
3. Coding
4. Compilation and Execution
5. Debugging and Testing
6. Program Documentation

2.1. Problem Analysis

Problem analysis is also known as defining problem, which involves the following six
tasks.

1. Specifying the objective of the program

2. Specifying the outputs
3. Specifying the input requirements
4. Specifying the processing requirements
5. Evaluating the feasibility of the program
6. Documenting the program analysis

At this stage you not only want to determine the input and output requirements but also to
get sense of how much everything will cost.

Specifying the objective of the program

In order to avoid having the right solution to the wrong problem, we need to be sure we
know what the problem is actually is. Making a clear statement of the problem depends
of course, on its size and complexity. If the problem is small and does not involve other
systems, then we can probably state the problem easily and proceed immediately to the
second step, “Program Design”. However, many problems interact with an already
existing information system or would require a series of programs and so require very
complete analysis, meaning, and careful coordination of people, procedures and
programs.

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Specifying the input requirements

Now that you have determined the outputs, you need to define the input and data. To do
this, you list the inputs required and the source of the data. For example, in a payroll
program, inputs could be employee timesheets and the source of the in put could be either
the employees themselves or their supervisors. You need to be sure that the source of the
data is consistent so that the date will be available in the future when you need it.

Specifying the processing requirements

Now you have to determine the processing requirements for converting the input data to
output. If the proposed program is to replace or to supplement an existing one, you will
want to make a particularly careful evaluation and identification of the present processing
procedures, noting the logic used and any improvements that could be made. If the
proposed system is not designed to replace and existing system, you would be well
advised to look over another system in use that addresses a similar problem.

Evaluating the feasibility of the program

Now you need to see if what you have accomplished so far is enough to make a new
program feasible. If the program is intended to replace an existing system, you need to
determine id the potential improvements outweigh the costs and possible problems.

Documenting the program analysis

Before concluding the program analysis stage, it is best to write up a document, stating
the results of this first phase. This document should contain statements on the program’s
objectives, output specifications, input requirements, processing requirements and
feasibility. In other words, the documents should describe everything you have done so
far.

2.2. Algorithm Development and Flowchart (Program design)

You know you have a problem and have identified it in the program analysis stage. Now
you need to plan a solution to meet the objectives you have specified. This second phase
is called the program design stage-it consists of designing a solution.

Algorithms

An algorithm is a verbal or say written form of the program. It can be defined as ordered
description of instructions to be carried out in order to solve the given task.

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For instance to prepare a tea one can follow the following steps.

1. Start.
2. Fetch water and tealeaves along with sugar and milk.
3. Boil the water.
4. Put tealeaves and sugar in boiled water.
5. Mix with milk.
6. Serve the tea.
7. Stop.

Basic Guidelines for writing algorithms.

• Use plain language.

• Do not use any language specific syntax. Same algorithm should hold true for any
programming language.
• Do not make any assumptions. Describe everything clearly and explicitly.
• Ensure that the algorithm has single entry and exit point.

Important Features of Algorithm

1. Finiteness: Every algorithm should lead to a session of task that terminates after a
finite no of steps.
2. Definiteness: Each step must be precisely defined. Actions should be
ambiguously specified for each case.
3. Inputs: Any algorithm can have zero or more inputs. Inputs may be given
initially or as the algorithm runs.
4. Outputs: Any algorithm may result in one or more outputs. Quantities that have
specified relation to inputs.
5. Effectiveness: All operations must be sufficiently basic so as to be implemented
with even paper and pencil.

For example: Read two numbers form user and display the resulting sum.
1. Start.
2. Read two numbers and solve in variables, say A and B.
3. Store the sum of A and B in C.
4. Display the value in C.
5. Stop.

Flowchart

One of the most widely used devices for designing programs is the flowchart, which
graphically represents the logic needed to solve a programming problem.
A programming flowchart represents the detailed sequence of steps, needed to solve the
problem. Program flowcharts are frequently used to visualize the logic and steps in
processing. In other words it’s a diagrammatic representation of algorithm.

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Basic blocks used for drawing flowcharts:

Diagrams Purpose

Start / Stop

Processing

Decision Making

Input / Outputs

Connector

Flow Lines

For examples: Read two numbers form user and display the resulting sum.

Start

Read a,b

c=a+b

Display

Stop

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Flowchart to find the largest among three entered numbers:

Start

Input
A, B, C

Y N
Is A>B

Is A>C Is B>C
Y N N Y

Print A Print C Print B

Stop

2.3. Coding

Writing the program is called coding. In this step, you use the logic you develop in the
program design stage to actually write the program. The coding can be done in any kind
of languages (i.e. low level or high level languages).

As in other areas of life there are many ways to get the same places, in programming also
there are various ways to get things done. Here are some of the qualities of a good
program:

• It should be easily readable and understandable by people other than the original
programmer. This is accomplished by including comments within the program.

• It should be efficient, increasing the programmer’s productivity.

• It should be reliable, able to work under all reasonable conditions and always get
the correct output.

• It should be able to detect unreasonable or error conditions and indicate them to

the programmer or user without stopping all operations – crashing the system.

• It should be easy to maintain and support after installation.

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Three factors that make programs efficient are:

• The statements can be arranged into patterns that enhance readability.

• The variables – variables are symbolically named entities to which values are
assigned – used are carefully and descriptively named.
• Comments can be inserted into the program to document the logic patterns and
program flow.

2.4. Compilation and Execution

Generally coding is done in high-level language and sometimes in low-level language
(such as assembly language). For these languages to work on the computer it must be
translated into machine language. There are two kinds of translators – compilers and
interpreters. The high level languages can be either called compiled languages or
interpreted languages.

In a compiled language, a translation program is run to convert the programmer’s entire

high-level program, which is called the source code, into a machine language code. This
translation process is called compilations.
The machine language code is called the object code and can be saved and either runs
(executed) immediately or later. Some of the most widely used compiled languages are
COBOL, C, C++, FORTRAN, etc.

In an interpreted language, a translation program converts each program statement into

machine code just before the program statement is to be executed. Translation and
execution occur immediately, one after another, one statement at a time.

Unlike the compiled languages. No object code is stored and there is no compilation. This
means that in a program where one statement is executed several times (such as reading
and employ’s payroll record), that statement is converted to machine language each time
it is executed. The most frequently used interpreted language is BASIC. Compiler
languages are better than interpreted languages as they can be executed faster and more
efficiently once the object code has been obtained. On the other hand interpreted
languages do not need to create object code and so are usually easier to develop- that is to
code and test.

The Compilation Process

The object of the compiler is to translate a program written in a high level programming
language from source code to object code. Programmers write programs in a form called
source code. Source code must go through several steps before it becomes an executable
program.

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Source Source Source

Compiler

Object Object Object

File File File

Runtime Executable
library Linker Program

The first step is to pass the source code through a compiler, which translate the high level
language instructions into object code.

• It is a process of transforming of a program in a high-level programming language

(source code) to object code.
• The source code must go through the following steps:
• Passing the source code through the compiler to produce object code.
• At that state compiler checks if all instructions in the source code follow
its syntax rules.
• The object code is passed through the linker which links different modules to
produce a executable code.

Linking

Linking is another step following compilation. Linking is necessary for several reasons.
The program may need to be combined with various library routines. As we noted, these
are functions that perform tasks such as input/output. Library routines are stored in files
with the .lib extension. We may not want to compile all of our program at the same time.
Larger C programs commonly consist of several separate files, some of which may
already be compiled. The linker combines these files into a single executable file. The
compiler generates an intermediate kind of file called an object file. The linker then links
all the necessary object files together to produce a final, executable program.

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Source File Source File Source File

Compiler

Object File Object File Object File

Run time Linker Executable

library
Program

Figure: The Compilation Process

2.5 Debugging and testing

Types of errors
1. Syntax errors
2. logical errors
3. Run time errors
4. Latent errors

1. Syntax error

Any violation of rules of the language results in syntax error. The compiler can detect and
isolate such errors. When syntax errors are present, the compilation fails and is
terminated after listing the errors and the line numbers in the source program, where the
errors have occurred. Such error occurs when a computer language compiler cannot
understand a command entered by the user. It is easy to correct the syntax error.

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2. Run-time (Execution) Errors

Errors such as mismatch of data types or referencing an out of range array element go
undetected by the compiler. A program with these mistakes will run but produce the
erroneous result. Isolating a run time error is usually a difficult task.

These errors are encountered after error free compilation, at the time of execution of the
program. Some typical examples are:
• Data incorrect or in wrong order
• Incorrect file name
• Infinite loops
• Divide check errors – these errors appear when a quantity is divided by
zero.
• Correct outputs only for selected data.

3. Logical errors

These errors are related to the logic of the program execution. Such actions as taking the
wrong path, failure to consider a particular condition and incorrect order of evaluation of
statements belong to this category. Logical errors do not show up as compiler- generated
error messages. Rather, they cause incorrect results. These errors are primarily due to a
poor understanding of the problem, incorrect translation of the algorithm and a lack of
clarity of the hierarchy (precedence) of operators.

For Example: for calculating net salary the formula is:

Net Salary = Basic Salary + Allowances – Deductions

But through the oversight, while coding, the formula is written as:

Net Salary = Basic Salary - Allowances + Deductions

Such errors can be detected by dry run.

4. Latent errors

It is a ‘hidden’ error that shows up only when a particular set of data is used.

Example:
ratio = (x + y)/(p - q)

The above expression generates error when p = q.

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Debugging

After the program has been developed there may be different types of errors involved
which have to be corrected for the program to run successfully, this is called debugging.
Debugging is the process of isolating and correcting the errors.

Debugging Tools (Techniques):

Different methods are available for finding the location of execution errors and logical
errors within a program. Such methods are generally referred to as debugging
techniques. There are different types of debugging tools

1. Error Isolation
2. Single stepping (Trace into and step over)
3. Watches
4. Break Points
5. Tracing

1. Error Isolation

Error isolation is useful for locating an error resulting in a diagnostic message. If the
general location of the error is not known, it can be frequently be found by temporarily
deleting a portion of the program and then rerunning the program to see if the error
disappears. The temporary deletion is accomplished by surrounding the instructions with
markers (/* and */), causing the enclosed instructions to become comments. If the error
message then disappears, the deleted portion of the program contains the source of the
error.

2. Single Stepping

Stepping refers to the execution of one instruction at a time, typically by pressing a

function key to execute each instruction. In Turbo C++, for example, stepping can be
carried out by pressing either function key F7 or F8. (F8 steps over subordinate functions,
where as F7 steps through the function). By stepping through out the program, we can
determine which instructions produce the erroneous result or generate error messages.

3. Watches

A watch value is the value of a variable or an expression which is displayed continuously

as the program executes. Thus we can see the changes in a watch value as they occur, in
response to the program logic. By monitoring a few carefully selected watch values, we
can often determine where the program begins to generate incorrect or unexpected
values.

In Turbo C++, watch values can be defined by selecting Add Watch from the Debug
menu and then specifying one or more variables or expressions in the resulting dialog

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box. The watch values will then be displayed within a separate window as the program
executes.

4. Break Points

A breakpoint is a temporary stopping point within a program. Each break point is

associated with a particular instruction within the program. When the program is
executed, the program execution will temporarily stop at the breakpoint, before the
instruction is executed. The execution may ten be resumed, until the next breakpoint is
encountered. Breakpoints are often used in conjunction with watch values, by observing
the current watch value at each breakpoint as the program executes.

To set a breakpoint in Turbo C++, select Add Breakpoint from the Debug menu, and
ten provide the requested information in the resulting dialog box. Or, select a particular
line within the program and designate it a breakpoint by pressing function key F5. The
breakpoint may later be disabled by again pressing F5. (Function key F5 is called a
“toggle” in this context, since it turns the breakpoint on or off by successively pressing
the key.)

5. Tracing

Tracing involves the use of printf statement to display the values assigned to certain key
variables, or to display the values that are calculated internally at various locations within
the program.

Testing

Testing is the process of reviewing and executing a program with the intent of detecting
errors, which may belong to any of the four kinds of errors discussed above.

2.6. Program documentation

The program documentation is a process that starts from the first phase of the
development life cycle. The documentation should contain the information of Program
analysis, design, verification and log used to document future program revision and
maintenance activity.

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Examples of Algorithm and Flowcharts Development:

1. Write an algorithm and draw a flowchart to find the area of a rectangle.

Algorithm:
1. Start
2. Input length, l
3. Input breadth, b
4. Calculate Area A = l*b
5. Print Area, A
6. Stop (End)

Flowchart:

Start

Input l

Input b

A=l*b

Print Area, A

Stop

Fig: Flowchart

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2. Write an algorithm and draw a flowchart to find the even and odd number.

Algorithm:
1. Start
2. Input number n
3. Rem = n mod 2
4. If Rem == 0
Print the number is even
Else
Print the number is odd
5. Stop

Flowchart:

Start

Input a number n

Divide n by 2 (Rem = n % 2)

Is
Rem

Print n is even Print n is odd

Stop

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3. Write an algorithm and draw a flow chart to find the smallest of three different
numbers.

Algorithm:
1. Start
2. Input A, B, C
3. Is A<B ?
If yes goto step 4
If no goto step 5
4. Is A<C ?
If yes print A goto step 6
If no print C goto step 6
5. Is B<C ?
If yes print B goto step 6
If no print C goto step 6
6. Stop

Flowchart:
Start

Read A, B, C

T F
A<B

T F T F
A<C B<C

Print A Print C Print B Print C

Stop

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4. Write an algorithm and draw a flow chart to calculate the factorial of a number.
Algorithm:

1. Start
2. Input number N
3. Assign Fact = 1
4. Assign n = 1
5. Calculate Fact = Fact * n
6. Is N = n?
If yes goto step 8

If no n=n+1 goto step 5

7. Print Fact
8. Stop

Flowchart:
Start

Read N

Fact =1

Assign n=1

Fact =Fact * n

No
Is N =
n? Fact =1

Yes

Print Fact

Stop
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Chapter 3.0

3. Introduction to C
C is a structured, high-level and hardware independent general purpose programming
language. Many popular software tools are written in C. C has strongly influenced many
other languages such as java, perl, etc. C is a very clear and concise language that forces
the user to understand fundamental aspects of computer programming.

C was developed by Ritchie in 1972 from two previous programming languages, BCPL
and B at the Bell Labs. It was used to develop modern operating systems such as UNIX.

By late 1970's C had evolved to “traditional C” the one developed by Ritchie. Many
slight variations of C existed, and were incompatible. A committee was formed to create
an “unambiguous, machine-independent” definition. The standard “ANSI C” was created
in 1989 by ANSI (American National Standards Institute), and was updated in 1999.

3.1. Data types in C

C is a strongly typed language. This means that we must define the type of data before it
can be used. C supports different data types. These data are represented by some
identifiers in the source code and memory address in the executable machine code. The
memory addresses are generated by the C compiler.

The types are important because we can store our data only in the suitable data types. The
fundamental types in C and their typical storage size (memory requirement) are listed in
table 3.1.

Type Description Storage Size

Int Integer number (no decimal point) 2 bytes
float Floating point number (decimal point) 4 bytes
double Double precision floating point number 8 bytes
char Single character 1 byte

Table 3.1 Data types in C

The maximum and minimum limits of int and char data types are defined in C file called
LIMITS.H. The size of mantissa and exponent for float and double types are defined in
FLOAT.H.

Qualifiers modify the storage limits of the above data types. There are four type
qualifiers that modify the storage limits of the above-mentioned types. These are short,
long, signed and unsigned. Some examples of types with qualifiers are listed in table 3.2.

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Type Meaning Range of values

singed char (char) char with +ve or -ve values -27 to 27 – 1
unsigned char char with +ve values only 0 to 28 –1
signed int (int) int with +ve or -ve values -215 to 215 – 1
unsigned int int with +ve values only 0 to 216 – 1
signed long int (long) int with 4 bytes (+ve & -ve) -231 to 231 – 1
unsigned long int int with 4 bytes (+ve only) 0 to 232 –1
Long double double precision with 10 bytes

Table 3.2 Types with most common qualifiers

All the values mentioned in table 3.1 and 3.2 are implementation dependent. For exact
values, refer to the LIMITS.H and FLOAT.H of your C compiler.

The numbers are stored in memory as combinations of 1’s and 0’s (binary numbers) as
shown in figure 3.1. In this figure, representation of an int number is shown.

0/1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
15(±) 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
215 214 213 212 211 210 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20

Figure 3.1 Representation of an int number.

Here, if the number is signed int (or int only), the lower 15 bits represent the number and
16th bit represent the sign. If there is 1 in the 16th bit, the number is negative else the
number is positive. If the number is unsigned int, all 16 bits represent the number. Since,
the system is binary, the positional values of each bit in decimal are also shown in the
figure.

Representation of a floating-point number is shown in figure 3.2. A floating-point

number consists of two parts - mantissa and exponent as shown.

± 1.234567 ± 12
Sign of mantissa Mantissa Sign of exponent Exponent

Figure 3.2 Representation of floating-point number

As in integer representation, a floating-point number is also represented by a combination

of binary numbers. Here, one bit represents sign of mantissa, one bit represents sign of
exponent. Remaining parts are divided to represent mantissa and exponent.

A character type is usually enclosed in single quotation marks as ‘A’, ‘1’ etc and can be
treated as an integer number given by the ASCII code of the corresponding character.
Therefore, ‘A’ and 65 are equivalent because 65 is the ASCII code for character ‘A’.

In addition to these fundamental types, C has some more data types - void and enum,
which will be discussed in later chapters.

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Size and Range of Data Types on a 16-bit Machine

Type Size (bits) Range

Char or signed char 8 -128 to 127
unsigned char 8 0 to 255
int or signed int 16 -32,768 to 32,767
unsigned int 16 0 to 65535
short int or signed short int 8 -128 to 127
unsigned short int 8 0 to 255
Long int or signed long int 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned long int 32 0 to 4,294,967,295
Float 32 3.4E - 38 to 3.4E + 38
double 64 1.7E – 308 to 1.7E + 308
Long double 80 3.4E – 4932 to 1.1E + 4932

3.2. Arithmetic Expressions in C

Expressions represent data items in a program. These could be single data items such as
integer; character etc or many data items interconnected by one or more operators. Some
examples are a + b, d = a / b.

The data items that are acted upon by different operators are also called operands. Some
operators require only one operand whereas most of them require two operands. The
operator that requires only one operand is called unary operator. The operator that
requires two operands is called binary operator. Examples of unary operator is unary
minus used to represent a negative number such as -a, -5 etc. Other examples of unary
operator in C are ++, -- etc. The examples of binary operator are the well-known
arithmetic operators +, -, *, / etc.
In C, there are different types of operators. Some of them are briefly discussed in this
section.

Arithmetic Operators

There are five arithmetic operators. They are:

Operator Operation Example Result (a=14, b=4)

+ Addition a+b 18
- Subtraction a-b 10
* Multiplication a*b 56
/ Division a/b 3
% Remainder after integer division (modulo division) a%b 2

Table 3.3 Arithmetic operators and example for integers a and b

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All the operators shown in table 3.3 are binary operators because they require two
operands. The % operator is valid only for integers. Other operators can be used for any
numeric data types. If there are different data types in an arithmetic expression,
specifically, floating point and integer, the result is floating point if the data item on the
right hand side is floating point and integer if it’s integer. For example, if a and c are
integers and b is float, then the result of c = a + b will be integer because c is integer. If a
is integer and b and c are floating point then the result of c = a + b will be floating point
because c is now float type.

The associativity of the arithmetic operators is left to right (L→R). It means when we
compute c = a / b, the first number (left) a is divided by second number (right) b and the
result is assigned to c. Similar is the case for other four operators as well. When two or
more operators are present in the same expression, there is an order by which the
expression is evaluated. This is called operator precedence. For example, if x = a + b / c
* d, then first b is divided by c and the result is then multiplied by d. After that the result
is added to a and assigned to x. If you have confusion, you can enclose the parts of
expression inside parentheses. An equivalent of last example would be x = a + (b / c) * d.
In case of expressions with parentheses, the expressions within the parentheses are
evaluated first.

The precedence and associativity of the arithmetic operators are shown in table 3.4.

Operators Precedence Associativity

*, /, % High L →R
+, - Low L→R

Table 3.4 Arithmetic operators – precedence and associativity

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Usage:

1. Integer Arithmetic

When two operands such as x and y are declared integers, an arithmetic operation
performed on these integers is called integer arithmetic. It always yields an integer value.
Eg:
Let x any y be declared by statement:
int x = 16, y = 5;
then
x + y = 21
x – y = 11
x * y = 80
x/y=3 The result is truncated, the decimal part is discarded.
x%y=1 The result is the remainder of the integer division and the sign of
the result is always the sign of the first operand

Eg:
6/8=0
-6 / -8 = 0
-6 / 8 = 0 or -1 The result is machine dependent

2. Floating Point Arithmetic

Floating point arithmetic involves operands of real type in decimal or exponential

notation. The floating point results are rounded off to the number of significant digits
specified and hence, the final value is only an approximation of the correct result. The
remainder operator % is not applicable to floating point arithmetic operands.

Eg:
Let a and b be declared by the statement:
float a = 14.0, b = 4.0;
Then
p = a/b = 3.500000
q = b/a = 0.285714
r = a + b = 18.000000

3. Mixed mode Arithmetic

In mixed mode arithmetic, if either of the operands is real, the resultant value is always a
real value. For example, 35 / 5.0 = 7.0. Here, since 5.0 is a double constant, 35 is
converted to a double and the result is also a double.

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Unary Operators

The unary operators act on single operands. The most common unary operator is unary
minus (-) that appears before a data item to make it negative. There are two other unary
operators called increment (++) and decrement (--) operators. The increment operator
causes its operand to increase by one, whereas the decrement operator causes its operand
to decrease by one. For example, if a = 5 then ++a increases the value of a to 6, whereas
--a decreases the value of a to 4.

The increment and decrement operators can be used in two ways – before the operand
(++a or --a, pre-increment or pre-decrement) and after the operand (a++ or a--, post-
increment or post-decrement). When the operator is used before the operand, then the
operand will be altered in value before it is used for its intended purpose. If the operator
follows the operand, the value of operand is altered only after the operand has been used
for its intended purpose. For example: take a = 1and the result of different increment
operations are shown below.

Statement Result Remarks

printf (“a = %d”, a); 1 original value
printf (“a = %d”, ++a); 2 pre-increment
printf (“a = %d”, a); 2 after alteration

printf (“a = %d”, a); 1 original value

printf (“a = %d”, a++); 1 post-increment
printf (“a = %d”, a); 2 after alteration

In the above example, in the first part (first three lines), we have displayed the original
value, then pre-increment the data item and display it (so we get 2) and the value after
increment is still 2. In the second part, last three lines; first, we displayed the original
value, then post increment it and display (we get 1 because the number is first displayed
then only increased) and finally we get the result as 2 because it was increased in the
previous statement after display. The decrement operator works in the same way.

Another unary operator is sizeof operator. This operator returns the size of its operand in
byte. This operator always precedes its operand. For example, if a is an integer type then
the result of sizeof (a) will be 2, which is same as sizeof (int).

Another unary operator is called the cast operator. The cast converts one type of data
item to another. For example if a is float and we want only the integer part of a, we can
use cast operator as: (int) a. The result of this can also be assigned to another data item
such as by c = (int) a. Remember, while casting always put the operator in parentheses
before the operand. Therefore, the syntax is: (type) operand.
Another unary operator is ! (the not operator). This operator takes its operand as true (not
equal to zero) or false (equal to zero) usually in the form of an arithmetic or conditional

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expression and converts it into the opposite. For example, if we have an expression ! b,
the result of this will be false if b is true and vice versa.

Unary operators have a higher precedence than arithmetic operators. The associativity of
unary operators is right to left.

Relational and Logical Operators

The relational operators identify the relation between its operands. Logical operators
make decision of true or false from its operands. There are four relational operators.
These are shown in table 3.5.

OperatorOperation Example
< Less than a<b
<= Less than or equal a <= b
> Greater than a>b
>= Greater than or a >= b
equal
== Equal to a == b
!= Not equal to a != b

Table 3.5 Relational operators and examples

Suppose there are two operands a and b. The first operator (<) compares a with b. If a is
less than b then the result is true else the result is false. The second operator (<=)
compares a with b. If a is less than b or equal to b then the result is true else the result is
false. The third operator (>) produces true if a is greater than b whereas the fourth
operator (>=) produces true if a is greater than or equal to b.

In addition to these four operators, there are two other relational operators, which are
more commonly identified as equality operators. They are also listed in table 3.5. The
first of these two (==) produce true if and only if a and b are equal. The second (!=)
produce true if and only if a and b are not equal.

The precedence of these operators is lower than that of unary and arithmetic operators.
These all have left to right associativity. The four relational operators have the same
precedence. Precedence of equality operators is beneath the other four relational
operators.

These six operators form logical expressions that represent conditions, which can be
either true or false. The result will be integer type having one of the two possible values 1
(for true) and 0 (for false).

In addition to these relational and equality operators, C has logical operators. The logical
operators act upon the logical operands (true or false) usually obtained as the result of

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relational or equality operators. The effect of these two operators is to combine the effect
of more than one relational operator into more complex logical expression, the result of
which can only be true or false.

These logical operators are logical OR (||) and logical AND (&&). These are binary
operators. The result of logical OR operator is true if either or both of its two operands
are true. The result of logical AND operator is true only when both of its operands are
true.

The logical operator (!) is equivalent to boolean operation NOT, it has only one operand,
located at its right, and the only thing that it does is to invert the value of it, producing
false if its operand is true and true if its operand is false. It is like to say that it
returns the opposite result of evaluating its operand. For example:

!(5 == 5)
returns false because the expression at its right (5 == 5)
would be true.
!(6 <= 4) returns true because (6 <= 4) would be false.
!true returns false.
!false returns true.

Logic operators && and || are used when evaluating two expressions to obtain a single
result. They correspond with boolean logic operations AND and OR respectively. The
result of them depends on the relation between its two operands:

First Second
result result
Operand Operand a && b a || b
a b
true true true true
true false false true
false true false true
false false false false

For example:
( (5 == 5) && (3 > 6) ) returns false ( true && false ).
( (5 == 5) || (3 > 6)) returns true ( true || false ).

Logical operators have the precedence beneath the equality operators. Out of these two,
AND operator has higher precedence than OR operator. The associativity of both are left
to right.

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Assignment Operators

The assignment operators are used to make assignment expressions. Most of the
computations in C are carried using arithmetic operators along with assignment
expression. Assignment expressions assign the value of one data item or the result of
arithmetic, conditional or other expression to another data item. The mostly used
assignment operator is the = operator. Remember, this is different from the == equality
operator. An example of assignment operator is b = c + d, where c and d are added and
assigned to b. Thus, it follows that the associativity of assignment operator is right to left
that is the value on the left of = is assigned to the data item on the right of =. The
precedence of assignment operator is the lowest (just above the comma operator, which is
has the lowest precedence).

There are some additional assignment operators. They are +=, -=, =, /= and %=. There are
others as well but we will not consider them here. These are shorthand assignment of the
expressions such as expression1 = expression1 + expression2, which is written in the
form of above assignment expression as expression1 +=expression2. Similarly, other
operators -, *, / and % follow. The precedence and associativity of these assignment
operators are also same as those of = assignment operator.
The table 3.6 shows the associativity of the above mentioned operators in the order of
increasing precedence.

Operator category Operators Associativity

Parentheses ()
Unary operators -, ++, --, sizeof, !, (type) R→L
Arithmetic multiply, divide and remainder *, /, % L→R
Arithmetic add, subtract +, - L→R
Relational operators <, <=, >, >= L→R
Equality operators ==, != L→R
Logical AND && L→R
Logical OR || L→R
Assignment operator =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %= R→L

Table 3.6 Operator precedence groups

The assignation operator serves to assign a value to a variable.

a = 5;

assigns the integer value 5 to variable a. The part at the left of the = operator is known as
lvalue (left value) and the right one as rvalue (right value). lvalue must always be a
variable whereas the right side can be either a constant, a variable, the result of an
operation or any combination of them.

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It is necessary to emphasize that the assignation operation always takes place from right
to left and never at the inverse.

a = b;
assigns to variable a (lvalue) the value that contains variable b (rvalue) independently of
the value that was stored in a at that moment. Consider also that we are only assigning
the value of b to a and that a later change of b would not affect the new value of a.
For example, if we take this code

int a, b; // a:? b:?

a = 10; // a:10 b:?
b = 4; // a:10 b:4
a = b; // a:4 b:4
b = 7; // a:4 b:7

it will give us as result that the value contained in a is 4 and the one contained in b is 7.
The final modification of b has not affected a, although before we have declared a = b;
(right-to-left rule).
A property that has the assignation operation in C over other programming languages is
that an assignation operation can be used as rvalue (or part of an rvalue) for another
assignation.
For example:
a = 2 + (b = 5);

is equivalent to:
b = 5;
a = 2 + b;

that means: first assign 5 to variable b and then assign to a the value 2 plus the result of
the previous assignation of b (that is 5), remaining a with a final value of 7. Thus, the
following expression is also valid in C:
a = b = c = 5;

assigns 5 to the three variables a, b and c.

Some Examples on Operator Precedence and Associativity:

1. In case of a tie between operators of same priority, the associativity of operators

decides which operation would be performed first.

Eg: z = a * b / c;

Here * and / enjoy the same priority. But a * b would be performed first, because
* operator enjoys Left to Right associativity. The result obtained would then be divided
by c.

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Eg: z = a * b + c / d

Here * and / enjoys same priority. However, in this case the compiler is free to perform *
or / operation in any order if the compiler can guarantee a consistent result.

Eg: z = 3 / 2 *5

If / is performed before * the result is 5, whereas, if * is performed before / the result is 0.

Thus compiler cannot guarantee the same result. Hence the tie is settled using
associativity.

3.3. Structure of a C Program

A C Program consists of one or more modules called functions. The program always
starts from a function named main and other functions can be invoked from this. Every
function (except main) must be defined before it can be used. This definition is also
called prototype declaration. A simple C Program that displays a text “C Programming is
Easy!” is shown below:

1 /* Program to display a message */

2 #include<stdio.h>
3 main( )
4 {
5 printf(“C Programming is Easy!”);
6 }
7 /* End of Program */

Program 1. Display a Message

This is a very simple program that displays a message “C Programming is Easy!”. The
program consists of main function which another function printf is accessed. This printf
function is used to display the message on the screen. The line 1 of the program is a
comment that explains in brief, what the purpose of the program. Similarly, line 7 of the
program is also a comment that indicated the program is completed. The comments can
appear anywhere in the program and are ignored by the compiler when compiling. It is
used to inform the programmer the function of the different program elements used in
making a big program. It is good practice to provide comments even in smaller programs
that will help to identify the program elements later for other programmers of the original
programmer. These comments can be multi-line.

Line 2 of the program includes a file named stdio.h. this inclusion of the file is needed
because we are going to use a function named printf whose prototype is defined in the
file named stdio.h. This type of files with .h extension are called header files because

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they form the head of the program. The syntax for including a header file is #include
<header filename>. The symbol (#) is a part of the standard syntax, which indicates
include as a preprocessor directive to include the defined file to the program before
compiling. More on this in later chapters. If we call any other function, we have to
include appropriate header file containing the definition of the functions we are going to
use.

Line 3 starts the program by calling the main function. There are no arguments passed to
the function (empty parentheses).

Line 4 has just one symbol, the opening curly brace. This indicates the body of the main
function starts from here. Anything written inside this opening brace and its closing
counterpart in line 6 are the body of the main function.

Line 5 calls function printf whose prototype is defined in the included header file stdio.h.
There is one argument passed to this function – the message “C Programming is Easy!”
This function writes the argument passed to it on the display. Notice, there is a
semiciolon after the end of this line. This semicolon indicates that the statement is
finished. This program will not compile if this semicolon is missed out.

The program (body of main) is closed in line 6 and the program finishes after a comment
on line 7.

The result of the above program is:

C Programming is Easy!

Always remember, in c everything is written in small letters. C is case sensitive that is

small and capital letters are not same.

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Here is another program that adds two numbers (integers) and displays the result on the
screen.

1 /*Program to add two numbers and display the

result*/
2 #include<stdio.h>
3 main( )
4 {
5 int a = 5;
6 int b,c;
7 b = 10;
8 c = a + b;
9 printf(“The sum is %d”,c);
10 }
11 /*End of program*/

Program 2. Addition of two numbers and display result

The program starts with a comment in line 1. Line 2, 3 and 4 are same as in program 1. In
line 5, an integer data item named a is declared and its value is defined to be 5. In line 6,
two integer data items are declared but their values are not defined in the declarations.
The memory address assigned to them may contain some garbage value left out by the
previously run program. In line 7, the data item b is assigned a value 10. In line 8, the
content of a and b are summed up and assigned to c. In line 10, the main body is closed
and a comment put on line 12.

In line 9, we are displaying and integer data type. To inform printf ( ) function that we
are going to display an integer data, we provide a format specifier “%d” to it along with
the message “The sum is: ”. After the message and format specifier, we provide the data
item’s name whose content is to be displayed separating the message by a comma. More
on format specifiers in chapter 4. The result of the above program is :

The sum is: 15

After understanding, all these etiquettes, we define some frequently used terminologies in
programming and few rules of C for them.

Identifier

An identifier is the name given to various program elements or data items such as
variables, constants function names, structures etc. there are different rules for giving
identifiers to data items.

• The identifiers must start with an alphabet or _ .

• The identifier can contain numbers and _ (underscore).

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• The typical length of identifiers is 31, but 8 are guaranteed across other
implementations.
• Identifiers cannot be reserved word, called keywords of C.
• It is case sensitive. Uppercase and lowercase letters are different.
• It cannot contain spaces.

Some valid identifiers are I, k, roll_no, name_of_student, b52_b16 etc. Identifiers such as
1j, AT&T, roll no, etc are invalid.

Variable

A data item whose value can be changed anywhere inside a program is called a variable.
While giving an identifier to a variable, it is wise to choose names that are related to the
purpose of the variable. For example, if we want to name a variable that stores roll
number of a student, it is better to user roll_no rather than rn.

Syntax:

variable_type variable_list;

Some examples of variable declarations in C are:

int a_number; /*int variable*/

float acurrency; /*float variable*/
double avonum; /*double variable*/
char code, choice; /*char variables*/
int b_number = 5; /*int variable initialized*/

Constant

A constant is a data item whose value remains unchanged through out the life of the
program. An example of a constant is the value PI. Everywhere its value is 3.14159… It’s
a good programming practice to use constants whenever fixed numbers are to be used in
a program. This will ease to debug as well as change the value for that constant. A
constant is usually, identified with capital letters. There are two ways to use a constant.
One way is to declare it with const keyword. The other way is to use a preprocessor
directive #DEFINE (also called symbolic constant).

Examples of these are given below:

#DEFINE PI 3.14159
const float PI = 3.14159;

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Defined constants (#define)

We can define our own names for constants that you use quite often without having to
resource to variables, simply by using the #define preprocessor directive. This is its
format:

#define identifier value

For example:
#define PI 3.14159265
#define NEWLINE '\n'
#define WIDTH 100

They define three new constants. Once they are declared, we are able to use them in the
rest of the code as any if they were any other constant, for example:

circle = 2 * PI * r;

In fact the only thing that the compiler does when it finds #define directives is to replace
literally any occurrence of the them (in the previous example, PI, NEWLINE or WIDTH) by
the code to which they have been defined (3.14159265, '\n' and 100, respectively). For
this reason, #define constants are considered macro constants.

The #define directive is not a code instruction; it is a directive for the preprocessor,
reason why it assumes the whole line as the directive and does not require a semicolon
(;) at the end of it. If we include a semicolon character (;) at the end, it will also be
added when the preprocessor will substitute any occurrence of the defined constant
within the body of the program.

Declared constants (const)

With the const prefix we can declare constants with a specific type exactly as we would
do with a variable:

const int width = 100;

const char tab = '\t';
const zip = 12440;

In case that the type was not specified (as in the last example) the compiler assumes that
it is type int.

The constants may be classified in the following

1. Numeric Constant
a. Integer constant
b. Floating point constant
2. Character constant
3. String Constant

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1. Numeric Constant
It is divided into two parts:

a. Integer Constant
It supports only whole number. It may be decimal number (0 to 9) or octal
number (0 to 7) or hexadecimal number (0 to F). Eg:

Decimal Number Octal Number Hexadecimal Number

10 012 0xa or 0xA
132 0204 0x84
32179 076663 0x7db3 or 0x7DB3

b. Floating point Constant

It supports decimal and exponential numbers
Eg: 12.75, 1.2E2, 7.3e-2, 1.00, -0.005, 0.5e2 etc.

2. Character Constant
It may be single letter, number, any sign or special symbol given within single
quotes.
Eg: ‘a’ , ‘?’, ‘\b’, ‘\x1B’ , (symbol of ESC in ASCII code) etc.

3. String Constant
It is group of symbols inclosed by double quote (“ ”).
Eg: “it is group of symbols \n ” , “Kathmandu” , “Nepal” etc.

Escape Sequences:

All escape sequences are represented by a backslash ( \ ) followed by a character.

Common escape sequences are shown in the table.

Escape Hexadecimal Character Meaning

sequence ASCII Code
‘\\’ 5C Back slash Present with back slash ( \ )
‘\a’ 07 Bell (Beep) Produces an audible alert
‘\b’ 08 Back space Moves the active position to the
previous position on the current line
‘\f’ 0C Form feed Moves the active position to the
initial position of the next logical
page
‘\n’ 0A New line Moves the active position to the
initial position of the next line
‘\r’ 0D Return Moves the active position to the

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initial position to the current line

‘\t’ 09 Horizontal tab Moves the active position to the
next horizontal tabulation position
‘\v’ 0B Vertical tab Moves the active position to the
next vertical tabulation position
‘\’’ Single Quote
‘\”’ Double Quote
‘\?’ Question Mark
‘\0’ NULL
\xdd Hexadecimal
representation

Table 3.7 Escape Sequences

ASCII Character set:

A -> 65 a -> 97 0 -> 80 ? -> 95

B -> 66 b -> 98 1 -> 81 { -> 123
} -> 125
Z -> 90 z -> 122 9 -> 89

Lowercase = uppercase + 32
Uppercase = lowercase – 32

Keywords

Keywords are the reserved words for the programming language, which have special and
predefined meaning to its compiler. These keywords are the part of the language, used to
identify data types, qualifiers and some statements. A statement causes the computer to
carry out some action. C language has 32 keywords, which you have to avoid when
giving names to variables and constants or function names etc.
The keywords are listed in table 3.8

Auto double Int struct

break else long switch
Case enum register typedef
Char extern return union
const float short unsigned
continue for signed void
default goto sizeof volatile
Do if static while

Table 3.8 C Keywords

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Some rules to follow while writing a C program

• Required header files must be included.

• There must be function with name main.
• Every statement should terminate with semicolon ( ; ).
• Variables must be declared at the beginning of a block.
• Variables and constants must be declared before they can be used.

Delimiters

A delimiter is a nothing but a symbol that has a syntactic meaning and significance in C
language. They do not specify any operation to yield a value. They are shown in table:

Symbol Character Meaning

# Hash Preprocessor directive
, Comma Variable delimiter in variable list
; Semi Colon Statement delimiter
() Parenthesis Used in expression
[] Square Bracket Used with array
{} Curly Braces Used to block C sentences
: Colon
& Ampersand
% Percentage
? Question Mark

Table 3.9 Delimiters

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Chapter 4.0

4. Input and Output

Basic Input and Output:

Single Character Input - Output

• getchar() – reads a character from the standard input device

• putchar() – writes a character to the standard output device

String Input and Output

• gets() – receives the string from the standard input device
• puts() – outputs the string to standard output device

Example:

#include<stdio.h>
void main ()
{
char c;
printf(“Enter one character:”);
c = getchar();
printf(“The character you type is : ”);
putchar(c);
}

Output:
Enter one character: a
The character you type is : a

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Example:

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
char s[40];
printf(“Type a string (Less than 40 characters):”);
gets(s);
printf(“The string you typed is :”);
puts(s);
}

Output:
Type a string (Less than 40 characters): C Programming
The string you typed is: C Programming

Example of Formatted Input and Output:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
int a=12345;
float b=1224.2365;
char p='a';
char name[30]="Kathmandu Engineering College";
clrscr();
printf("%d\n\n",a);
printf("%2d\n\n",a);
printf("%40d\n\n",a);
printf("%040d\n\n",a);
printf("%-40d\n\n",a);
printf("%f\n",b);
printf("%9.4f\n",b);
printf("%10.2f\n",b);
printf("%-10.1f\n",b);
printf("%10.2e\n",b);
printf("%10.2e\n",-b);
printf("%10c\n",p);
printf("%s\n",name);
printf("%10s\n",name);
printf("%20.10s\n",name);
printf("%.5s\n",name);
getch();
}

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Output of the Above C Program:

12345

12345

12345

0000000000000000000000000000000000012345

12345

1224.236450
1224.2365
1224.24
1224.2
1.22e+03
-1.22e+03
a
Kathmandu Engineering College2aæÖD
Kathmandu Engineering College2aæÖD
Kathmandu
Kathm

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Chapter 5.0

5.0 Structured Programming Fundamentals

In chapter 3 and 4, we have seen how programs are executed in a top to bottom order by
executing lines of code in same order as they are written in the program. The instructions
are executed only once. But, in larger programs, this may not always be true. Some part
of the program may need to be executed more than once and some part be skipped if
some conditions are not met. To create more functional, there are three types of
programming structure - the first one (in above discussions) corresponds to sequential
structure, the second repetitive (executing same statements more than once) and finally
the selective (executing different segments depending on some conditions) structure.

5.1 Sequential Structure

A sequentially structured program executes all instructions line by line until the end of
the program is reached. All the instructions are executed only once and none of the
instructions are skipped. An example of sequential program is shown below. The
program will display the sum of two numbers entered by the user.

1. Start the program. main(){

2. Read two numbers. int a,b,c;
3. Add those numbers. scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
4. Display the result. c = a + b;
5. End the program. printf("%d",c);
}

5.2 Selective Structure

A selective structure allows to make decisions using a logical test and branch to some
part of the program depending upon the outcome of the test. The logical test enables us to
take one of two possible actions because the result of the logical test will either be true or
false. If the test result is true, some instructions are executed, otherwise some other
instructions are executed and after that the normal flow of the program resumes. The
process is called branching and the statement that causes it is called control statement.
An example of such program is shown below. The program determines whether a number
entered by the user is odd or even.
1. Start the program. main(){
2. Read a number. int a;
3. Divide the number by 2. scanf("%d",&a);
4. If remainder at step 3 is 0, if(a%2)
the number is even. pritnf("The number is even");
Otherwise else
the number is odd. printf("The number is odd");
5. End the program. }

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5.3 Repetitive Structure

A repetitive structure helps to execute group of instructions more than once. The
instructions to be executed more than once are placed inside the repetitive structure and
executed. If the number of execution is specified, the repetition should be stopped after
the repetition count reached that number and normal flow of the program resumes. If the
number of repetition is not known in priori, the group of instructions are executed
repeatedly until some condition is satisfied. In this case, a selective structure is used to
continue or terminate the repetitive structure. This is also called looping. An example of
the repetitive structure is shown below. The program finds the Greatest Common Divisor
of two numbers entered by the user.

main(){
1. Start the program.
int M, N, R, temp;
2. Read two numbers.
scanf("%d%d",&M,&N);
3. Assign M and N the value of larger and
if (N>M) {
smaller of the two inputs, respectively.
temp=N; N=M; M=temp;
4. Divide M by N, and call the remainder R.
}
5. If R is not 0, then
R = M % N;
assign M the value of N,
while (R>0){
assign N the value of R, and return to step 4.
M=N; N=R; R = M % N;
Otherwise,
}
the answer is N.
printf("%d",N);
6. End the program.
}

In C, there are various methods that can control the flow of logic in a program. The flow
controlling condition is derived from one or more of the relational and logical operators
described in chapter 3.

Branching with if ... statement

The if statement allows branching (decision making) depending upon the result of logical
test of some expression or a variable. This allows to take one of two actions - when the
test result is true do something and if test result is false do other things. It has three basic
formats. The first basic format of if statement is:

if (expression) statement(s)

In this format, if the result (value of expression) is non-zero that is true, then the
statement(s) will be executed otherwise it will be skipped and the program continues. If
the statement(s) consists of more than one lines of code, they should be enclosed in {}
and such statement is called compound statement, which is treated as a single statement
by the compiler. Remember, the expression must always be enclosed in parentheses. If
the expression is longer, extra parentheses can be used to follow the precedence rules and
for clarity of the expression.

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Flowchart:

Some examples of if statement are shown below.

if (r>0) {
if (a>0) printf("%d",a); /* if a > 0 display a m = n;
*/ n = r;
printf("\nEnd"); } /*compound statement consisting of 2 lines of
code */

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Branching with if ... else statement

A more usable format for if statement is to use the optional else clause. The if statement
with else clause has the format:

if (expression)
statement1
else
statement2

In this format, if expression is true (value other than zero) then statement1 (a single line
of code or a compound statement with multiple lines of code, which in turn, can contain
other control statements) will be executed and the normal flow continues, otherwise
(expression results to zero), statement2 (a single line of code or a compound statement
with multiple lines of code) will be executed and the normal program flow continues.

Flowchart:

Some examples are:

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if (d>=0){ /*compound statement*/

root1=(-b + sqrt(d))/(2.0*a);
root2=(-b - sqrt(d))/(2.0*a);
if (a%2==0) printf("\nThe roots are %.2f and %.2f",root1,root2);
printf("\nThe number is even"); }
else else { /*compound statement*/
printf("\nThe number is odd"); real = -b /(2*a);
printf("\nEnd"); imag = sqrt(abs(d))/(2.0*a);
printf("\nThe roots are %.2f +- %.2fj",real,imag);
}
printf("\nEnd");

Branching with if else if ... statement

The third format of if statement allows to select one of several different actions
depending upon the outcome of different logical tests. In this format, the first test is
carried out and if it is true, some action is taken and rest of the tests are skipped. If this
test is false, another test is carried out. If this second test is true, another set of
instructions are executed and rest skipped. If this second test is also false, third test can be
carried out and so on. A final else clause may be used to execute some instructions
(usually default instructions or some error message display) if all the tests result in false.

An example of this is shown below.

if (percent>=80)
if (expression1) Division = 'D';
statement1 else if (percent >=65)
else if(expression2) Division = 'F';
statement2 else if (percent >=50)
else if(expression3) Division = 'S';
statement3 else if (percent >=40)
... Division = 'P';
... else
else Division = 'f';
statementN printf ("%.2f corresponds to %c division", percent, Division);
printf("\nEnd");

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Flowchart:

Nested if statements
The if statement can be placed inside another if or if else statement. The compound
statement resulting from such structure is called nested if. In fact, the above mentioned if
else if format is also a nested if else structure where if statements are nested in the else
clause of each if statement except the last one.

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We can put complete if else statements within the if or else clause of preceding if
statement. The only thing required is some care so that the else clause would not be
misplaced and belong to another if clause other than the intended one. One example of
this is shown below.

if (expression1) In this example, if expression1 is true and expression2 is also true, then
if (expression2) statement1 will be executed. If expression1 is true and expression2 is false,
statement1 statement2 will be executed. But, if expression1 is false, neither statement1
else nor statement2 will be executed. This is because, the else clause belongs to
statement2 the second if statement (i.e. if (expression2)).

The other example below shows how the else clause will be associated with the first if
statement (i.e. if(expression1)).

if (expression1)
In this example, if expression1 is true and expression2 is also true, then
{
statement1 will be executed. If expression1 is true and expression2 is false, there
if
are no instructions to be executed within this control statement and control is
(expression2)
transferred out of this structure. But, if expression1 is false, then statement2 will
statement1
be executed. This is because, the braces ({}) after the first if statement and
}
statement1 cause the else clause to be associated with the first if statement (i.e. if
else
(expression1)).
statement2

An example of nested if else statements are shown below. The program finds the largest
of three numbers.

if (a>b)
if (a>c) /* a>b and a>c so a is the largest */
l = a;
else /* a>b but a<c so c is the largest */
l=c;
else
if (b>c) /* b<a and b>c so b is the largest */
l=b;
else /* b<a and b<c so c is the largest */
l=c;

printf("\n%d is greatest of %d, %d, %d",l,a,b,c);

printf("\nEnd");

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Flowchart of Nested if else statement:

The switch() case statement

The switch statement causes a group of statements to be executed and rest skipped as
done by a series of if else if statements. If a series of if elses occurs, then the switch case
statement is a better way of writing the program. The selection is based on the value of
expression included within the switch statement. The general format for the switch
statement is shown below.

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Flowchart:

switch ( expression ){
In switch statement, the result of expression should be an integer value
case value1:
(or a character because character can be treated a small integer). The
statement1;
selection will be made on the basis of the result of this expression. If the
break;
expression results in any one of the values labeled as value1 (case
case value2:
value1:) upto valueN, the corresponding statement (e.g. statement1 if
statement2;
expression equals value1) gets executed and the control is transferred
break;
out of the switch block. For switch statement to work, case labels or case
...
prefixes must be unique. case is the required keyword and every label
case valueN:
must be followed by a colon (:). The value of case label must be a
statementN;
integer or character constant not a variable.
break;
If expression does not match any of the case labels, statements after the
default:
default label (if provided) gets executed. In this example, statement
defaultactions;
defaultactions will be executed in such case.
}

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The break statement is needed to terminate the switch after execution of one choice.
Otherwise the next case would get evaluated. The default clause is optional, and is
executed if the cases are not met. The right brace at the end signifies the end of the case
selections. The order of the 'case' statements is unimportant and the default clause may
occur anywhere (convention places it last). The break statement at the last case is also
optional. But, it's a good programming practice to put a break in default as well. If you
later add some cases after default, you don't have to worry about the break statement. An
example of switch statement is shown below. The program performs one of five
arithmetic operations with two numbers and one operator entered by the user. If the
operator is not one of the five arithmetic operators, the program will display some error
message.

switch(operator){ /* use switch for different cases of operators*/

case '+': /* add */
d=a + c;
break;
case '-': /* subtract */
d=a - c;
break;
case '*': /* multiply */
d= a * c;
break;
case '/': /* divide */
d= a / c;
break;
case '%': /* modulo division */
d= a % c;
break;
default: /* invalid operator */
printf("\nValid operators:+-*/%");
}
printf("%d%c%d=%d",a,b,c,d); /*display result */
printf("\nEnd");

Conditional operator ? :
The ternary operator ? : (operator that take three operands) is a more efficient form for
expressing simple if statements. It has the following form
expression1 ? expression2 : expression3

This simply states, if expression1 is true, then expression2 else expression3! An example
of the use of conditional operator is:
c = (a > b) ? a : b ;

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The above statement checks if a is greater than b. If it's so, set c = a else set c = b. This
one line of code will assign c the greater of a and b. The code achieved with if else would
be if (a>b) c = a; else c= b;

Y N
Test
Expre
ssion

Expression 1 Expression 2

Exit

Flowchart of the ternary operator

In C, different methods can be used to perform repeated task. The process is called
looping. (This will be the most frequently used term to refer repetitive structure in this
section)

The repetition of execution can be performed by placing the code to be executed

repeatedly inside a repetitive structure. This can be performed using for, while and do
while statements which are more popularly known as for loop, while loop and do while
loop. In all of these looping methods, body of the loop is what we want to execute
repeatedly.

The for loop

The for loop is the most widely used looping method. General format of the for loop is:

for (expression1; expression2; expression3)

loopbody

The expression1 is used to initialize a control parameter that will control the looping.
This is called index variable. The expression2 defines the continuity condition of the for
loop. The loop will continue to repeat till this condition satisfies. If the condition never
satisfies, the loop will execute forever. This expression usually checks for certain value
of the index variable. The expression3 is usually used to change the index variable by
increasing or decreasing in value such that the condition specified in expression2 may
eventually become false and the loop terminates. Typically, the expression1 is an
assignment expression, expression2 is a logical expression and expression3 is an

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assignment expression in the form of increment/decrement operation. (But it's not

necessary that it must be some sort of increment/decrement operation, it may be some
other variables also; an example of this may be that the loop must be repeated if the
answer of the user is Y when prompted with message like "Do you want repeat again
(y/n)?" etc.)

Here's how a for loop works: On entry to the for statement, the first expression
(expression1) is executed. After this, the next operation is to test whether expression2
evaluates to true or false. If it's false, the loop will terminate and if it is true, the loop
body will be executed. After the loop body is executed, expression3 is evaluated. After
that, again expression2 is executed to test whether after the execution of expression3, the
value of expression2 becomes false. If it becomes false, the loop will be terminated. If it's
still true, the loop body will be executed once more and the process repeats. The
flowchart of for loop is here:

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An example of for loop to calculate the sum of first hundred numbers is shown below.

sum =0;
for (i=1; i<=100; i++)
sum += i;
printf("Sum of 1 to 100 is %d",sum);
printf("\nEnd");

Since, the test of looping condition is carried out before the execution of the loop body, in
some for loops, the loop body may not execute even once. All three expressions
mentioned above can be omitted from the for statement and we can construct an infinite
loop. But, by providing some method to change a variable inside the loop after each
execution and checking its value for certain condition, we can terminate the loop. But,
this is seldom done in practice. So, a statement like for (;;) loopbody is a valid code, but
the condition to exit the loop must be placed inside the loop body.

The for loop is an entry controlled loop because, the condition for looping is tested before
the loop body executes. Hence, there could be no looping at all. The features of for loop
lends it well suited for looping requirements where the number of loops that should be
performed is known in priori.

The while loop

Another popular repetitive structure in C is the while statement. The general format for
while statement is

while (condition)
loopbody

In this statement, the loopbody will be executed till the condition is true. Once the
condition is out of bound (false), the loop terminates. Somewhere within the body of the
while loop a statement must alter the value of the condition to allow the loop to finish.
The variable upon which the while is dependant is initialized prior to the while statement.
Like for loop, while loop also tests the condition before entering the loop. If the condition
fails in the first step, the loop will terminate. Hence, in while loop also, there may be no
execution of the loop body and it is also an entry controlled loop. The flowchart of while
loop is here:

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In some cases, the number of looping is known before the loop is executed. But this may
not be true in some cases. For example, when reading characters from a file or keyboard,
there may be unknown number of characters to be read. In such cases, the loop can be
constructed in such a way that when a special character is encountered, the loop will
terminate (such as end of line - "enter key" or end of file - EOF). Thus, the structure of
while loop makes it suitable for applications where the number of repetitions is not
known in advance. An example of such situation is shown below. In this program,
numbers are read from keyboard and added till the user enters zero. After that the sum
and average of the numbers entered is displayed.

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float sum=0, number;

int count=0;
scanf ("%f",&number);

while (number > 0) {

sum = sum + number;
++count;
scanf ("%f",&number);
}
if (count>0)
printf ("\nThe sum and average are %f, %f", sum, sum/(count));
printf("\nEnd");

The do while loop

The third looping method is the do while loop. This method is an extension of while
loop. The main distinction between the while loop and do while loop is that the former is
an entry controlled loop whereas the later is exit controlled loop. This means that in do
while loop, the condition for looping is done at the end of each pass of the loop. Thus, the
body of the do while always executes at least once. The general format of do while loop
is:

do statement
while (condition);

The statement inside the loop body is almost always a compound statement that will
perform some task and change the index variable. The condition is checked after
executing the loop body and if the condition is true the loop is executed again, otherwise,
the loop is terminated. It is, thus, a requirement that the variable used to test the condition
must be changed within the loop body or the loop is executed only once or it will never
stop. The flowchart of do-while loop is here:

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Notice that there should be ; (semicolon) at the end of the while clause. If it is missed, the
program will not compile. An example of do-while loop is shown below. The program
computes the greatest common divisor of two numbers M and N.

main(){
int M, N, R, temp;
scanf ("%d %d",&M,&N);
if (N>M) {
temp=N;
N=M;
M=temp;
}
do {
R = M % N;
if (R>0){
M=N;
N=R;
}
}while (R>0);
printf ("%d is the answer", N);
printf("\n");
}

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Nested loops

Like if statements, loops can also be nested that is one loop placed inside another. The
level of nesting can be more than one depending upon the requirement. The compound
statement resulting from such structure is called a nested loop.

We can put other control statements like if else statements, switch statements or any other
code inside the loops and nested loops. The one thing required is some care so that there
will be always a condition that will transfer the control of the program out of all the
nested loops. Otherwise, the computer will never come out of the loop and hang. One
example of nested loop is shown below. In this program, one for loop is nested within
another for loop and the program prints out the multiplication table from 1 to 10. It is not
necessary that the nested loops must be of same type. A for loop can be nested within a
while loop or do while loop and so on.

In this program, the outer for loop has i as index variable and
another for loop having index variable j is nested within it. The
int i, j; range of index variables in both loops are 1 to 10. The outer
for (i=1; i<=10; i++) { loop body repeats for 10 times and the inner loop body repeats
for (j=1; j<=10; j++) 10 times for each repetition of the outer loop. The loop body of
printf ("%d\t", i*j); inner loop is printf ("%d\t",i*j); and the loop body of outer
printf("\n"); loop is the inner loop and the statement printf("\n");. Since
} these are two separate statements that make one compound
printf("\n"); statement for outer loop, they are enclosed in {}.
The statement printf ("%d\t",i*j); executes 100 times and the
statement printf("\n"); executes 10 times.

The break statement

The break statement terminates a loop or exit from a switch block. The format of the
break statement is
break;

The break statement, when used with switch statement, causes the transfer of control out
of the entire switch block to the first statement following the switch block. This is already
illustrated in the switch statement.

The break statement, when used with a loop (for, while or do while), causes the transfer
of control out of the loop to the first statement following the loop. When used with nested
loops, the loop inside which the break statement is contained, is terminated not the entire
nested loop. This is useful to terminate a loop when an error occurs or certain condition is
met and further repetition is not required.

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Flowchart:

An example of use of break in for loop is shown below. The program finds whether a
number is a prime number or not.

clrscr();
printf ("Please enter an integer:");
scanf("%d",&num);
rem=1;
for (div=2; div<=num/2; div++){
rem = num % div;
if (rem==0){
/* If the number is divisible by 2, it's confirm
printf("\nThe number is not prime");
that the number not prime and there is no need
break;
of dividing number any more, so display the
}
message and terminate the loop */
}
if(rem!=0)
printf("The number is prime");
printf("\nEnd");
getch();

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The continue statement

The continue statement is used to bypass (skip) the remaining statements in a loop. Note,
the break statement terminates the loop, whereas, continue statement does not. It causes
control to pass to the end of the loop, at which point the loop continuation condition is re-
evaluated. The syntax of continue statement is:

continue;

Flowchart:

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An example of continue statement is shown below. This program counts the numbers
divisible by 3 or 5 till user enters numbers less than 1000. If user enters number greater
than 1000, the program will terminate with display of the count. If the user enters a
negative number or zero, program displays an error message and asks for another
number. The negative number or zero is not checked. Continue statement is used to skip
this check.

cnt=0;
do {
printf("\n\aPlease enter a number (>1000 to terminate):");
scanf("%d",&a);
if (a<=0) {
printf("\n\aPlease enter a positive number");
continue;
}
if (a%3==0 || a%5==0)
cnt++;
} while(a<1000);
printf("\n\aYou entered %d numbers divisible by 3 or 5",cnt);
printf("\n\nEnd");

The goto statement

The goto statement is used to transfer the control to a labeled statement within the
function. The general format of goto is

goto label;
...
label: statement

The goto causes a jump to the statement which is labeled label. The label is an identifier
used to label the target statement to which the control will be transferred. If more than
one labels are used in a function, then they must be unique. The goto statement can be
used for branching, jumping to the end of the loop or out of the loop (not into the loop)
etc. But, the structured programming method requires that the program must written in
orderly and sequential manner. The use of goto violates this general rule and if the same
things can be done without using goto, why use it then?

Though, most of the programming languages provide this statement, most of the
programmers do not prefer to use it. But, in some cases, use of goto statement may result
in an efficient and easy coding. For example, when the control is to be transferred
completely out of the center of a highly nested loop.

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Flowchart of Entry Controlled Loop:

Flowchart of Exit Controlled Loop:

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Chapter 6.0

6.0 Functions

6.1 Introduction
C program is a collection of functions. Every program starts with main( ) function, from
which, other functions can be invoked (called or accessed).

A function is a block of code that performs one or more specific tasks within the source
program. The function may or may not return result to the caller (calling function), but
performs its intended action.

There are mainly two types of functions in C - Library functions and User-defined
functions. Library functions are the functions provided by the vendor with the C
compiler. You just need to include proper header files in your program to use them.
(Click here for a list of some frequently used functions, their header file and their
purpose). User-defined functions are the functions created by programmer for his/her
own requirement. This will be the subject matter of this chapter.

The use of user-defined functions allows the programmer to break up a large program
into a number of smaller program segments. The characteristics of such segments or
functions are:

• They are smaller than the whole program.

• They have some unique and identifiable purpose.

The use of user-defined functions has many advantages. Some of them are:

• Functions can be used repeatedly in the same program or in other programs so

there is no need to rewrite the same code.
• Smaller functions allow the programmer to test and debug easily.
• Increases the logical clarity of the program. (That is a large program can easily be
understood)

In this chapter, we will see that a function performs its intended action whenever it is
accessed (invoked or called). After performing its action, it returns the control to the
point from where it was called. Function can be called many times from different parts of
a program. We will also see that the function is provided with required data items (known
as parameters or arguments) for processing and may or may not return the explicit
result or some indication that the process has been completed successfully. In the later
part of the chapter we will see that a function can call itself and perform the operation.

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6.2 Function definition and return statement

Function definition

Function definition specifies the name of the function, the types and parameters
(arguments) it expects to receive, and its return data type. The function definition also
includes the function body with declarations of the function's local variables and the
statements that determine what the function does. Function definitions differ from
function declarations in that they supply function bodies - the code that makes up the
function.

The first line of the function definition contains the name of the function, the data types
and parameters (arguments) it expects to receive, and return data type of the function.
The general format for the first line of a function definition is:

return_data_type function_name (argument_list)

where the return_data_type is the data type of the value (result) that the function will
return to the calling program when it finished its task, function_name is the identifier that
gives the function a unique name. As this is an identifier, all the rules of an identifier
applies to the function name also. The argument_list is the arguments (parameters) if any
that are passed to the function to process. In the later part, we will see that we can pass
the parameters by value or by reference (?).

A function may or may not return any value to the calling function. It can return only one
value whether it is an integer, float, char or any other data type. If a function does not
return a value, the return type is simply assigned to be a void type, which means that the
function does not return any value to the calling program. If the return type is not
explicitly mentioned, most of the compilers assume that to be an integer type.

The name of the function is mandatory. That means it must be provided. The first letter of
the function name must be an alphabet (or your compiler will generate an error message -
declaration syntax error). The name must be unique in the program. That is, same name
cannot be given to two different functions.

The argument list (also called parameters, formal arguments or formal parameters) is
used to pass the necessary data to be processed in the function. These must be enclosed in
parentheses. There could be any number of parameters including none. Even if there are
no parameters, the parentheses must be provided. The argument list starts with the data
type and the name of the argument for each of them. The types of arguments can be
different. If there are no arguments required for a program, the keyword void can be used
inside the parentheses. This is not mandatory, but considered a good programming
practice because some versions of C may require this keyword in such cases. This is same
in case of return type as well.

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So, to be more precise, the first line of the function body can generally be written as:

return_data_type function_name (type1 arg1, type2 arg2, type3 arg3 ... typeN argN)
The function body

The second part of the function definition is the body of the function. This portion of that
function definition contains the declarations of its local variables and executable
statements. The body of a function defines the operations that function will perform. It
may perform some operations (processing) on the passed arguments, or perform some
entirely new things and return or may not return the result or any other value. The body
can contain compound statements, control statements like if else, looping statements like
for, while or combinations of them and call different functions.

The return statement

The result of the function or any value can be returned from the function by using return
statement. The syntax for return statement is:

return [(expression)];

Here, the expression is optional. For functions that do not return any result to the calling
program (void functions) we cannot provide expression. For other cases, we have to
provide the expression which is evaluated at the end of the function and the result is
returned to the calling function. The return statement can return only one value to the
calling function!.

A function with return type of void cannot return any value, so in this case, there would
be no expression. That means, if the expression is omitted, the control is transferred to the
calling program without returning any value. If the expression is present, the result of the
expression should match the return data type of the function. There can be any number of
return statements inside a function, but only one will be effective depending upon the
condition that which one is evaluated inside the function body when it completes its task.
If the return statement is not present in a function, the control still transfers to the calling
function but without any value or a garbage. When there is no return statement, control is
transferred back to the calling program when the closing brace of the function is reached.
It is called "falling off the end". An example of function without return statement is
shown below.

/* function without a return statement falls of the end */

void showMessage () {
printf("\nPress any key to continue");
}

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When there is one return statement at the end of the function, it statement is executed and
the control is transferred back to the calling program returning the value of expression
within that return statement. A function that computes the factorial of a number is shown
below.

/* function with one return statement computes factorial */

long factorial (int n) {
int i;
long fact=1;
for (i=2; i <=n; i++)
fact*=i;
return (fact); /* return result to calling function */
}

As already mentioned, there could be more than one return statement, but only one will
be executed because when a return statement is executed, the expression is evaluated if
any and the control is transferred immediately back to the calling program. This is more
likely when different values must be returned for different conditions within the function.
An example of such a program is given below, which calculates absolute value of a
number.

/* function with two return statements computes absolute value */

float absolute (float p){
if (p <0)
return (-p);
else
return (p);
}

If the expression results in a different data type than the return type of the function
automatic conversion of result is carried out to match the return type of the function. But
it is recommend to keep track of proper data types. Here's a simple program that returns
float type but the data to be returned is int. The type is automatically converted to float
while returning the result. The function returns square of number is it is negative and
cube otherwise.

/* function with return type float but int result */

float retfcmpi(int p){
if (p <0)
return (p*p);
else
return (p*p*p);
}

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Moreover, even a function returns a value, it is not necessary for the calling program to
use it. We have been doing this when we call printf function to print a message such as
printf ("Hello, there");. Similarly, we discard what ever key the user presses, returned by
getch(); at the end of every program. (Exercise: find out what value the printf function
returns by changing different arguments).

6.3 Function prototypes

Like every variable, every function should be known to compiler before it can be used.
For library functions, this declaration is normally carried out by including the appropriate
header file at the start of the program using #include preprocessor directive. A
preprocessor directive tells the compiler to perform certain things (preprocess) before
compiling the program. Some examples are such as including the header files, defining
symbolic constants, conditional compilation for different operating system platforms. A
header file therefore, contains the function prototypes of the library functions.

There are two ways to declare a user-defined function. The first method is the bottom-up
approach where all functions are defined before calling them in the function main, that is,
by placing all function definitions before the function main. The next way is to declare all
functions before function main, and put their function definition after main. This is the
top-down approach followed by most of the programmers and that's what we are also
going to follow.

A function declaration precedes the function definition and specifies the name, return
type, storage class, and other attributes of a function. To be a prototype, the function
declaration must also establish types and identifiers for the function’s arguments. eg:

long fact (int); /* is a function declaration */

long fact (int num); /* is a function prototype */

The prototype has the same form as the function definition, except that it is terminated by
a semicolon immediately following the closing parenthesis and therefore has no body.
The general syntax of function declaration is:

return_type function_name (parameter_type_list);

To be a prototype, the same line would be written as

return_type function_name (param_type1 param_name1, param_type2

param_name2, ...);

The return type could be any data type including void (for non result-returning functions).
The parameter type list is a comma separated list of data types of the arguments or
parameters. The name of parameters are not necessary because at this time the compiler
only needs to know their types. This is called the function declaration. But it will not be

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wrong to provide them, which, actually helps the programmer to understand the purpose
of the arguments. This is often referred to as the function prototype. For simplicity, we
will consider both as same. Keyword void can be used in parameter list if there are no
arguments to pass.

The return type of the function must be same in function prototype and function
definition. If there is any mismatch, the compiler will complain. Similarly, the number of
arguments in the argument list must be same in both prototype and function definition.
Compiler will complain if there is a mismatch. In traditional C, it is not necessary (not
allowed) to mention the argument types in declaration. But to ensure correct result in
ANSI C, it must be mentioned. Eg. if the argument passed to a factorial function is a float
and the type is not mentioned in prototype, the returned result will not be correct. This
also indicates that automatic type coercion is carried out by the compiler if we try to
compute the factorial of a float number. That is, the compiler will convert the float
argument to int before calling the factorial function. One limitation of the arguments is
that they can not be initialized at the function definition.

Function prototypes have the following important uses:

• They establish the return type for functions that return types other than int.
Although functions that return int values do not require prototypes, prototypes are
recommended.

• Without complete prototypes, standard conversions are made, but no attempt is

made to check the type or number of arguments with the number of parameters.

• The parameter list is used for checking the correspondence of arguments in the
function call with the parameters in the function definition.

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Parts of a function

#include<stdio.h>

void function1(void); /*function declaration or prototype*/

void main()
{
........
........
........
function1(); /* function call */
........
........
........
}
/* function definition*/
void function1(void) /* function declarator*/
{
........ /* function body */
........
........
}

Some Examples

/*Program to demonstrate function*/

#include<stdio.h>

void print_message(void); // function prototype

void main() // main function
{
print_message(); // function call
}

void print_message() //function definition

{
printf(“First program on function”);
}

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/*Program to calculate square by using function*/

#include<stdio.h>

int sum(int a, int b);

void main(void)
{
int x,y,z;
x=10;
y=20;
z=sum(x,y);
printf(“The sum of two numbers = %d”,z);
}

int sum(int a, int b)

{
int c;
c=a+b;
return c;
}

/*Program to calculate factorial of a number*/

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void calc_factorial(int);
void main()
{
int number;
clrscr();
printf(“Enter a number:”);
scanf(“%d”,&number);
calc_factorial(number);
getch();
}

void calc_factorial(int n)
{
int i, factorial =1;
for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
factorial=factorial*i;
printf(“The factorial of %d is %d”,n,factorial);
}

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6.4 Function invocation, call by value, call by reference

Function invocation

C program is a collection of functions and functions are accessed whenever required. The
program starts from the execution of function main from where other functions are
accessed or invoked. When a function is accessed, the control is transferred to the called
function and when the called function completes its job program control is transferred
back to the calling function and the program continues.

A function is invoked (called or accessed) by its name and required parameters within a
set of parentheses. The arguments must match in number (necessary) and type as defined
in the function definition.

Note:
void main( )
{
int i = 5;
printf (“Address of i = %u”,&i); //65522
printf(“\n Value of i = %d”,i); //5
printf(“\n Value of i = %d”,*(&i)); //5
}

& Æ “Address of” operator

* Æ “value at address” operator (gives the value stored at a particular address)

Call By Value (Pass by Value)

When a function is called, the arguments are passed to the called function from the
calling function by value. It means that, each argument is evaluated (if necessary) and
their copy is provided to the called function. This form of passing the formal parameters
is known as call-by-value because only the values of arguments are passed from calling
function to called function and any change of the arguments in the called function does
not affect the value of data items in the calling function. An example is shown below.

int test123(int x, int y){

int test123(int p, int q); int c;
void main(){ c = x + y;
int a=5, b= 10; x = 5; y = 10;
printf /* does not affect a and b in main as */
("\n%d",test123(a,b)); /* only their values are copied to x and y respectively*/
} return (c);
}

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/* Demonstration of Call By Value */

#include<stdio.h>
void modify(int a);
void main( )
{
int a=5;
printf(“\na = %d (Before Calling the Function)”,a);
modify(a);
printf(“\na = %d (After Calling the Function)”,a);
}

void modify(int a)
{
a = a * 2;
printf(“\n a= %d(After being modified)”,a);
}

Output:
a = 5 (Before Calling the Function)
a = 10 (After being modified)
a = 5 (After Calling the Function)

Eight steps that take place when invoking a function.

• Each expression in the argument list is evaluated.

• The value of the expression is converted, if necessary, to the type of the formal
argument, and that value is assigned to its corresponding formal argument at the
beginning of the body of the function.
• The body of the function is executed.
• If a return statement is executed, then control is transferred back to the calling
function.
• IF the return statement includes an expression, then the value of the expression is
converted, if necessary, to the type given by the type specifier of the function, and
that value is returned to the calling function.
• If the return statement does not include an expression, then no useful value is
returned to the calling function.
• If no return statement is present, then control is transferred back to the calling
function when the end of the body of the function is reached. No useful value is
returned.
• All arguments are passed by value.

Passing argument by value has pros and cons. On the pro side, it allows a single-valued
actual argument to be written as an expression rather than being restricted to a single
variable. In addition, if the actual argument is expressed simply as a single variable, it
protects the value of this variable from alterations within the called function. This is the
only way if we have to pass a constant value (such as 1, 'a'', 120 etc) to the function. The

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con side is that, it does not allow information to be passed back to the calling function via
arguments. The net effect is the one way transfer of data.

Call by reference

In the previous section, it was mentioned that whenever variables are passed to a function
as arguments, the values are copied to the corresponding function parameters and the
variables inside the calling function are not changed.

In certain cases, it may be useful to have the called function change the variables inside
the calling function. If the arguments are passed in such a way as to change the variables
in the calling function, the function invocation is known as call-by-reference. In C, this
is achieved by passing the address of the variable as an argument to the function rather
than passing the copy of the variable. When the address of the original variable is
accessible to the called function, it can place any value (depending upon the requirement)
to that address. As the same address is used in calling program as well, the content of the
original variable will be changed. An example of swapping the content of two variables
are shown below.

/*Swapping two variables using call by

reference */
void swap (int *m, int *n){
void swap (int *, int *);
int x;
void main(){
x = *m;
int a=5;
printf("\n%x %x %d", &x,m,*m);
int b=9;
*m = *n;
printf("\nBefore swap:a=%d, b=%d",a,b);
*n = x;
swap (&a, &b); /*Call the swap function
return;
*/
}
printf("\nAfter swap:a=%d, b=%d",a,b);
}

In the above program, swap function takes addresses of variable a and b from function
main and exchanges the content of those address with the the help of a temporary
variable. Note that, &a and &b are used to pass their addresses. (& is called the address
of operator). Similarly, in swap function, *m and *n are used to access the content of
addresses of a and b respectively.

As with call by value, in call by reference also, all the eight steps take place. The only
difference is that instead of passing arguments by value, their address (reference) are
passed.

Passing arguments by reference also has some pros and cons. The major advantage is that
the content of original variables can be changed from the called function. That means,
more than one results can be passed to the calling function from the called function

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through these references. But, this should be done with proper care. Otherwise unwanted
values may be written to the reference and the original data is lost.

6.5 Concept of local, global, automatic and static variables

We already know that a variable is characterized by its data type - the type of data it can
store; examples are integer (int), floating point (float), character (char) etc. But
there is another type of characterization of a variable - the storage class.

The data type defines what type of data a variable can hold. On the other hand, storage
class of a variable defines the permanence (life time - how long the variable reside in
memory) and the scope (the portion of the program over which it is recognized).

The storage class is specified with one of four keywords - auto, extern, static and
register. Out of these four, we will briefly discuss the first three. For fourth, see
Programming with C (Gottfried) p. 424 onwards. The three keywords - auto, extern and
static are used with automatic (local), external (global) and static variables respectively.

The storage class associated with a variable is sometimes automatically specified by the
location where the variable is declared. Sometimes, it must be explicitly specified.

Local (Automatic) variables

Variables declared within a function are automatic by default. It means, their scope (life-
time) is restricted to that function. Automatic variables with same name in different
functions are different from each other (contain separate values and have separate
memory address). Thus, automatic variables are the most common variables. An
automatic variable is also called a local variable because it is local to that function only.

Since the location of the variable declaration determines the storage class, the keyword
auto is seldom used to declare an automatic variable (in fact it is not necessary). The
variables declared within a block (eg a compound statement or a loop) are also automatic
by default. So, scope of such variables is restricted within the block where they are
declared.

Memory space for automatic variables are reserved when the control is transferred to the
function or block where they are declared. The content of an automatic variable is lost as
soon as the control is out of function or block where it is defined.

An automatic variable is not initialized by the compiler. The programmer must initialize
or assign proper expression to it before it can be used. Otherwise, it will contain some
garbage value.

Following are two sample programs using automatic (local) variables. The first example
uses a function to use automatic variable. The second example has automatic (local)
variables in a compound statement and a loop.

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#include<stdio.h>
int fun (int num1, int num2); #include<stdio.h>
void main(){
void main() { int i;
auto int a =10; /* local (automatic) to printf ("Number Square Cube");
main*/ for (i=1; i<= 10; i++){
int result; /* local (automatic) to main*/ auto int b; /* local inside for loop not
result = fun (20, 30); accessible outside*/
printf("\n%d", result); int a = i * i; /* local inside for loop */
printf("\n%d", a); b = a * i;
} printf("\n %d\t%d\t%d", i, a, b);
}
int fun (int num1, int num2) { printf("\n%d", i); /* i is accessible here */
int a; /* local to fun, different from a of printf("\n%d %d", a, b);
main /* a and b are not accessible here
not accessible from other function so this line gives compilation error
*/ undefined symbol a in function main
a = num1 + num2; undefined symbol b in function main
/* num1 and num2 are also automatic */ so remove this line before compiling */
return a; }
}

What will happen if same variable is declared twice inside the same function? One is
declared at the start of the function and another inside a block in the same function. An
example is shown below.

void somefunction { /* output */

int x; /* local to function */
x = 20;
printf ("%d", x); /* 20 value of a */
{ /* create a compound statement
here */
int x; /*local to this block not
function */ /* 50 */
x = 50;
printf ("%d", x); /* 19 */
} /* block ends here */
printf ("%d", --x);
}

Here's a brief explanation. Variable x is first declared in the function level. So this
variable is accessible anywhere within this function (somefunction). In the middle of

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somefunction, a compound statement is place, where a variable with same identifier

x is declared. This time, the new variable will be accessible only within the compound
statement (i.e. local to the block). Variable x declared before the compound statement
will be overridden by this new declaration. We can access only the new x inside the
compound statement. There is no way to access the original x inside it, although they are
in separate memory locations. This is one of the important scope rules in C. Once the
control is out of the compound statement, original value of x will be available and x
within compound statement is destroyed.

Here is another Example:

//Program to explain automatic or local variable

#include<stdio.h>
void function1( );
void function2( );
void main ( void )
{
int test_variable = 1000;
function2( );
printf(“%d\n”,test_variable);
}

void function1( )
{
int test_variable = 10;
printf(“%d\n”,test_variable);
}
void function2( )
{
int test_variable = 100;
function1( );
printf(“%d\n”,test_variable);
}
Output:
10
100
1000

Global (External) Variables

Unlike local variables, global variables are not confined to a single function or block.
Their scope extends from their point of definition to remainder of the program. This is the
reason why they are called global variable - they are globally accessible from anywhere
in a program.

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Since their scope is the whole program, global variables are accessible from any function.
So their content can be changed from any function and the new value is accessible from
other functions as well. This can be a convenient means of transferring data across
functions. Because they are accessible from anywhere, appropriate values can be set
before calling a function. In side that called function their values can be changed as
required. Thus, use of global variables eliminate the need of passing values as arguments
from one function to other. This may be particularly useful if the number of arguments to
be passed are large. But, this may not always be a good idea. This is because as they are
accessible from anywhere, their values might have been changed with mistakes and the
program may not work as desired.

The life time of a global variable is throughout the life of the program. Once created,
global variables remain in memory till the program ends.

A global variable is declared at the top of the program before writing any function. Since
the storage class (local or global) of a variable is characterized by the location where it is
declared, a global variable declared at the top of a program file does not require extern
keyword. In fact, most of the compilers do not permit to use this keyword.

Global variables are initialized to zero if they are not initialized at the time of declaration.
If another variable is declared local in a function with the same name as the global
variable, the global variable is shaded by the local variable within that function, that is,
global variable is not accessible inside that function. All other functions have access to
the global variable. Any changes made to the variable inside that function will affect only
the local variable.

An example of a program using global variable and local variable is given below.

extern int a=20; /*external (global) variable */ /* output*/

void integ ();

void otherfun ();

void main() {
printf("\nFrom main a = %d", a); /* global */ /* 20 */
integ ();
otherfun (); /* 21 */
printf("\nFrom main new value of a = %d", a); /* global */
}

void integ () {
printf("\nFrom integ a = %d", a++); /* global a accessible from /* 20 */
here */
return;
}

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void otherfun () {
int a; /* local a different from global a, global a not
accessible*/
a =1000; /* 1001 */
printf("\nFrom other function a = %d",++a);
return;
}

Here is another Example:

// Program to explain the global variable

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int a; //extern int a;

void function1(void);
void function2(void);

void main (void)

{
a = 10;
function1( );
function2( );
printf(“a = %d\n”,a);
getch( );
}

void function1(void)
{
a = a + 10;
printf(“a = %d\n”,a);
}

void function2(void)
{
a = a + 10;
printf(“a = %d\n”,a);
}

Output:
a = 20
a = 30
a = 30

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Static Variables
A static variable is amalgam of a local and a global variable. The scope of a static
variable is same as local variable. It means that a static variable is accessible only within
the defining function or block. The life time of a static variable is same as that of a global
variable. Once created (initialized on the first call to function), a static variable remains in
memory until the program ends. It means that, a static variable declared within a function
retains its value even the function is not executing currently and when the function is
reentered, its old value is maintained. In other words, the value of the variable on leaving
the function remains intact. On the next call to the function the the static variable has
the same value as on leaving. Moreover, like a global variable, if a static variable is not
initialized at the time of declaration, it is automatically initialized to zero.

Static variables are declared using static keyword. The syntax is

static var-type var-name.

An example of a program using a static variable is shown below.

void fun();
/* output */
void main() {
fun();
/* This is call no. 1
fun();
*/
fun();
/* This is call no. 2
}
*/
/* This is call no. 3
void fun() {
*/
static int a=1; /* static variable
a */
printf("\n This is call no. %d",
a);
a++;
return;
}

6.6 Recursive functions

What is recursion?

Recursion is a process by which a function calls itself repeatedly until some specified
conditions has been satisfied. Recursive functions are very useful in computations in
which each action can be stated in terms of previous result.

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There are two major requirements while making a recursive function. The first important
thing to remember when creating a recursive function is to give an end-condition. We
don't want the function to keep calling itself forever, do we? Somehow, it should know
when to stop. The other thing is as already mentioned above the problem should be
convertible to a recursive algorithm.

A very popular and simple example is the factorial of a number. Factorial of a number,
say n, is equal to the product of all integers from 1 to n. Factorial of n is denoted by n! =
1x2x3...x n. Eg: 10! = 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8x9x10

The simplest program to calculate factorial of a number is a loop with a product variable.
Instead, it is possible to give a recursive definition for Factorial as follows:

1. If n=1, then Factorial of n = 1

2. Otherwise, Factorial of n = product of n and Factorial of (n-1)

The recursive function definition of factorial is given below.

long Factorial (int n)

{
if (n<=1)
return 1; /* return 1 and stop if n <= 1 */
else
return n * Factorial (n-1); /* return factorial of n-1
multiplied by current n */
}

There are many ways of providing the stopping condition. One of the simplest is by
means of an if statement, as above. In the above example, the recursion stops when n
reaches 1. In each instance of the function, the value of n keeps decreasing. So it
ultimately reaches 1 and ends.

How does recursion work?

The recursive function calls are not executed immediately. They are placed on a stack (a
portion of memory working just like a pile of dishes where every new dish is placed on
the top and popped from top whenever required) until the condition that terminates the
recursion is encountered. The function calls are then executed in reverse order as they are
popped off the stack. So the actual process of getting the factorial of a number would be
as shown below.

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First put function calls into the stack After stopping condition, evaluation
in this order proceeds this order
n! = n x (n-1)! 1! = 1
(n-1)! = (n-1) x (n-2)! 2! = 2 x 1! = 2
(n-2)! = (n-2) x (n-3)! 3! = 3 x 2! = 6
(n-3)! = (n-3) x (n-4)! 4! = 4 x 3! = 24
... ...
2! = 2 x 1 (n-1)! = (n-1) x (n-2)!
1! = 1 n! = n x (n-1)!

Similarly, any recursive function heavily utilizes the stack memory. Some other examples
are getting Fibonacci numbers, magic squares, reversing a string etc.

Examples of recursive function:

Fibonacci series:
0 , 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, …………

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

long int fib(int n)

{
if (n<=1)
return 1;
else
return (fib(n-1) + fib(n-2));
}

void main (void )

{
int a, i;
printf(“Enter the number of Fibonacci series: ”);
scanf(“%d”,&a);
printf(“Fibonacci series:\n”);
for(i=0 ; i<a ; i++)
printf(“%d\t”,fib(i));
getch( );
}

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// Program to find length of the string using recursive function

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int length(char str[]);

void main(void)
{
char *string; //char string[10];
clrscr();
printf("Enter String:");
scanf("%s",string); // gets(string);
printf("The length of the string is %d",length(string));
getch();
}
I
int length(char str[])
{
static int i;
if(*(str+i)=='\0') //if(str[i]=='\0')
return i;
else
{
i=i+1;
length(str);
}
}

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//Program to find the HCF of two numbers using recursive function

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int hcf(int,int);
void main(void)
{
int x,y;
clrscr();
printf("Enter two numbers x and y:");
scanf("%d%d",&x,&y);
printf("The HCF of %d , %d is:%d",x,y,hcf(x,y));
getch();
}
int hcf(int a, int b)
{
if(b%a==0)
return a;
else
hcf(b,b%a);
}

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//Program to calculate xy using recursive function

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int calpower(int,int);
void main()
{
int x,y;
clrscr();
printf("Enter the value of x and y:");
scanf("%d%d",&x,&y);
printf("The reqd value is %d",calpower(x,y));
getch();
}
int calpower(int a, int b)
{
if(b==0)
return 1;
else
return a*calpower(a,b-1);
}

//Program to reverse the given word using recursive function

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void reverse(char str[],int);
void main(void)
{
char *string; //char string[100];
clrscr();
printf("Enter String:");
scanf("%s",string); // gets(string);
reverse(string,strlen(string));
getch();
}
void reverse(char str[],int len)
{
putchar(str[len]);
if(len>=1)
reverse(str,len-1);
}

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Storage Class:

The life time of the variable is categorized by its storage class. The storage class of a
variable indicates the allocation of storage space to the variable.

Scope of variable:
The scope of the variable determines over what part of a variable is actually available
for use.

Longetivity:
It refers to the period during which a variable retains a given value during execution of
a program (alive).

Extent of variables:
The period time during which memory is associated with a variable is called the extent
of the variable.

There are four types of Storage Class:

1. Automatic Storage Class (Local)
2. Register Storage Class
3. Static Storage Class
4. External Storage Class (Global)

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Example of Automatic Storage Class:

main( )
{
auto int i = 1;
{
auto int i = 2;
{
auto int i = 3;
printf(“\n%d”,i);
}
printf(“ %d”,i);
}
printf(“ %d”,i);
}
Output:
321

Example of Register Storage Class:

- 14 registers in case of a microcomputer
- Register – 16 bit (2 bytes)
- Faster access
- Cannot be declared as float, double
• register float q; (wrong)
• register double q; (wrong)

main( )
{
register int i;
for(i = 1; i<=10; i++)
printf(“\n%d”,i);
}

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Summary of storage classes

Storage Storage Default Life time

Class Initial
Value
auto Memory garbage Till the control remains with in the
block in which the variable is defined if
it is defined globally it is visible to all
the functions.
static Memory zero Value of the variable persists between
different function calls
register Register garbage Till the control remains with in the
block in which the variable is defined if
it is defined globally it is visible to all
the functions
extern Memory zero As long as the program execution does
not come to the end.

Categories of functions

1. Library functions
2. User defined functions

1. Library functions- These functions have already been written, compiled and placed in
libraries. printf , scanf , getch etc are examples of library functions.

2. User defined functions- These are function which the programmer creates and uses in
a C program .

Categories of user defined functions- Depending on whether arguments are present or

not and whether a value is returned or not, user defined functions are categorized as
follows:

1. Functions with arguments and return values -The above described add function is
in this category. Which is taking two arguments a and b form the calling function (main)
and it will return the sum to the calling function.

2. Functions with arguments and no return values - The above example can be written
in the following form where the called function takes the arguments(a and b) from the
calling function but do not return the sum(s) the calling function. The add function
displays the result itself. So return type is void and the return statement is not required in
the called function.

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#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void add(int, float);
void main()
{
int a;
float b;
printf("Enter values of a and b:");
scanf("%d%f",&a,&b);
add(a,b);
getch();
}
void add(int p, float q)
{ float s;
s=p+q;
printf("\nSum=%f",s);
}

3. Functions with no arguments and no return values- Above example can also be
written in the following way. Study the following example and find the differences.( void
return type, no arguments, no return statement, function add reads the value of a and b
itself and displays the result(s) from the function body, main function only calls the add
function all the other activities are done inside the called function body.)

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void add();
void main()
{ add();
getch();
}
void add()
{ int a;
float b,s;
printf("Enter values of a and b:");
scanf("%d%f",&a,&b);
s=a+b;
printf("\nThe sum=%f",s);
}

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4. Functions with no arguments and return values- Study the following example and
find the differences.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
float add();
void main()
{ float x;
x=add();
printf("The sum is %f",x);
getch();
}
float add()
{ int a;
float b;
printf("Enter values of a and b:");
scanf("%d%f",&a,&b);
return a*a + b*b; // you can write a expression in the return statement.
}
A program having more then one user defined functions.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
float add(float, float);
float sub(float,float);
float mul(float,float);
float div(float,float);
void main()
{
float a,b,sum,dif,product,quotient;
char ch,flag;
clrscr();
do{
printf("Enter any operator(+,-,*,/):");
scanf(" %c",&ch);
printf("Enter values of a and b:");
scanf("%f%f",&a,&b);
switch(ch)
{
case '+':
sum=add(a,b);
printf("sum=%f",sum);
break;
case '-':
dif=sub(a,b);
printf("Difference=%f",dif);
break;

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case '*':
product=mul(a,b);
printf("Product=%f",product);
break;
case '/':
quotient=div(a,b);
printf("Quotient=%f",quotient);
break;
default:
printf("Enter any above shown characters");
break;
}
printf("\n\nEnter e for exit\nany character for continue\t");
scanf(" %c",&flag);
}while(flag!='e');
getch();
}
float add(float p, float q)
{
return p+q;
}
float sub(float p, float q)
{
return p-q;
}
float mul(float p, float q)
{
return p*q ;
}
float div(float p, float q)
{
return p/q;
}

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Chapter 7.0

7.0. Array, Pointers and Strings

Arrays:
• An array is defined as a set or collection of data items of the same type.
• The data item grouped in an array can be simple types like integer, float or
character
• It is also called subscripted variable

Types of Arrays:
• One dimensional array
• Two dimensional array
• Multi dimensional array

A. One dimensional array

• Elements of the array could be represented a single row.
• While dealing with one dimensional arrays, we specify a single
subscript to locate a specific element

Declaring one dimensional array:

Syntax: data_type array_name[size];
e.g: float marks[10];

Global declaration:
int number[50]; //global declaration
main( )
{
………
}
Local decleration:
main( )
{
int number[20]; //local declaration
}

Initialization of one dimensional array

Syntax:
data_type array_name[size]={list of arguments};
Global initialization:
int num[ ]= {10,20,35,40,45};//global initialization
main( )
{
………….
}

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Local initialization:
main( )
{
int num[ ]= {10,20,35,40,45};//local initialization
}

Rules for array initialization:

• If the number of initializes is less than the number of elements in the array
the remaining elements are set to zero
• It is an error to specify more initializes than the no. of elements in the array
• It is not necessary to specify the size of an array especially in the case , if
initializes are provided for the array

Accessing one dimensional array element:

• To access individual elements of array a subscript or index must be used.

• The subscript identifies the sub element or component of the array that is to
be accessed.
• The subscripts must start at 0 and proceed in increments of 1.
• An array should only support subscript ranging from 0 to n-1

One Dimensional Array element in memory:

int num[8]; //array declaration

What happens in the memory?

• 16 bytes get immediately reserved in memory, 2 bytes for each for the 8
integers

int num[8]= {2,4,3,12,5,45,5,6};

num[0]=2 , num[1]=4 , num[2]=3 ……. num[7]=6

Elements num[0] num[1] num[2] num[3] num[4] num[5] num[6] num[7]

num 2 4 3 12 5 45 5 6

Address 4002 4004 4006 4008 4010 4012 4014 4016

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Examples on one dimensional array:

1. An example to illustrate how to input/output (access) array element.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main (void)

{
float marks[5]; //array declaration
int age[ ] ={23,19,20,21}; //array initialization
int i;
clrscr();
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“Enter element %d :”,i);
scanf(“%f”,&marks[i]); //array input
}
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“%f”,marks[i]); //array output
}
printf(“The initialized array is\n”);
for(i=0;i<4;i++)
{
printf(“%d”,age[i]); //initialized array output
}
getch( );
}

Output:
Enter element 0: 80
Enter element 1: 90
Enter element 2: 70
Enter element 3: 80
Enter element 4: 75
80.000000 90.000000 70.000000 80.000000 75.000000
The initialized array is:
23 19 20 21

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2. A program to find the average of array elements

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
float marks[5],sum=0,avg;
int i;
clrscr( );
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“Enter element %d:”,i);
scanf(“%f”,&marks[i]);
sum=sum+marks[i];
}
avg=sum/i; // because latest value of i is 5
printf(“Average=%f”,avg);
getch( );
}
Output:
Enter element 0: 1
Enter element 1: 2
Enter element 2: 3
Enter element 3: 4
Enter element 4: 5
Average = 3.0000000

3. A program to find the largest element of the array

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
float marks[5], max;
int i;
clrscr( );
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“Enter element %d: ”,i);
scanf(“%f”,&marks[i]);
}
max=marks[0];
for(i=1;i<5;i++)
{
if(marks[i]>max)
{
max=marks[i];

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}
}
printf(“\n The highest element is %f”,max);
}

B. Two dimensional Array:

• So far we have discussed the array variables that can store a list of values
• There could be situations where table of values will have to be stored
• It can also be pronounced as a matrix

Syntax:
data_type array_name[row_size][column_size];

Declaration of two dimensional array:

float student[10][10]; //global declaration

void main( )
{
float marks[20][20]; // local declaration
}

Initialization of two dimensional array:

Global initialization:
int marks[3][4] = {{2,3,5,4},{2,5,3,4},{4,3,3,2}};
int marks[][4] = {{2,3,5,4},{1,2,3,4},{4,3,3,2}};
int values[3][4]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12} ;
main ( )
{
…………
}

Local initialization:
main( )
{
int marks[3][4]={
{2,3,5,4},
{2,5,3,4},
{4,3,3,2}
};
int values[3][4]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12} ;
}

Accessing two dimensional array elements:

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We need the concept of rows and column as in matrix. So we use two loops to
access the elements- one for row and one for column

int values[3][4]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12} ;

Col 0 Col 1 Col 2 Col 3

Row 0 1 2 3 4
Row 1 5 6 7 8
Row 2 9 10 11 12

Array element in memory:

int s[4][2]={
{1234, 56},
{1235, 33},
{1236, 80},
{1237, 78}
};
Col 0 Col 1
Row 0 1234 56
Row 1
1235 33
Row 2
Row 3 1236 80
1237 78

Above diagram is only conceptually true

Two Dimensional Array elements in memory:

Elements s[0][0] s[0][1] s[1][0] s[1][1] s[2][0] s[2][1] s[3][0] s[3][1]

s 1234 56 1235 33 1236 80 1237 78

Address 5002 5004 5006 5008 5010 5012 5014 5016

In Memory whether it is one dimensional or two dimensional array elements are

stored in one continuous chain

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Examples:
1. Program to illustrate the input and output the elements of a two dimensional array.

void main( )
{
int i,j,num[3][3];
clrscr( );
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
{
printf(“Enter num[%d][%d]:”i,j);
scanf(“%d”,&num[i][j]);
}
}
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
{
printf(“%d”,num[i][j]);
}
printf(“\n”);
}
getch ( );
}

Output:
Enter num[0][0]: 1
Enter num[0][1]: 2
Enter num[0][2]: 3
Enter num[1][0]: 4
Enter num[1][1]: 5
Enter num[1][2]: 6
Enter num[2][0]: 7
Enter num[2][1]: 8
Enter num[2][2]: 9

Passing One dimensional Arrays to Function:

Like the values of simple variables, it is possible to pass the values of an
array to a function
To pass a one dimensional array to a called function, it is sufficient to list the
name of the array, without any subscripts, and the size of the array as arguments,
The function call,
max(a,n);
will pass the whole array ‘a’ and its size ‘n’ to the called function

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The function prototype may be

float max(float a[ ],int n);

In C, the name of the array represents the address of its first element
By passing the array name, we are passing the address of the array to the
called function
The array in the called function refers to the same array stored in the
memory. Hence any changes in the array in the called function will be reflected in
the original array
In C, arrays are automatically passed by reference to a function
The name of an array is the beginning address of where the array data is
stored in memory also known as “pointer constant”
Eg: marks[0] – array element
marks=&mark[0] -- here the array marks holds the address of element
mark[0]

Program to illustrate passing one dimensional array to the function (sorting of array in
ascending order – selection sort)
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void selectionsort(int[],int);
void main( )
{
int marks[5],temp,i,j;
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“Enter element %d:”,i);
scanf(“%d”,&marks[i]);
}
selectionsort(marks,5);
getch( );
}

void selectionsort(int marks[ ], int n)

{
int i,j,temp;
for(i=0;i<n-1;i++)
{
for(j=j+1;j<n;j++)
{
if(marks[i]>marks[j])
{
temp=marks[i];
marks[i]=marks[j];
marks[j]=temp;

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}
}
}
printf(“Sorted array is :”);
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf(“%d”,marks[i]);
}
}

Output:
Enter element 0:90
Enter element 1:78
Enter element 2:7
Enter element 3:56
Enter element 4:45
Sorted array is: 7 45 56 78 90

Passing two dimensional Arrays to Function:

Just as with a one dimensional array, when a two (or higher) dimensional
array is passed as a parameter, the base address of the actual array is sent to the
function (pass by reference)

Some rules:
1. the function must be called by passing only the array name
2. the size of the second dimension must be specified
3. The prototype declaration should be similar to the function
header/decelerator

Some of the valid function declarations are:

void fxn1(int x[8][5],int y[ ]);
void fxn1(int x[ ][5], float m);
int fxn3(int[ ][5], int);

Example:
Program to demonstrate addition of two 2-dimensional array using function
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
voidreadarray(int a[][10],int row, int col);
void sum(int a[][10],b[][10],int s[][10],int r1, int c1, int r2, int c2);

void main( )
{
int r1, c1,r2, c2;
int a[10][10], b[10][10], s[10][10];
clrscr( );

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printf(“Enter row and col for matrix a:\n”);

scanf(“%d%d”,&r1,&c1);
printf(“Enter row and col for matrix b:\n”);
scanf(“%d%d”,&r2,&c2);
printf(“Enter elements for array a:\n”);
readarray(a,r1,c1);
printf(“Enter elements for array b:\n”);
readarray(b,r2,c2);
sum(a,b,s,r1,c1,r2,c2);
getch( );
}

void readarray(int a[][10], int row, int col)

{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<row;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<col;j++)
{
printf(“Enter elements [%d][%d]”,i,j) ;
scanf(“%d”,&a[i][j]);
}
}
}
void sum(int a[][10], int b[][10], int s[][10], int r1, int c1, int r2, int c2)
{
if( r1==r2 && c1==c2)
{
printf(“The sum matris is:\n”);
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
s[i][j]=a[i][j]+b[i][j];
printf(“%d\t”, s[i][j]);
}
printf(“\n”);
}
}
}

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This program reads two 2-dimensional arrays, passes them to a function to multiply
multiplies them and displays the result on the screen from the main function.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void mul2darray(int[][10],int[][10],int [][10],int,int,int);
void main()
{ int b,i,j,num1[10][10],r1,c1,k, num2[10][10],r2,c2,num3[10][10];
clrscr();
printf("Enter the maximum size of row and column of array num1:");
scanf("%d%d",&r1,&c1);
printf("Enter the maximum size of row and column of array num2:");
scanf("%d%d",&r2,&c2);
if(c1==r2)
{
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
printf("Enter num1[%d][%d]:",i,j);
scanf("%d",&num1[i][j]);
}
}
for(i=0;i<r2;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{
printf("Enter num2[%d][%d]:",i,j);
scanf("%d",&num2[i][j]);
}
}
mul2darray(num1,num2,num3,r1,c1,c2);
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{
printf("%d ",num3[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
else
{
printf("Array size mismatch.");
}
getch();

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}
void mul2darray(int num1[][10],int num2[][10],int num3[][10],int r1,int c1,int c2)
{
int i,j,k;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{ //*(*(num3+i)+j)=0;
num3[i][j]=0;
for(k=0;k<c1;k++)
{
num3[i][j]=num3[i][j]+num1[i][k]*num2[k][j];

//*(*(num3+i)+j)=*(*(num3+i)+j)+(*(*(num1+i)+k))*(*(*(num2+k)+j));
}
//printf("\t%d",num3[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}output
Enter the maximum size of row and column of array num1:3 3
Enter the maximum size of row and column of array num2:3 3
Enter num1[0][0]:0
Enter num1[0][1]:2
Enter num1[0][2]:3
Enter num1[1][0]:5
Enter num1[1][1]:0
Enter num1[1][2]:7
Enter num1[2][0]:1
Enter num1[2][1]:0
Enter num1[2][2]:1
Enter num2[0][0]:2
Enter num2[0][1]:0
Enter num2[0][2]:5
Enter num2[1][0]:3
Enter num2[1][1]:0
Enter num2[1][2]:0
Enter num2[2][0]:5
Enter num2[2][1]:3
Enter num2[2][2]:1
21 9 3
45 21 32
7 3 6

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C. Multidimensional arrays
• C allows arrays of three or more dimensions.
• The exact limit is determined by the compiler

The general form is

data_type array_name[s1][s2][s3][s4]…….s[m]

int num[3][10][4][5];

where num is a four dimensional array declared to contain 600

integer type elements.

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Pointers:

• A pointer is a variable that contains the address of another variable

• A pointer is a derived data type in C
• It is built from one of the fundamental data types available in C
• Pointers contain memory address as there values
• Since these memory addresses are the locations in the computer memory
where program instructions and data are stored, pointers can be used to
access and manipulate data stored in the memory

Why are pointers used?

Pointers are used in situations when passing actual values is difficult or

undesirable

Some reasons to use pointers are:

• Pointers are more efficient in handling arrays and data tables

• To pass arrays and strings more conveniently from one function to another
• Pointers allow C to support dynamic memory management
• Pointers provide an efficient tool for manipulating dynamic data structures
such as linked lists, queues, stacks and trees
• Pointer reduce the length and complexity of the programs
• They increase the execution speed and thus reduce the program execution
time
• To manipulate arrays more easily by moving pointers to them (or to parts of
them), instead of moving the arrays themselves
• Pointers can be used to return multiple values from a function via function
arguments

Concept of Memory (Memory Organisation):

• The computer’s memory is a sequential collection of “storage cells”

• Each cell is commonly known as byte, which has a number called address
associated with it
• The address are numbered consecutively, starting from zero
• The last address depends on the memory size
• A computer system having 64K memory will have its last address as 65535

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Memory Cells Address

0
1
2

65535

Memory Organisation of 64K Memory

Concept of variable:

• Each variable is represented in memory

• Each variable have two values
o One is its address in memory (lvalue)
o Another is its content (rvalue)

Pointer variable:

• A pointer is a variable, which contains the address in the memory of another

variable
• Pointers are said to “point to ” the variable whose reference they store

Representation of a variable:
Eg: int number = 50;

number variable

50 value

1000 Address

Representation of a variable

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Representation of a pointer variable:

Eg: int number;

int *number_ptr;

Variable Value Address

number 50 1000

number_ptr 1000
1020

Reference operator (&) :

• “Address of” operator

• It gives the address of the variable
Eg: number_ptr = &number
The address of the number is assign to number_ptr

Deference operator(*):

• “value at address” operator

• Indirection operator – that operates on pointer

“&” and “*” have complementary (or opposite) meanings

A variable referenced with “&” can be dereference with “*”

Value can be obtained by:

*number_ptr = *(&number) = number

Concept of pointers:

Pointer are built on the three underlying concepts as illustrated below:

Pointer Pointer Pointer

Constant Values variables

Pointers

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• Pointer constant: memory addresses within a computer are referred to a

pointer constant. We cannot change them, we can only use them to store data
values
• Pointer value: we can only obtain the value (i.e address here) through the
variable stored there using the address operator (&). Pointer value is address
of a variable
• Pointer variable: once we have a pointer value, it can be stored into another
variable. The variable that contains a pointer value is called a pointer
variable
- a variable that holds an address value is called a pointer variable or simply
pointer

Pointer Decleration:

• Since pointer variables contain addresses that belong to a separate data type,
they must be declared as pointers before we use them
• When a pointer variable is declared , the variable name must be preceded by
an asterisk (*), this identifies the fact that the variable is a pointer
• The data type of the pointer is the data type of the variable to which it is
pointing
Syntax:
data_type *pointer_variable_name;
eg: int *p;
- declares the variable p as a pointer variable that points to an integer data
type
char *character;
float *marks;

Pointer initialization:

int number;
int *number_ptr;
number_ptr = &number;

Here number_ptr is a pointer variable that points the variable number

Pointer expressions:

If p1 and p2 are properly declared and initialized pointers they can be used
in expression as:
p = *p1 * *p2;
sum = sum + *p2;
*p1 = *p1 + 40;

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Example:
#include<stdio.h>
void main ( )
{
int *p , *q; //decleration of pointer variables
int a, b;
clrscr ( );
p = &a; //use of reference operator
q = &b;
printf(“Address of a = %u\n”,&a);
printf(“Address of b = %u\n,&b”);
printf(“value of p = %u\n”,p);
printf(“value of q = %u\n”,q);
printf(“”Enter value of a and b:”);
scanf(“%d%d”,&a,&b);
printf(“the value pointed by p is %d\n”,*p);
printf(“the value pointed by q is %d\n”,*q);
printf(“a+b = %d\n”,a+b);
printf(“*p+*q = %d”,*p+*q);
getch( );
}

Output:
Address of a = 65524
Address of b = 65522
value of p = 65524
value of q = 65522
Enter value of a and b: 45 67
the value pointed by p is 45
the value pointed by q is 67
a+b = 112
*p+*q = 112

Pointer Arithmetic:

1. A pointer variable can be assigned the address of an ordinary variable

(pv=&v)
2. A pointer variable can be assigned the address of another variable (pv=px)
provided both pointer points to object of the same data type
3. A pointer variable can be assigned a null(zero) value (pv=NULL where
NULL is a symbolic constant that represent the value 0)

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4. An interger can be added and subtracted from a pointer

variable(pv+1,pv+3,pv-3,pv++)
Eg :
int i=4,*j;
j=&i;
j=j+1;
5. One pointer variable can be subtracted from another provided both pointers
point to elements of the same array
Eg:
int a[ ]= {10,20,30,45,67,56,74}; //4002
int *i,*j;
i=&a[1]; //4004
j=&a[5]; //4012
printf(“%d %d”,j-i, *j-*i); //4 36

6. Two pointer variables can be compared provided both pointers point to

elements of the same data type
Note:
1. Pointer variable cannot be multiplied or divided
2. Two pointers variable cannot be added

Pointer increments and scale factor:

If p is a pointer variable, we can use pointer arithmetic as
p=p+2;
p=p+1;
• Here the pointer p=p+1 will cause the pointer p to point to the next value of
its type.
p => integer pointer

1000 1002 1004 1006 1008

• If p is pointing to the address 1000, then after operation p=p+1; the value of
p will be 1002 not 1001.
• When we increment a pointer, its value is incremented by the length of the
data type that it points to, this length is called the scale factor

Data Type Scale Factor

char 1
int 2
float 4
double 8
long int 4
long double 10

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Pointers and Functions:

• We can pass the address of a variable as an argument to a function

• Process of calling a function using pointers to pass the addresses of
variables is known as call by reference
• The function, which is called by reference, can change the value of the
variable used to call

While calling a function by reference the points to be noted are:

• The function parameters must be declared as pointers
• The dereferenced are used in the function body
• When the functions are called the address are passed as actual
arguments
Example:
A program to find the larger of two numbers using the concept of function and pointer
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void larger(int*,int*,int*);
void main( )
{
int a,b,large;
clrscr( );
printf(“Enter the values of a and b:”);
scanf(“%d,%d”,&a,&b); // 20 10
printf(“&a=%u\n&b=%u\n&larger=%u \n”,&a,&b, &larger); // &a =
65524 &b=65522 &larger= 65520
larger(&a,&b,&large);
printf(“larger=%d”,large); //20
getch( );
}
void larger(int *p, int *q, int *l)
{
printf(“p=%u \n q=%u \n l=%u”,p,q,l);
//p= 65524 q=65522 l=65520
if(*p>*q)
*l=*p
else
*l=*q;
}

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Arrays and pointers:

In case of one dimensional array:

int num[8]= {2,4,3,12,5,45,5,6};

num[0]=2 , num[1]=4 , num[2]=3 ……. num[7]=6

Elements num[0] num[1] num[2] num[3] num[4] num[5] num[6] num[7]

num 2 4 3 12 5 45 5 6

Address 4002 4004 4006 4008 4010 4012 4014 4016

• We know that on mentioning the name of the array we get its base address
num[0]=2
&num[0]=4002 (base address)
*(&num[0])=2
num=4002 (base address)
• By saying *num we would be able to refer to the zeroth element of the array
i.e 2
*num = *(num+0) = 2
Similarly,
*(num+1) => refers to the 1st element of the array,i.e 4
• In fact Compiler understands,
num[i] is same as *(num+i)
• Following notations are same:
num[i]
*(num+i)
*(i+num)
i[num]
• If you want to calculate the address of
num[4] = base address+(index*scale factor of int)
=4002+(4*2) = 4010

Array indexing Pointer notation

th
Address of i element &num[i] (num+i)
Value of ith elements num[i] *(num+i)

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Let p be the integer pointer (int *p;), then

p = num+0= &num[0] = 4002
p+1 = num+1 &num[1] = 4004
p+2 = num+2 = &num[2] = 4006
p+3 = num+3 = &num[3] = 4008

*p = *num = num[0] = 2
*(p+1) = *(num+1) = 4

In case of Two dimensional array:

int s[4][2]={
{1234, 56},
{1235, 33},
{1236, 80},
{1237, 78}
};

Elements s[0][0] s[0][1] s[1][0] s[1][1] s[2][0] s[2][1] s[3][0] s[3][1]

s 1234 56 1235 33 1236 80 1237 78

Address 5002 5004 5006 5008 5010 5012 5014 5016

• Each row of a two dimensional array can be thought as a one dimensional

array
• Above example s[4][2] can be thought as setting up an array of 4 elements,
each of which is one dimensional array containing 2 integers
• If s is 1-D array then s[0] gives the zeroth element and s[1] gives the next
element
• More specially, s[0] gives the address of the zeroth 1-D array, s[1] gives the
address of the first 1-D array

Address of 0th 1-D array s[0] = 5002

Address of 1st 1-D array s[1] = 5006
Address of 2nd 1-D array s[2] = 5010
Address of 3rd 1-D array s[3] = 5014

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• Each 1-D occupies 4 bytes (two bytes for each integer)

• 1-D array are placed linearly(zeroth 1-D array followed by first 1-D array)
Eg: Suppose we want to refer to the element s[2][1] using pointer
s[2] => 5010 i.e address of 2nd one - D array
s[2]+1 => (5010+1) => 5012

Value at this address can be obtained by using the “value at address

operator”
*(s[2]+1) = 80 (value)
*(*(s+2)+1) = 80 , since num[i] = *(num+i)

In general,
s[i][j] = *(s[i]+j) = *(*(s+i)+j)

Array indexing Pointer notation

Address of element at &num[i][j] (*(num+i)+j
ith row & jth col
Value of element at ith num[i][j] *(*(num+i)+j)
row & jth col

Example:
//pointer notation to access array elements
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int age[10],i;
clrscr( );
printf(“Enter numbers:”);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
scanf(“%d”,age+i);
}
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf(“%d”,*(age+i));
}
getch( );
}

Pointers to pointer ( Chain of pointers):

• It is possible to make a pointer to point to another pointer, thus creating a

chain of pointers

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p2 p1 Variable - c

Address 2 Address 1 Value

(2000) (1000) (‘s’)

3000 2000 1000

• Here, the pointer variable p2 contains the address of the pointer variable p1,
which points to the location that contains the desired value. This is known as
multiple declarations
• A variable that is a pointer to a pointer must be declared using additional
indirection operator symbols in front of the name
• General format :
ƒ data_type **pointer_variable;
ƒ eg: int **p2;
Example:
#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{
int x, *p1, **p2;
x = 100;
p1 = &x;
p2 = &p1;
printf(“%d”,**p2);
}
Output:
100

Array of Pointers:

• Eg: int *p[10]; => which means that p is an array of 10 pointers which
points to integer data type

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void pointer

The void type of pointer is a special type of pointer. In C, void represents

the absence of type, so void pointers are pointers that point to a value that has no
type (and thus also an undetermined length and undetermined dereference
properties). This allows void pointers to point to any data type, from an integer
value or a float to a string of characters. But in exchange they have a great
limitation: the data pointed by them cannot be directly dereferenced (which is
logical, since we have no type to dereference to), and for that reason we will always
have to change the type of the void pointer to some other pointer type that points to
a concrete data type before dereferencing it. This is done by performing type-
castings. we cannot apply pointer arithmetic to pointers to void

Null pointer

A null pointer is a regular pointer of any pointer type which has a special
value that indicates that it is not pointing to any valid reference or memory address.
int * p;
p = 0;
Do not confuse null pointers with void pointers. A null pointer is a value that any
pointer may take to represent that it is pointing to "nowhere", while a void pointer
is a special type of pointer that can point to somewhere without a specific type. One
refers to the value stored in the pointer itself and the other to the type of data it
points to.

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Static Memory Allocation:

• Till now we have created arrays at compile time

• An array created at compile time by specifying size in the source code has a
fixed size and cannot be modified at run time
• The process of allocating memory at the compile time is known as static
memory allocation
• And the arrays that receive static memory allocation is called static arrays

Case: - Number of employees in the organization

- File with large number of data

Disadvantage:

• wastage of memory spaces

• we cannot predict how much memory is needed
• program may not run in all the computers since the computers memory may
vary in different computer

Dynamic Memory Allocation:

• It is the process of allocating memory storage for use in a computer program

during the run time of that program
• Arrays created at the run time is called the dynamic arrays
• If the memory is allocated dynamically then it must also be de-allocated
explicitly, either by the programmer or by garbage collector
• Dynamic arrays are created using
ƒ Pointer variable
ƒ Memory management functions
• malloc ( )
• calloc ( )
• realloc ( )

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Memory allocation process:

Movable Local variables Stack

boundary
Free Memory
Heap
Fixed
boundary Global and
Static Variables

Permanent
C Program Storage area
Instructions

Storage of C Program (Data Segment)

• local variables are stored in stack

• global and static variables are stored in the permanent storage area
• memory space located between these two areas is called heap where
dynamically allocate variables are stored at the time of execution of the
program
• size of the heap keeps on changing when program is executed due to creation
and death of the variables local to the function or block
• so memory overflow may occur during dynamic memory allocation and
hence functions returns NULL pointer

Memory Management Functions:

• malloc ( )
• calloc( )
• realloc( )
• free( )

1. malloc ( ):

• a block of memory of specified size can be allocated using the function malloc
• malloc function reserves a block of memory of specified size and return a
pointer of type void a pointer to anything
• General form:
o ptr = (cast-type*)malloc(byte-size)
where ptr is a pointer of cast-type

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• The data type of the pointer returned from malloc must agree with the type
of the data to be stored
• If the space in the heap is not sufficient to satisfy the request, the allocation
can fail, and returns a NULL pointer
Eg: ptr=(int *)malloc(10*sizeof(int));

Here a memory space equivalent to 20 bytes is reserved and the address of

first byte of the memory allocated is assigned to the pointer ptr of type int and its
content can be access through a pointer

ptr Address of first byte

20 bytes of allocated space

Allocated space and pointer pointing the space

2. calloc ( ):

• used for storing derived data types such as array and structures
• malloc allocates single block of memory but calloc allocates multiple blocks
of memory each of same size and sets all bytes to zero
• General form:
ptr=(cast-type*)calloc(n,sizeof(element-size));

eg: ptr = (float*)calloc(10,sizeof(float));

• here above statement allocates contiguous space for 10 blocks each of size
four bytes, initializes all bytes to zero and returns the pointer of the first byte
to ptr
• if there is no enough space it returns NULL pointer

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ptr Address of first byte

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

40 bytes of allocated space

Allocated space and pointer pointing the space

3. free( ):

• causes the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated

free(ptr);

where ptr is a pointer to a memory block which has already been created by
malloc or calloc

4. realloc ( ):

• modifies the size of previously allocated space

• we can change the memory size already allocated with the help of the
function realloc, this process is called reallocation of memory
• Conditions:
o If previously allocated memory is not sufficient and we need
additional space for more elements
o If previously allocated space is much more than necessary and we
want to reduce it

Original allocation: ptr = malloc(size);

Reallocation is done by: ptr = realloc(ptr,newsize);

• Here a new memory space of size newsize is allocated to the pointer variable
ptr and returns a pointer to the first byte of the new memory block
• The newsize may be larger or smaller then the size
• The new memory block may or may not begin at the same place as the old
one but the old data will remain intact

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Review
Function Task
malloc Allocated requested size of bytes and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocated space
calloc Allocates space for an array of elements, initializes them to zero and then
returns a pointer to the memory.
free frees the previously allocated space.
realloc Modifies the size of previously allocated space.

Usage example

The standard method of creating an array of ten integers on the stack:

int array[10];
But if we want to allocate the array dynamically we should write:
#include <stdio.h>

/* Allocate space for an array with 10 elements of type int */

int *ptr = malloc(sizeof(int) * 10);
if (ptr == NULL)
exit(1); /* We could not allocate any memory, so exit */

/* allocation succeeded */

Examples
Example 1: This program asks the required size of array to the user and displays
the addresses of allocated blocks.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<alloc.h>
void main(void)
{
int n,i;
float *address;
clrscr();
printf("Enter number of elements:");
scanf("%d",&n);
address=(float*)calloc(n,sizeof(int));
if(address==NULL)
{ printf("Memory can not allocated.");
exit();
}
for(i=0;i<n;i++)

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{
printf("\nAddress of %d block %d ",i,(address+i));
}
free(address);
getch();
}
Output
Enter number of elements:6
Address of 0 block 2558
Address of 1 block 2562
Address of 2 block 2566
Address of 3 block 2570
Address of 4 block 2574
Address of 5 block 2578

Example 2: This program reads array elements and displays them with their
corresponding storage locations. Sometimes memory can not be allocated due to
lack of requested amount of free memory. We must handle this situation. So, we
should check whether the required memory is allocated or not in every program. If
the memory can be allocated, the memory allocation function returns NULL pointer
to the pointer variable. Study the following example, and understand how the above
discussed is handled.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
int n,i;
float *address;
clrscr();
printf("Enter number of elements:");
scanf("%d",&n);
if((address=(float*)malloc(n*sizeof(int)))==NULL)
{
printf("Memory can not allocated.");
exit();
}
printf("Enter array elements:");
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{ scanf("%f",(address+i));
}
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{ printf("\nElement at %u is %f ",(address+i),*(address+i));
}
free(address);
getch();
}

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Output
Enter number of elements:6
Enter array elements:1 3 7 33 45 78 90
Element at 2574 is 1.000000
Element at 2578 is 3.000000
Element at 2582 is 7.000000
Element at 2586 is 33.000000
Element at 2590 is 45.000000
Element at 2594 is 78.000000

Example 3: This program sort a dynamic array using concept of function and
pointer.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void sort(float*,int);
void main(void)
{
int n,i;
float *marks;
clrscr();
printf("Enter number of elements:");
scanf("%d",&n);
if((marks=(float*)calloc(n,sizeof(int)))==NULL)
exit()

printf("Enter array elements:");

for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{ scanf("%f",(marks+i));
}
sort(marks,n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("\nElement at %u is %f ",(marks+i),*(marks+i));
}
free(marks);
getch();
}
void sort(float *m,int n)
{ int pass,j,i,temp;
for(pass=0;pass<n-1;pass++)
{
for(j=0;j<n-pass-1;j++)
{
if(*(m+j)<*(m+j+1))
{
temp=*(m+j+1);

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*(m+j+1)=*(m+j);
*(m+j)=temp;
}
}
}
}
Output
Enter number of elements:5
Enter array elements:123 456 111 111 23
Element at 2574 is 456.000000
Element at 2578 is 123.000000
Element at 2582 is 111.000000
Element at 2586 is 111.000000
Element at 2590 is 23.000000

Example 4: Write a program to read an array of n elements. The program has to

allocate memory dynamically and pass the array to a function, which has to find the
smallest, and the largest numbers and pass to the calling function. Use pass by
reference if necessary.(2062/5/b)

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void findminmax(int *,int *,int *,int);
void main()
{
int largest,smallest,n,*p,i;
clrscr();
printf("Enter array size:");
scanf("%d",&n);
p=(int*)calloc(n,sizeof(int));]
if(p==NULL)
exit();
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("Enter array element [%d]:",i+1);
scanf("%d",(p+i));
}
findminmax(p,&largest,&smallest,n);
printf("Largest=%d\nSmallest=%d",largest,smallest);
free(p);
getch();
}

void findminmax(int *array,int *l,int *s, int n)

{

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int i;
*l=*(array+0);
*s=*(array+0);
for(i=1;i<n;i++)
{
if(*l<*(array+i))
*l=*(array+i);
if(*s>*(array+i))
*s=*(array+i);
}
}
Output
Enter array size:5
Enter array element [1]:12345
Enter array element [2]:23
Enter array element [3]:354
Enter array element [4]:56
Enter array element [5]:87
Largest=12345
Smallest=23

Example 5: An example to allocate a 2d dynamic array.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
int rows,cols,i,j;
float **matrix;
printf("Enter maximum rows:");
scanf("%d",&rows);
printf("Enter maximum columns:");
scanf("%d",&cols);
//allocating memory for the matrix.
/*first allocating a single dimensional array of n float pointers.*/
matrix=(float**)calloc(sizeof(float*),rows);
if(matrix==NULL)
{exit()};
/*Now for each row,allocating a single dimensional array of floats.*/
for(i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
matrix[i]=(float*)calloc(sizeof(float),cols);
if(matrix[i]==NULL)
{exit();}
}
for(i=0;i<rows;i++)
{

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for(j=0;j<cols;j++)
{ printf("\nEnter element[%d][%d]",i,j);
//scanf("%f",&matrix[i][j]);
scanf("%f",(*(matrix+i)+j));
}
}
for(i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<cols;j++)
{ printf("%f",*(*(matrix+i)+j));
}
}

free(matrix);
getch();
}
void linkfloat()
{ float x=0,*y;
y=&x;
x=*y;
}

Example 6: A program to pass a two dimensional dynamic array to a function. In

the following examples find the required position and insert the required syntax to
handle the situation of lack of requested amount of memory dynamically.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void power(float**,int,int);
void main(void)
{ int rows,cols,i,j;
float **matrix;
printf("Enter maximum rows:");
scanf("%d",&rows);
printf("Enter maximum columns:");
scanf("%d",&cols);
//allocating memory for the matrix.
/* first allocating a single dimensional array of n float pointers.*/
matrix=(float**)calloc(sizeof(float*),rows);

/*Now for each row,allocating a single dimensional array of floats.*/

for(i=0;i<rows;i++)
{
matrix[i]=(float*)calloc(cols,sizeof(float));
}
for(i=0;i<rows;i++)
{

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for(j=0;j<cols;j++)
{
printf("\nEnter element[%d][%d]",i,j);
//scanf("%f",&matrix[i][j]);
scanf("%f",(*(matrix+i)+j));
}
}
power(matrix,rows,cols);
free(matrix);
getch();
}
void power(float **mat,int ros,int cos)
{ int i,j;
for(i=0;i<ros;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<cos;j++)
{
printf("%f",mat[i][j]*2);
//printf("%f",*(*(mat+i)+j)*2);
}
}
}
void linkfloat()
{ float x=0,*y;
y=&x;
x=*y;
}
Output
Enter maximum rows:3
Enter maximum columns:3
Enter element[0][0]1 Enter element[0][1]2
Enter element[0][2]3 Enter element[1][0]4
Enter element[1][1]5 Enter element[1][2]6
Enter element[2][0]7 Enter element[2][1]8
Enter element[2][2]9
2.0000004.0000006.0000008.00000010.00000012.00000014.00000016.00000018.00000
0

Example 7: A program to use functions to read, process, and display the sum of
two dimensional dynamic arrays.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void display(float**,int,int);
void readmatrix(float**,int,int);
void processmatrix(float**,float**,int,int);
void main(void)

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{ int rows1,cols1,i,j,rows2,cols2;
float **matrix1,**matrix2;
clrscr();
printf("Enter maximum rows of matrix1:");
scanf("%d",&rows1);
printf("Enter maximum colunmns of matrix1:");
scanf("%d",&cols1);
printf("Enter maximum rows of matrix2:");
scanf("%d",&rows2);
printf("Enter maximum colunmns of matrix2:");
scanf("%d",&cols2);
//allocating memory for the matrix1, matrix2.
/* first allocating a single dimensional array of n float pointers.*/
matrix1=(float**)calloc(sizeof(float*),rows1);
matrix2=(float**)calloc(sizeof(float*),rows2);
/*Now for each row,allocating a single dimensional array of floats.*/
for(i=0;i<rows1;i++)
{
matrix1[i]=(float*)calloc(cols1,sizeof(float));
}
for(i=0;i<rows2;i++)
{
matrix2[i]=(float*)calloc(cols2,sizeof(float));
}
readmatrix(matrix1,rows1,cols1);
readmatrix(matrix2,rows2,cols2);
display(matrix1,rows1,cols1);
printf("\n");
display(matrix2,rows1,cols1);
processmatrix(matrix1,matrix2,rows1,rows2);
printf("\n");
display(matrix1,rows1,cols1);
free(matrix1);
free(matrix2);
getch();
}
void display(float **mat, int r1,int c1)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{ printf("%f ",*(*(mat+i)+j));
}
}
}

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void readmatrix(float **mat,int r1,int c1)

{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
printf("Enter element [%d][%d]",i,j);
scanf("%f",(*(mat+i)+j));
}
}
}
void processmatrix(float** mat1,float** mat2,int r1,int c1)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
//mat1[i][j]=mat1[i][j]+mat2[i][j];
*(*(mat1+i)+j)=*(*(mat1+i)+j)+*(*(mat2+i)+j);
}
}
}
Output
Enter maximum rows of matrix1:2
Enter maximum colunmns of matrix1:2
Enter maximum rows of matrix2:2
Enter maximum colunmns of matrix2:2
Enter element [0][0] 1 Enter element [0][1] 2
Enter element [1][0] 3 Enter element [1][1] 4
Enter element [0][0] 5 Enter element [0][1] 6
Enter element [1][0] 7 Enter element [1][1] 8
1.000000 2.000000 3.000000 4.000000
5.000000 6.000000 7.000000 8.000000
6.000000 8.000000 10.000000 12.000000

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String and String Handling Functions:

1. Introduction
In C, a string is stored as a null-terminated char array. This means that after the last truly
usable char there is a null, which is represented in C by '\0'. The subscripts used for the
array start with zero (0). Any group of characters (except double quote sign) defined
double quotation marks is a constant string.
Example- “We are very laborious students."
Characters strings are used to build meaningful and readable programs. The operations
performed on character strings are:
-Reading and writing strings.
-Combining strings together.
-Copying one string toe another.
-Comparing strings for equality.
-Extracting a portion of a string.

2. Declaring string variables

A string variable is any valid C variable name and is always declared as array. The
general form of declaration of a string is
char string_name[size];

Example- The following line declares a char array called str. C provides fourteen
consecutive bytes of memory. Only the first fourteen bytes are usable for character
storage, because one must be used for the string-terminating null.

char str[15];

When a compiler assigns a character string to a character array, it automatically supplies

a null character ('\0') at the end of the string. Therefore, the size should be the maximum
numbers of characters in the string plus one. String is stored in memory as ASCII codes
of the characters that make up the string appended with 0(ASCII value of null). The

Characters H e L l o , w o r l d ! '\0'
ASCII 72 100 107 107 111 44 32 119 111 114 107 100 33 0
Subscripts 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

following is a representation of what would be in RAM, if the string "Hello, world!" is

stored in this array.
The name of the array is treated as a pointer to the array. The subscript serves as the
offset into the array, i.e., the number of bytes from the starting memory location of the
array. Thus, both of the following will save the address of the 0th character in the pointer
variable ptr.
ptr = str;
ptr = &str[0];

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3. Initializing string variables

Character array may be initialized when they are declared. C permits a character array to
be initialized in either of the following two forms.
char name[15]="kathmandu city";
char name[15]={'k','a','t','h','m','a','n','d','u',' ','c','i',t','y','\0'};

C also permits to initialize the character array without specifying the numbers of
elements as-
char name[ ]="kathmandu city";
char name[ ]={'k','a','t','h','m','a','n','d','u',' ','c','i',t','y','\0'};

4. Character I/O
getchar( ) function reads a character from the standard input device, while putchar( )
writes a character to the standard output device.
Example 1: A program shows a single character input/output.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
char ch;
printf("Enter a character:");
ch=getchar();
printf("The entered character is:");
putchar(ch);
}

5. Reading strings from terminal

a. Reading words

The scanf function can use with % s format specification to read a string of characters.
The syntax is as

char name[15];
scanf("%s",name);
The problem with the scanf function is that it terminates its input on first white space it
finds.
Note that unlike other variable's scanf calls, in case of character arrays, the ampersand(&)
is not required before the variable name. The scanf function automatically terminates the
string that is read with a null character. If we want to n numbers of words then we need
to read them n times.
Example 2: This program reads and displays a single word using scanf function.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
char namestr[10];

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clrscr();
printf("Enter name:");
scanf("%s",namestr);
printf("Name: %s",namestr);
getch();
}

b. Reading a line of text

sometimes, we need to read in an entire line of text from the terminal. At that time scanf
function does not work. In such situations, we need to read the string character by
character by using getchar function in loop and assigning to the character array until a
certain condition meet. After terminating the reading, the null character should be
inserted at the end of the string.

Example 3: This example reads a string character by character until enter key is
pressed(new line character(\n)) and inserts the null character at the end. In stead of
new line other character can be used. This is a technique to read strings having
white space characters.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{ char namestr[100],ch;
int i;
clrscr();
printf("Enter any string:");
i=0;
do
{ ch=getchar();
namestr[i]=ch;
i++;
}while(ch!='\n');
i=i-1;
namestr[i]='\0';
printf("String: %s",namestr);
getch();
}

6. Writing string to screen

printf function with %s format is used to print the strings to the screen.
The %s can be used to display an array of characters that is terminated by the null
character. Whih is shown in the above example b. We can also specify the precision with
which the array is displayed. For exampe, the specification %12.5s indicates that that the
first five characters are to be printed in the field with of 12columns. If %-12.5s, the string
will be printed left justified.

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Example 4: This program shows the concept of formatted output of strings.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char namestr[100]="Kathmandu Engineering College";
clrscr();
printf("\n%s",namestr);
printf("\n%15.4s",namestr);
printf("\n%-15.4s",namestr);
printf("\n%15.0s",namestr);
printf("\n%.3s",namestr);
printf("\n%5s",namestr);
getch();
}

Output
Kathmandu Engineering College
Kath
Kath

Kat
Kathmandu Engineering College

Example 5: Study and understand the following example

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char namestr[100]="kathmandu";
int i=0,j;
clrscr();
do
{ j=0;
while(j<=i)
{
printf("%c",namestr[j]);
j++;
}
printf("\n");
i++;
}while(namestr[i]!='\0');
getch();
}

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Output
k
ka
kat
kath
kathm
kathma
kathman
kathmand
kathmandu

7. Arithmetic operations on characters

C allows us to manipulate characters the sane way we do with numbers. Whenever a
charcter constant or character variable is used in an expression,it is automatically
converted into an integer value by the system. To write a character in its integer
representation, we can write it as an integer. For example-
x='A';
print("%d" ,x);
will display the number 65 on the screen. It is also possible to perform arithmetic
operations on the character constants and variables. For example,
x='A'+5;
is valid statement and value of x will be 70.
C also allows us also to use the character constants in relational expressions. for example,
the expression ch>='A'&&ch<='Z' would test whether the character contained in the
variable ch is an upper case letter. A character digit can be converted in to its equivalent
integer value using the following relationship:
i=character-'0';
Where i is an integer variable and character contains the character digit. let us suppose
that characte contains the digit '8', Then,
i =ASCII value of '8'-ASCII value of '0'
=56-48
=8
The library functions atoi converts a string of digits into their integer values. The
function takes the following form.
i=atoi(string);
i is an integer variable and string is a character array of containing a string of digits. Both
of the above concept is illustrated in the following example.

Example 6: This example shows to get the equivalent integer value of a character
digit and the equivalent integer value of string of character digits.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{ char ch[5];
char character;
int n,x; clrscr();

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printf("Enter a character digit:");

character=getche();
n=character-'0';
printf("\nThe equivalent value is %d",n);
printf("\nEnter a string of digits character:");
scanf("%s",ch);
x=atoi(ch);
printf("\nEquivalent number is %d",x);
getch();
}
Output
Enter a character digit:4
The equivalent value is 4
Enter a string of digits character:56
Equivalent number is 56

8. String I/O
a. gets- This function accepts the name of a string as a parameter, and fills the string with
characters that are input from the keyboard, till a new character is encountered( i.e., till
we press the enter key.) At the end the function gets appends an null character and
returns. The new line character is not added to the string.
b. puts- puts displays the string stored in the string variable.
Most of the following examples are done using gtes and puts function for inputting and
outputting strings.

9. String handling functions

We need to manipulate strings in different ways. As for example, concatenating two
strings, copying one string to another, comparing two strings, finding the length of a
string. To do so we have provided different types of library functions. These library
functions are declared in <string.h>. The functions are briefly discussed below.
a . Strlen() - This function finds the length of a string. To do so it counts and returns the
number of characters in the string without including the null character. The general form
is
l=strlen(string);
where l is the integer variable which receives the value of the length of the string.
string is an argument given to find the length. Which can be given as a constant
string.
Example 7: Illustration of strlen().
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char text1[100]; int length;
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);

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length=strlen(text1);
printf("Length of given string=%d",length);
getch();
}
The same task is done without using strlen() which is illustrated in the following
example.
Example 8: Finding length of a given string.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
char text[100]; int i=0,length=0;
clrscr();
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(text);
while(text[i]!='\0')
{
length++;
i++;
}
printf("\nLength of given string is %d",length);
printf("\nThe latest value of i is also length(%d)",i);
getch();
}
Output
Enter a string:my name
Length of given string is 7
The latest value of i is also length(7)
b. strcat()
This concatenates(joins) two strings together. its general form is:
strcat(string1,string2);
string1 and string2 are character arrays. Which are given as argument to the function.
When strcat is executed ,string2 is appended to string1. It does so by removing the null
character at the end of string1 and placing string2 from there. The string2 remains
unchanged. Which is illustrated in the following example.
Example 9: Illustration of strcat().
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char text1[100];
char text2[50];
clrscr();
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter second string2:");

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gets(text2);
strcat(text1,text2);
puts(text1);
getch();
}
The same task is done without using the library function which is illustrated in the following
example
Example 10: Concatenating two strings.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
char text1[100];
char text2[100];
char text3[200];
int i=0,j;
clrscr();
printf("Enter string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter string2:");
gets(text2);
while(text1[i]!='\0')
{
text3[i]=text1[i];
i++;
}
j=0;
while(text2[j]!='\0')
{
text3[i+j]=text2[j];
j++;
}
text3[i+j]='\0';
puts(text3);
getch();
}

Output
Enter string1:Kathmandu Engineering
Enter string2:College.
Kathmandu EngineeringCollege.
c. strcpy()
This function copies one string to another. It takes the form
strcpy(deststring,sourcestring);

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deststring and sourcestring are two strings as argument to the function. Which may be
character array or string constant. When this function is executed, it will assign the
content of string variable sourcrsting to the string variable deststring.

Example 11: Illustration of strcpy().

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char text1[100];
char text2[50];
clrscr();
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter second string2:");
gets(text2);
strcpy(text1,text2);
puts(text1);
getch();
}

The same task is done without using the strcpy which is illustrated in the following
example
Example 12: Copying one string to another.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char text1[50];
char text2[50]; int i=0;
clrscr();
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter second string2:");
gets(text2);
while(text2[i]!='\0')
{
text1[i]=text2[i];
i++;
}
text1[i]='\0';
printf("%s",text2);
getch();
}
Output

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Enter first string1:Kathmandu Engineering college.

Enter second string2:KEC,Kalimati.
KEC,Kalimati.

d.strcmp()
The strcmp function compares two strings. The general form of the string is
strcmp(string1,string2);
Where string1 and string2 are arguments which may by character arrays or string
constants. When this function is executed it returns 0 if both strings are equal. If the
strings are not equal then, it returns the numeric difference between first nonmatching
characters in the strings.
Example 13: Illustration of strcmp().
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char text1[100];
char text2[50];int c;
clrscr();
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter second string2:");
gets(text2);
c=strcmp(text1,text2);
if(c==0)
printf("Strings are equal.");
else
printf("Strings are not equal.");
getch();
}
The same task is done without using the strcpy which is illustrated in the following
example
Example 14: Comparing two strings.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char text1[50];
char text2[50]; int i=0;
//clrscr();
printf("Enter first string1:");
gets(text1);
printf("Enter second string2:");
gets(text2);
while(text1[i]==text2[i] && text1[i]!='\0'&&text2[i]!='\0')

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{
i++;
}
if(text1[i]=='\0'&& text2[i]=='\0')
printf("Strings are equal.\n");
else
printf("Strings are not equal.");
getch();
}

Output
Run 1:
Enter first string1: Kathmadnu
Enter second string2: Engineering
Strings are not equal.
Run 2:
Enter first string1: College
Enter second string2: College
Strings are equal.

10. Arrays of strings(table of strings)

Generally, we use lists of character strings, as for example, name of students in a class,
lists of names of employs in a organization etc. A list of name can be treated as a table
strings and a two dimensional character array can be used to store the entire list. For
example a character array namelist[5][20]; may be used to store a list of 5 names, each
of length not more than 20 characters.
Suppose, if we initialize the above array as:
char namelist[5][20]={"john", "smith", "trudy", "bob", sherry"};
Which is stord in the tabular form as shown in the following figure:

j o h n s h ‘\0’
s m i t h ‘\0’
t r u d y ‘\0’
b o b ‘\0’
s h e r r y ‘\0’
The following example shows how to input, output, and access elements of arrays of
characters
Example 15: Sorting of strings in ascending order.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char namelist[5][40],temp[40]; int pass,j;
clrscr();

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printf("Enter names:");
for(j=0;j<5;j++)
gets(namelist[j]);
for(pass=0;pass<5-1;pass++)
{
for(j=0;j<5-pass-1;j++)
{
if(strcmp(namelist[j],namelist[j+1])>0)
{
strcpy(temp,namelist[j]);
strcpy(namelist[j],namelist[j+1]);
strcpy(namelist[j+1],temp);
}

}
}
printf(Sorted name list is:);
for(j=0;j<5;j++)
puts(namelist[j]);
getch();
}

11. Strings and Pointer

Like in one dimensional arrays, we can use a pointer to access the individual characters in
a string. Which illustrated in the following examples.
Example 16: Reading and writhing string using pointer notation.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{ char *text;
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(text);
puts(text);
}

Example16:
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{

char *text;
printf("Enter a string:");
scanf("%[^+");
printf("%s",text);
}
Output
Enter a string:Kathmandu Engineering College

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is located at kalimati.+
Kathmandu Engineering College
is located at kalimati

Where text is a pointer to a character and assigns the address of first character as the
initial value.
All above discussed examples can be done using pointer notation.

One important use of pointers is in handling of a table of strings. Suppose the following
array of strings:
char namelist[3][20];
This says that namelist is a table containing three names, each with a maximum length of
20 characters(including null character). The total storage requirements for the namelist
table are 60 bytes. We know that rarely the individual strings will be of equal lengths.
Therefore, instead of making each row a fixed number of characters, we can make it
pointer to a string of varying length.

example:
char *namelist[3]={"John Smith", "Sherry", "Dave"};
declares namelist to be an array of three pointers to characters, each pointer pointing to a
particular name as shown below:
namelist[0] John Smith
namelist[2] Sherry
namelist[3] Dave
This declaration allocates only 25 bytes, sufficient to hold all characters as shown below.
J o h n S m i t h ‘/0’
S h e r r y '\0'
D a v e '\0'

Following example shows sorting of arrays of string using pointer. In the previous example of
sorting we copied the string from one string to another string but in the following example we
will swap the pointer. This technique will eliminate:
-complicated storage management.
-high overheads of moving lines.

Sorting Name List using pointer.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char *namelist[5],*temp;int i,j,pass;
clrscr();
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{ printf("Enter name %d",i+1);
gets(namelist[i]);
}
for(pass=0;pass<5-1;pass++)
{
for(j=0;j<5-pass-1;j++)

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{
if(strcmp(namelist[j],namelist[j+1])>0)
{
temp=namelist[j];
namelist[j]=namelist[j+1];
namelist[j+1]=temp;
}

}
}
printf("Sorted name list is:\n");
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
puts(namelist[i]);
}
getch();
}

In the above example the number of rows are fixed. But we can make array of strings(2D
array of characters) dynamic using dynamic memory allocation. Which is illustrated in
the following example.
2d dynamic array of characters.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<alloc.h>
void main()
{
char **namelist;int n,i,length;
clrscr();
printf("Enter numbers of items:");
scanf("%d",&n);
fflush(stdin);
namelist=(char**)calloc(n,sizeof(char*));
if(namelist==NULL)
{
exit();
}
else
{
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("Enter length of name %d:",i+1);
scanf("%d",&length);
fflush(stdin);
namelist[i]=(char*)calloc(length,sizeof(char));
printf("Enter string %d",i+1);
gets(namelist[i]);
}
}

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for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
puts(namelist[i]);
}
getch();
}

6.b Write a program that takes a string and pass to a function. The function takes
the string and converts all of its lower case characters to upper case characters if the
first character is in lower case and vice versa. Display the string before conversion
and after conversion in the calling function. Your function must convert the original
string not a copy of it.(2062,baishakh)
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void stringconvert(char[]);
void main()
{
char anystring[100];
clrscr();
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(anystring);
printf("String before conversion : ");
puts(anystring);
stringconvert(anystring);
printf("\nstring after conversion : ");
puts(anystring);
getch();
}
void stringconvert(char anystr[])
{
int i;
if(anystr[0]>='A'&&anystr[0]<='Z')
{ i=1;
while(anystr[i]!='\0')
{
if(anystr[i]>='a'&&anystr[i]<='z')
{
anystr[i]=anystr[i]-32;
i++;
}
else
{
i++;
continue;
}
}

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}
else if(anystr[0]>='a'&&anystr[0]<='z')
{ i=1;

while(anystr[i]!='\0')
{
if(anystr[i]>='A'&&anystr[i]<='Z')
{
anystr[i]=anystr[i]+32;
i++;
}
else
{
i++;
continue;
}
}
}
else
printf("\nString is started wothout a upper case or a lower case.");
}

USING POINTER NOTATION (result will be same)

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void stringconvert(char*);
void main()
{
char *anystring;
clrscr();
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(anystring);
printf("String before conversion : ");
puts(anystring);
stringconvert(anystring);
printf("\nstring after conversion : ");
puts(anystring);
getch();
}
void stringconvert(char *anystr)
{
int i;
if(*(anystr+0)>='A' && *(anystr+0)<='Z')
{ i=1;
while(*(anystr+i)!='\0')
{

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if(*(anystr+i)>='a' && *(anystr+i)<='z')

{
*(anystr+i) = *(anystr+i)-32;
i++;
}
else
{
i++;
continue;
}
}
}
else if(*(anystr+0)>='a' && *(anystr+0)<='z')
{ i=1;
while(*(anystr+i)!='\0')
{
if(*(anystr+i)>='A' && *(anystr+i)<='Z')
{
*(anystr+i) = *(anystr+i)+32;
i++;
}
else
{
i++;
continue;
}
}
}
else
printf("\nString is started wothout a upper case or a lower case.");

}
Question-Write a program to insert a string in to another string in the location
specified by the user. Read the strings in the main program and pass them to
function along with the inserting position and return the resulting
string.(2062/poush)

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void insertstring(char[],char[],int);
void main()
{
char mainstring[100],stringtobeinserted[20];
int n; clrscr();
printf("Enter mainstring:");
gets(mainstring);

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printf("Enter stringtobeinserted:");
gets(stringtobeinserted);
printf("Enter position to insert a string:");
scanf("%d",&n);
insertstring(mainstring,stringtobeinserted,n);
printf("The new string is:");
puts(mainstring);
getch();
}
void insertstring(char mstr[],char str[],int p)
{
int i=p-1,j=0;
char temp[100];
while(mstr[i]!='\0')
{
temp[j]=mstr[i];
i++;j++;
}
temp[j]='\0';j=0;i=p-1;
while(str[j]!='\0')
{
mstr[i]=str[j];
i++;j++;
}
j=0;
while(temp[j]!='\0')
{
mstr[i]=temp[j];
i++;j++;
}
mstr[i]='\0';
}

Enter mainstring:Kathmandu Engineering.

Enter stringtobeinserted:College
Enter position to insert a string:11
The new string is:Kathmandu College Engineering.

A program to reverse a word.

#include<stdio.h>
void rev(char[],int);
void main()
{

char string[100];
printf("Enter any sting:");

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gets(string);
rev(string,strlen(string));
}
void rev(char s[],int l)
{
putchar(s[l]);
if(l>=0)
{
rev(s,l-1);
}
}

Q. Write a program that prompts the user for two strings assemble them in to a
single string and then print the string reversed. Check whether the assembled string
is palindrome or not.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main(void)
{
char first[30];
char second[40];
char assembled[100];
char reversed[100];
int i=0,j=0,k=0;
clrscr();
printf("Enter first string:");
gets(first);
printf("Enter second string:");
gets(second);
while(first[i]!='\0')
{
assembled[i]=first[i];
i++;
}
assembled[i]=' ';i++;
while(second[j]!='\0')
{
assembled[i]=second[j];
j++;i++;
}
assembled[i]='\0';
puts(assembled);
printf("The reversed string is:");
for(j=i-1;j>=0;j--)
{

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reversed[k]=assembled[j];
k++;
}
reversed[k]='\0';
printf("\n");
puts(reversed);
if(strcmp(assembled,reversed)==0)
printf("The assembled string is palindrome");
else
printf("The assembled string is not palindrome");
getch();
}

Check whether a string entered by user is a palindrome or not and display a proper
message.
[Hint: A palindrome word spells same back and forth e g : madam, noon].
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main(void)
{
clrscr();
char astring[100];
int i,length,j,flag=1;
printf("Enter a string:");
scanf("%[^\n]s",astring);
length=strlen(astring);
for(i=0,j=length;i<length/2;i++,j--)
{
if(astring[i]!=astring[j-1])
{
flag=0;
break;
}
}
if(flag==1)
printf("\n%s is a palindrome",astring);
else
printf("\n%s is not a palindrome",astring);
getch();
}

A program to find the frequency of a character in the entered string.

(pulchowk lab-5,q.no.11)
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

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#include<string.h>
void main(void)
{
clrscr();
char astring[100],ch;
int i=0,charactercount=0;
printf("%c",ch);
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(astring);
printf("Enter a character to check its frequecy:");
scanf("%c",&ch);
do
{
if(astring[i]==ch)
charactercount++;
i++;
}while(astring[i]!='\0');
printf("\nThe number of %c is %d",ch,charactercount);
getch();
}

A program to count the frequency of characters in a string entered by a user.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
char string[100];
int counts[256]={0},i=0,j;
clrscr();
printf("Enter a string:\n");
scanf("%[^\n]",string);
// printf("%s",string);
while(string[i]!='\0')
{
counts[string[i]]=counts[string[i]]+1;
i++;
}
for(j=0;j<256;j++)
{
printf("\t%c=%d",j,counts[j]);
}
getch();
}

Write a program that finds the longest word in a given string.

#include<stdio.h>

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#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main(void)
{
char string[200],tempword[50],word[50];int i=0,length=0,count=0;
clrscr();
printf("Enter a string:");
scanf("%[^\n]",string);
while(string[i]!='\0')
{ if(string[i]==' ')
{
tempword[count]='\0';
if(length<count)
{
length=count;
strcpy(word,tempword);
}
count=0;
}
else
{
tempword[count]=string[i];
count++;
}
i++;
}
printf("The longest word is :%s and its length is %d.",word,length);
getch();
}

OUTPUT
Enter a string:
kathmandu engineering college is located at kalimati .
The longest word is :engineering and its length is 11.

A program to read a character and test whether it is an alphabet or a number or

special character or control character.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main(void)
{
char ch;
clrscr();
printf("Enter a charater:");
ch=getche();
printf("%d",ch);

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if(ch>=65&&ch<=90||ch>=97&&ch<=122)
printf("The character is alphabet");
else if(ch>=48&&ch<=57)
printf("\nThe character is digit");
else if(ch>=0&&ch<=32||ch==127)
printf("\nThe character is control character");
else
printf("\nSpecial character");
getch();
}
A program to read a string from users and converting the string to lowercase if the
first character is in lower case and vice versa. 059(p)/4/b, (059/©/2/b-similar), 060/
(P)/5/b)

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int i=1;
clrscr();
char name[200];
printf("Enter a sting:");
gets(name);
if(65<=name[0]&&name[0]<=90)
{ while(name[i]!='\0')
{
if(97<=name[i]&&name[i]<=122)
{name[i]=name[i]-32;i++;}
else
{ i++;continue;}
}
puts(name);
}
else if(97<=name[0]&&name[0]<=122)
{
while(name[i]!='\0')
{
if(65<=name[i]&&name[i]<=90)
{name[i]=name[i]+32;i++;}
else
{i++;continue;}
}
puts(name);
}
else
printf("\nStart string from any alphabetic character.");

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getch();
}

A program a program to read a line of characters. Now pass this line to a function
that finds the number of vowels, consonants, digits, white spaces (space and tab
character) and other characters in the line .Your function must return these
numbers to the calling function at once(use pointers). In the calling function, display
those numbers. In this problem count[i] are *(count+i) are used interchangeably.
similarly &count[i] and (count+i) are that is the relation between pointer and array.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<ctype.h>
void charactercount(char[],int*);
void main(void)
{
clrscr();
static char string[200];
int counts[5]={0,0,0,0,0};
printf("Enter a string:");
gets(string);
charactercount(string,counts);
printf("\nNumber of vowels =%d",counts[0]);
printf("\nNumber of consonants =%d",*(counts+1));
printf("\nNumber of digits =%d",counts[2]);
printf("\nNumber of white space =%d",*(counts+3));
printf("\nNumber of other characters=%d",*(counts+4));
getch();
}
void charactercount(char str[],int *count)
{
int i=0;
while(str[i]!='\0')
{
if(isalpha(str[i])>0)
{
if(str[i]=='a'||str[i]=='e'||str[i]=='i'||str[i]=='o'||str[i]=='u')
*(count+0)=*(count+0)+1;
else
count[1]++;
}
else if(isdigit(str[i])>0)
(*(count+2))++;
else if(isspace(str[i])>0)
count[3]=count[3]+1;
else
(*(count+4))++;

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i++;
}
}

Character conversions and testing: ctype.h

We conclude this chapter with a related library #include <ctype.h>

which contains many useful functions to convert and test single
characters. The common functions are prototypes as follows:

Character testing:

int isalnum(int c) -- True if c is alphanumeric.

int isalpha(int c) -- True if c is a letter.
int isascii(int c) -- True if c is ASCII .
int iscntrl(int c) -- True if c is a control character.
int isdigit(int c) -- True if c is a decimal digit
int isgraph(int c) -- True if c is a graphical character.
int islower(int c) -- True if c is a lowercase letter
int isprint(int c) -- True if c is a printable character
int ispunct (int c) -- True if c is a punctuation character.
int isspace(int c) -- True if c is a space character.
int isupper(int c) -- True if c is an uppercase letter.
int isxdigit(int c) -- True if c is a hexadecimal digit

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// Program to find length of the string using recursive

function
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int length(char str[]);

void main(void)
{
char *string; //char string[10];
clrscr();
printf("Enter String:");
scanf("%s",string); // gets(string);
printf("The length of the string is
%d",length(string));
getch();
}

int length(char str[])

{
static int i;
if(*(str+i)=='\0')
//if(str[i]=='\0')
return i;
else
{
i=i+1;
length(str);
}
}

//Program to find the HCF of two numbers using recursive

function
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int hcf(int,int);
void main(void)
{
int x,y;
clrscr();
printf("Enter two numbers x and y:");
scanf("%d%d",&x,&y);
printf("The HCF of %d , %d is:%d",x,y,hcf(x,y));
getch();
}

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int hcf(int a, int b)

{
if(b%a==0)
return a;
else
hcf(b,b%a);
}

//Program to calculate xy using recursive function

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int calpower(int,int);

void main()
{
int x,y;
clrscr();
printf("Enter the value of x and y:");
scanf("%d%d",&x,&y);
printf("The reqd value is %d",calpower(x,y));
getch();

int calpower(int a, int b)

{

if(b==0)
return 1;
else
return a*calpower(a,b-1);

//Program to reverse the given word using recursive

function
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>

void reverse(char str[],int);

void main(void)
{
char *string; //char string[100];

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clrscr();
printf("Enter String:");
scanf("%s",string); // gets(string);
reverse(string,strlen(string));
getch();
}

void reverse(char str[],int len)

{
putchar(str[len]);
if(len>=1)
reverse(str,len-1);
}

//Program to calculate length and reverse of the string

using user defined function in array notation
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int string_length(char str[]);

void string_rev(char str[]);

void main()
{
char string[100]; //char *string;
clrscr();
printf("Enter string:");
gets(string);
printf("The length of string
is:%d\n",string_length(string));
printf("The reverse of the string is:\n");
string_rev(string);
getch();
}
int string_length(char str[])
{
int i=0,length=0;
while (str[i]!='\0')
{
length=length+1;
i++;
}
return length;

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void string_rev(char str[])

{
int len;

len=string_length(str);
while(len>=0)
{
putchar(str[len]);
len=len-1;
}
}

//Program to calculate length and reverse of the string

using user defined function in pointer notation
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int string_length(char *str);

void main()
{
//char string[100];
char *string;
clrscr();
printf("Enter string:");
gets(string);
printf("The length of string
is:%d",string_length(string));
getch();
}

int string_length(char *str)

{

int i=0,length=0;
while (*(str+i)!='\0')
{
length=length+1;
i++;
}
return length;

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//Program for string compare, string concatenation, string

copy from one array to another
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void string_comp(char str1[],char str2[]); //(char

*str1,char *str2);
void string_concat(char str1[], char str2[]);
void string_copy(char str1[],char str2[]);

void main()
{
char string1[100]; //char *string;
char string2[100];
clrscr();
printf("Enter string1:");
gets(string1);
printf("Enter string1:");
gets(string2);

string_comp(string1, string2);
string_concat(string1, string2);
string_copy(string1,string2);

getch();
}

void string_comp(char str1[], char str2[])

{

int i=0;
while (str1[i]==str2[i] && str1[i]!='\0' &&
str2[i]!='\0')
{

i++;
}

if(str1[i]=='\0' && str2[i]=='\0')

printf("The strings are equal\n ");
else
printf("The strings are not equal\n");

void string_concat(char str1[], char str2[])

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int i=0,j=0;
char str3[100];
while(str1[i]!='\0')
{
str3[i]=str1[i];
i++;
}
while(str2[j]!='\0')
{
str3[i+j]=str2[j];
j++;
}
puts(str3);

void string_copy(char str1[], char str2[])

{

int i=0;
while(str2[i]!='\0')
{
str1[i]=str2[i];
i++;
}
str1[i]='\0';
puts(str2);
}

//Program to find the sum of all the 10 array elements

using pointer notation
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main()
{

int a[10]; //int *a;

int sum=0;
//int *p;p=a;
clrscr();
printf("Enter 10 elements of array:");

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for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
{
scanf("%d",a+i); //p+i
sum=sum+(*(a+i)); //*(p+i)
}
printf("Sum = %d",sum);
getch();
}

//Program to find the maximum and minimum number of array

using pointer
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int max(int*); //int max(int []);

int min(int*); //int min(int []);

void main()
{
int a[10]; //int *a;
//int *p;p=a;
clrscr();
printf("Enter 10 elements of array:");

for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
{
scanf("%d",a+i); //p+i
}
printf("The maximun value is:%d\n",max(a));
printf("The minimum value is:%d",min(a));
getch();
}

int max(int* x) //int max(int x[])

{
int maxnum;
maxnum=*x;
for(int i=1;i<10;i++)
{
if ((*(x+i))>maxnum)
{
maxnum=(*(x+i));
}
}
return maxnum;

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int min(int* x) //int min(int x[]);

{
int minnum;
minnum=*x;
for(int i=1;i<10;i++)
{
if ((*(x+i))<minnum)
{
minnum=(*(x+i));
}
}
return minnum;

//Program of Dynamic memory allocation of one dimensional

array to calculate the sum of the array elements using
pointer notation
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<alloc.h>

void main()
{
int *p, *q, *sum;
int n,i;
clrscr();
printf("Enter the size for array:");
scanf("%d",&n);
p=(int *)calloc(n,sizeof(int));
q=(int *)calloc(n,sizeof(int));
sum=(int *)calloc(n,sizeof(int));
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("Enter element for %d of first array:",i);
scanf("%d",p+i);
}
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("Enter element for %d of second
array:",i);
scanf("%d",q+i);

}
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{

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*(sum+i)=*(p+i)+*(q+i);
printf("\t%d",*(sum+i));
}
free(p);
free(q);
free(sum);
getch();
}

//Program of Dynamic memory allocation of two dimensional

array to calculate the sum of the array elements using
pointer notation

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<alloc.h>

void display(int**, int ,int);

void readmatrix(int**,int,int);
void addmatrix(int**,int**,int,int);

void main()
{
int i;
int r1,c1,r2,c2;
int **matrix1,**matrix2;
clrscr();
printf("Enter row for matrix 1:");
scanf("%d",&r1);
printf("Enter column for matrix 1:");
scanf("%d",&c1);
printf("Enter row for matrix 2:");
scanf("%d",&r2);
printf("Enter column for matrix 2:");
scanf("%d",&c2);

//Allocate memory for the matrix

/*first allocate a single dimensional array of n float
pointers*/
matrix1=(int**)calloc(sizeof(int*),r1);
matrix2=(int**)calloc(sizeof(int*),r2);

/*for each row, allocate a single dimensional array of

floats*/
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{

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matrix1[i]=(int*)calloc(c1,sizeof(int));
}
for(i=0;i<r2;i++)
{
matrix2[i]=(int*)calloc(c2,sizeof(int));
}

if(r1==r2 && c1==c2)

{
printf("Enter the element of first matrix:\n\n");
readmatrix(matrix1,r1,c1);
printf("Enter the element of the second
matrix:\n\n");
readmatrix(matrix2,r2,c2);
display(matrix1,r1,c1);
printf("\n");
display(matrix2,r2,c2);
addmatrix(matrix1,matrix2,r1,r2);
printf("\n\n");
display(matrix1,r1,c1);
}
else
printf("The matrix cannot be added");

free(matrix1);
free(matrix2);
getch();
}

void display(int **mat, int r1, int c1)

{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
printf("%d ",*(*(mat+i)+j));

}
printf("\n");
}
}

void readmatrix(int **mat,int r1,int c1)

{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)

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{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
printf("Enter element[%d][%d]:",i,j);
scanf("%d",(*(mat+i)+j));
//scanf("%d",&mat[i][j]);

}
}
}

void addmatrix(int** mat1,int** mat2, int r1,int c1)

{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
{
//mat1[i][j]=mat1[i][j]+mat2[i][j];

*(*(mat1+i)+j)=*(*(mat1+i)+j)+*(*(mat2+i)+j);

}
}
}

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Chapter 8.0

8.0. Structures

8.1. Introduction

A structure is a collection of variables, possibly of different data types grouped together

under a single name for convenient handling. Structures help to organize complicated
data, particularly in large programs, because they permit a group of related variables to be
treated as a single unit instead of as separate data items.

An array is a data structure that can store more than on data items under a single name
but the limitation is that all the data items must be of same type. Data items with different
types cannot be stored in a single array of one type. If we need different types of data to
be stored in a single unit, we use structures. Thus a single structure might contain integer
elements, floating-point elements, character elements and so on. For this reason, array is
often referred to as a homogeneous data structure but structure is a non-homogeneous
data structure.

This chapter is fully dedicated to structures. We will see how structures are defined, how
their individual variables are accessed and processed, how structures are passed to and
returned from functions etc. In addition, we will see how structure can have arrays as its
element and how array of structures can be used.

The individual variables declared inside a structure are called the members of that
structure. A member of a structure can be of any data type including another structure,
array etc. The individual members of structure are accessed using a special operator
called member access operator. The symbol of member access operator is . (dot).

8.2. Declaring and Defining a Structure

Defining a structure

Structure declaration is somewhat more complicated than declaring ordinary variables or

arrays. A structure must be declared in terms of member variables. In general, the
standard composition of a structure may be defined as

struct [tag] {
member 1;
member 2;
member 3;
...
member n;
};

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In the above declaration, struct is the required keyword used to define a structure. Tag is
a name that identifies the structure of this type. For simplicity, we can consider tag as the
name of the structure. Member 1, member 2, ... member n enclosed within { } are the
individual member variables of structure of type tag. Notice the semicolon after the
closing }. The member variables can be of any type - integer, float, double, char, array of
any type, another structure, pointers etc. The requirement is that every member must have
different names. Moreover, we cannot initialize the value for member variables within the
structure definition. We cannot assign the storage class of member variables. This is
because, we are just defining the template for the structure and no memory space is
reserved at this step. When we declare a variable of this structure memory space is
reserved.

After the structure is defined, we can declare the structure-type variables in similar way
to other variables. This can be done while defining the structure as well. So, there are
many ways to declare and define structure and structure type variables. Three cases are
listed below.

struct student {
struct student { struct {
char name[50];
char name[50]; char name[50];
char roll[13];
char roll[13]; char roll[13];
int marks;
int marks; int marks;
char remarks[100];
char remarks[100]; char remarks[100];
};
} st1, st2; } s1, s2, s3;
struct student s1, s2;

In the first example, a structure of type student (this is the tag) is defined with four
member variables - name, roll, marks and remarks. The type of member variables are also
defined in the structure. Altogether, the structure has a size of 50 + 13 + 100 + sizeof (int)
bytes. s1 and s2 are defined as the variables of type struct student. This is a typical
variable declaration for a structure type. Once we define the structure out of any function,
we can declare variables of structure type anywhere and use them.

In the second example, same structure as in first example is defined but the variable
declaration is done differently. The variables are declared within the framework of
structure itself. This is another typical structure-type variable declaration. Here st1 and
st2 are variables of type struct student. We can define more variables of type struct
student whenever we require.

In the third example, we have omitted the tag (name of the structure) but still have the
same members as in first and second examples. Also, we have defined s1, s2 and s3 are
variables of type of this structure. But we don't have the name of the structure. So, with
this definition, we cannot declare new variable of this structure type because we don't
have the name of the structure. If we need more variables, we just put them after s3. This
method of defining a structure is rarely used.

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First and second method are mostly used. The rule of variable declaration for structure
type also follows the general rule of variable declaration. The standard syntax format is :

storage-class struct tag var1, var2 ..., varN;

Initializing the structure type variables

A Variable of structure type can also be initialized during its declaration. An example is
shown below.

struct account {
int accNo;
char accType;
char accName[50];
float curBalance;
};

struct account cleint1 = { 11001, 'S', "Some Body1", 500000 };

struct account cleint2 = { 11002, 'F', "Some Body2", 100000 };

In the above example, a structure of a bank account is defined having accNo (account
number), accType (account type), accName (account owners name) and curBalance
(current balance). Two variables client1 and client2 are defined and initialized the values.
The values are assigned as shown below.

client1: client2:
accNo = 11001 accNo = 11002
accType = S accType = F
accName = Some Body1 accName = Some Body2
curBalance = 500000 curBalance = 100000

Accessing the member of a structure

The individual members of a structure variable are accessed using the member access
operator "." (also called the dot operator). The syntax is

structure-variable.member-name

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For the structures defined in previous examples, we can access different member
variables by using the member access operator as shown below.

access accNo member of client1.accNo = 5012; /*set accNo of

client1.accNo
client1 client1 to 5012*/
access accName member gets(client2.accname); /*read name for
client2.accName
of client2 client2*/
printf("%s",st1.name); /*display name
st1.name access name member of st1
member of st1*/

The member access operator (.) is a member of highest precedence group and its
associativity is left to right.

A complete program, which uses a structure type variable to store data for a student, read
the data and display it on the screen, is given below.

struct student{ /* structure definition*/

char name[40];
char roll[15];
int marks;
char remarks[50];
};

void main(){
struct student st; /* variable declaration */
printf("Enter Name:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.name); /* read data for members */
printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.roll);
printf("Enter Mark:");
scanf(" %d",&st.marks);
printf("Enter Remarks:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.remarks);
puts("You entered:");
printf("%s\n%s\n%d\n%s",st.name, st.roll, st.marks, st.remarks);
}

Structure members can be processed in the same manner as ordinary variables of same
data type. These members can be used as a part of an expression, passed to and returned
from functions.

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A whole structure data can be assigned to another structure of same type at once. We
don't need to copy member by member. This is handled by the compiler itself. We cannot
compare to structure variables as a whole. We have to compare them member by
member.

Using typedef

Most programmers use typedef keyword to conveniently define and use a new data type
(user-defined type). Therefore, structures are almost always defined along with typedef
keyword so that subsequent variable declarations are easier. An example of the use of
typedef is shown below.

typedef struct { /* use typedef to define new data type */

int year, month, day;
char weekday[10];
} date;
/*the new data type is date which is a structure having year, month,
day and weekday as member variables*/
void main(){
date today; /* declare today as a variable new data type date note
there is no need of struct keyword or structure tag in this case, so this
is easier*/
today.year = 2002;
today.month = 3;
today.day = 9;
strcpy(today.weekday,"Saturday"); /*members assigned and
displayed*/
printf("%d-%d-%d, %s",today.year,today.month, today.day,
today.weekday);
}

Structure Pointer

Pointer to a structure is one of the very frequently used data item in C. Declaration of a
structure pointer is very similar declaration of pointers to primitive data types. The
pointer variable is preceded by the * symbol and the data type is written before it. The
general syntax is
struct tag *strptr;

Here, tag is the structure name, struct the is keyword and strptr is a pointer variable that
can point to a variable of type struct tag.

A individual member variable of a structure pointer can be accessed using the

dereferencing operator (*). The general syntax for accessing the member through the
pointer is
(*strptr).member-name;

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In the above expression the parenthesis is necessary because of the precedence rules of C.
Otherwise, the expression would be equivalent to *(strptr.member-name) which means,
the result of expression is the value pointed by member-name member of strptr variable
of type struct tag.

The construct like (*strptr).member-name frequently occurs in C programs when we use

structures and structure pointer. So, a new member access operator is provided for the
structure pointer. This operator is written using the minus sign followed by a greater than
symbol (->). Hence the expression (*strptr).member-name and strptr->member-name are
equivalent but the second one reduces the complexity and avoids confusion to beginners.
This operator is also a member of highest precedence group and its associativity is left to
right.

An example is shown below that uses a structure and structure pointer to perform the
same operation as given in the example above.

struct student{
char name[40];
char roll[15];
int marks;
char remarks[50];
};

void main(){
struct student st, *pst = &st;
/*st is a structure variable and pst is a pointer that points to st*/
printf("Enter Name:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.name);
printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.roll);
printf("Enter Mark:");
scanf(" %d",&st.marks);
printf("Enter Remarks:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.remarks);
puts("You entered:"); /*we use -> operator to access the members
pointed by pst*/
printf("%s\n%s\n%d\n%s",pst->name, pst->roll, pst->marks, pst-
>remarks);
}

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Comparing the two examples, we can conclude that following are equivalent

st.name pst->name
st.marks pst->marks
(*pst).name pst->name

8.3 Array of structure

An array is a data structure that can store a number of similar data items as a single
entity. We have already seen how arrays of primitive data types can be used to handle
number of similar data as single units. In this section we will see how arrays of structures
can be used to handle more than one structure variable at a time.

Definition of a structure array is similar to that of other variables. The variable is

followed by the number of elements enclosed inside square brackets. The variable name
is preceded by the type of the structure. The general format is

struct tag str-variable [no-of-elements];

Here, struct is the keyword, tag is the name of the structure, str-variable is the name of
the array and no-of-elements in the size of the array.

An example of a structure array is given below. In this example, structure having four
member variables are created and an array containing 48 student type elements is defined.
Every element has its own set of four members and they can be accessed and processed
individually.

struct student {
char name[50];
char roll[13];
int marks;
char remarks[100];
};
struct student students[48];

A particular array element can be accessed by its subscript and members of that elements
can be accessed using the member access operator. For example, students[0] is the first
element in the array and students[1].name is the name member of second element of the
array and so on.

A complete example using a structure array is shown below. This program uses an array
of 48 element array, reads data and displays. If we have not used structure we would have

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four arrays for name, roll, marks and remarks and track and process every element of all
four arrays.

struct student{
char name[40];
char roll[15];
int marks;
char remarks[50];
};

void main(){
struct student st[48]; /* array of 48 elements of type student */
int i;
for(i=0; i<3;i++){ /* read data for all members of each element*/
printf("Enter Name:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st[i].name);
printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st[i].roll);
printf("Enter Mark:");
scanf(" %d",&st[i].marks);
printf("Enter Remarks:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st[i].remarks);
}
printf("You entered:");
for(i=0; i<3; i++) /*display all members of each element*/
printf("\n%s\n%s\n%d\n%s", st[i].name, st[i].roll, st[i].marks, st[i].remarks);
}

8.4 Structure within structure

We have already mentioned that a member of a structure can be of any data type. So it is
possible to include a structure as a member of another structure. When we use a structure
as a member of another structure, we must define the member structure before it can be
used in other structure.

In such cases, the member of the inner structure can be accessed through the outer
structure. This is shown in the example below.

An example is shown below. This program defines a structure named person and within
this person, bday is another structure as a member variable.

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struct date{ /* first structure*/

int year, month, day;
};

struct person{
char name[40];
char address[15];
struct date bday; /* structure as member in another structure */
};

void main(){
struct person per; /* member of bday can be accessed through per.bday.year and so
on */
printf("Enter Name:"); /* read data*/
fflush(stdin);
gets(per.name);
printf("Enter Address:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(per.address);
printf("Enter Year of Birth:");
scanf(" %d", &per.bday.year);
printf("Enter Month of Birth:");
scanf(" %d", &per.bday.month);
printf("Enter Day of Birth:");
scanf(" %d", &per.bday.day);
printf("Hello, %s", per.name); /* display data*/
printf(" your address is %s and you were born on %d-%d-%d", per.address,
per.bday.year, per.bday.month, per.bday.day);
}

8.5 Structure containing arrays

A structure can contain an array as its member. The member is defined as an ordinary
array of any data type. The elements of the member array is accessed in similar manner
as an ordinary array element. We use subscript after the member name. An example is
shown below. This program has a array of integer numbers as a member in struct student.

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struct student {
char name[40];
char roll[15];
int marks[7]; /*array as a member to store 7 marks */
};

void main(){
struct student st;
int i, total=0;
printf("\nEnter Name:");
gets(st.name);
printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st.roll);
puts("Enter marks for 7 subjects");
for(i=0; i<7; i++) /* read marks for seven subjects */
scanf(" %d",&st.marks[i]);
for(i=0; i<7; i++)
total+=st.marks[i]; /* add marks to get total */
puts("You entered following data:");
printf("\nName: %s",st.name);
printf("\nRoll No: %s\nMarks: ",st.roll);
for(i=0; i<7; i++) /*display seven marks and total */
printf("%d\t", st.marks[i]);
printf("\nTotal: %d\nAverage %.2f", total, total/7.0);
}

In this example we have seen how the elements of an array member is accessed and
processed in the program and finally displayed the result.

Structures and Functions

There are several ways to pass structure-type data to or from a function. Structure
members can be transferred individually, or entire structure can be transferred. Individual
members can be passed to a function as arguments in the function call, and a single
member can be returned to the calling function via return statement. To do so, each
structure member is treated as an ordinary variable.

A complete structure can be transferred to a function by passing a structure type data as

an argument. Similarly, a complete structure type data can be returned from a function by
specifying the return type of the function of structure type. Structure type data can be
transferred to and from a function using pointer to that structure in similar manner to
passing and returning an ordinary pointer variable. An example of passing and returning
structure type data to and from a function is shown below. In the next program same
functionality is achieved using pointer to structure.

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/* first programming using structure*/ /* second program using pointer to

struct student{ structure*/
char name[40]; struct student{
char roll[15]; char name[40];
int marks; char roll[15];
char remarks[50]; int marks;
}; char remarks[50];
};
void display (struct student);
struct student readstr (); void display (struct student *);
void readstr (struct student *);
void main() {
struct student st; void main(){
st=readstr(); /* read data using function struct student stud;
that return a structure type data*/ struct student *st= &stud;
display (st); /* display structure data by readstr (st); /* read structure data by
passing structure to a function */ passing structure pointer to a function*/
getch(); display (st); /* display structure data by
} passing structure pointer to a function*/
/* function to read and return structure data }
*/ /* function to read and return structure data
struct student readstr(){ through pointer to structure*/
struct student st; void readstr (struct student *stp){
printf ("Enter Name:"); printf ("Enter Name:");
fflush (stdin); fflush(stdin);
gets(st.name); gets(stp->name);
printf("Enter Roll No:"); printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin); fflush(stdin);
gets(st.roll); gets(stp->roll);
printf("Enter Mark:"); printf("Enter Mark:");
scanf(" %d",&st.marks); scanf(" %d",&stp->marks);
printf("Enter Remarks:"); printf("Enter Remarks:");
fflush(stdin); fflush(stdin);
gets(st.remarks); gets(stp->remarks);
return st; }
} /* function to take structure pointer and
/* function to take structure data and display data pointed by that structure
display*/ pointer*/
void display (struct student st){ void display(struct student *st){
puts ("You entered:"); puts("You entered:");
printf("%s\n%s\n%d\n%s",st.name, st.roll, printf("%s\n%s\n%d\n%s", st->name, st-
st.marks, st.remarks); >roll, st->marks, st->remarks);
} }

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Passing Array of Structure to Function

Example:
Create a structure Student containing name as char string, roll as integer and address as
character string. Input and display name, roll and address for N number of students,
where N is any number input by the user. Input everything from main( ) and display the
contents from display( ) function.

Display the contents in following format:

NAME: name
ADDRESS: address
ROLL NO: roll

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

struct student{ /* structure definition*/

char name[50];
int roll;
char address[50];
};

void display (struct student [],int);

void main(){
int n;
clrscr();
struct student st[10]; /* variable declaration */
printf("Enter the number of students:");
scanf("%d",&n);
for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("Enter Name:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st[i].name); /* read data for members */
printf("Enter Roll No:");
fflush(stdin);
scanf(" %d",&st[i].roll);
printf("Enter Address:");
fflush(stdin);
gets(st[i].address);
}
puts("You entered:");
display(st,n);

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void display(struct student s[],int n)

{

for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
printf("NAME:%s\nADDRESS:%s\nROLL NO:%d\n\n",s[i].name, s[i].address,
s[i].roll);
getch();
}

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Chapter 9.0

9.0. File and File Handling

Introduction

In all the programs written in previous chapters, we have seen that the data entered by the
user is stored in computer memory till the program is running. As soon as the program is
finished, the data are lost and to process the same data, user has to re-enter them.
Similarly, all the data processed by those programs were just displayed in screen and
destroyed when the program is finished.

In really useful programs (or applications), it is necessary that we store the data entered
by the user and the result of the processing done by the program. To store such data, we
use data files or simply files. Sometimes, we store the input data, sometimes the
processed output, or sometimes both of them. Whatever be the requirement, we use files
to store data. These files are saved in the auxiliary memory device such as hard disk or
floppy disk.

In C, there are a lot of library functions available for creating and processing files. There
are two types of files, namely, stream-oriented and system-oriented. The stream-oriented
files are also divided into two types - text files and unformatted data files. We will cover
stream-oriented text files in this chapter.

The data files help the users to keep records of input data, processed result or output data
for future use. Once created, the content of data files can be printed, re-opened and re-
processed. New data can be added or unnecessary data deleted (removed) from the stored
data file. When the data file becomes larger, required data can be searched, unnecessary
data removed and so on.

Opening and closing a data file

When working with data file, the first step is to establish a buffer area. A buffer area (a
portion of computer memory) temporarily stores information while being transferred
between the memory and the actual file. This buffer area allows the information to be
accessed faster because data are temporarily stored in this memory.

The buffer area is established by using a pointer to built-in structure FILE. This is done
by writing
FILE *fileptr;

Here FILE (note it is in upper case) is a built-in structure data type (defined in stdio.h)
and fileptr is a pointer to a FILE structure. The FILE establishes a buffer area and
different properties (including the starting address of that buffer area) are pointed by
fileptr variable. This variable is often referred to as a stream pointer or simply a stream.

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A data file must be opened before before it can be created(!) or processed. Opening a file
means to associate a buffer area with that file so that we can read from or write to that
file. This also specifies how the data file will be utilized, that means what operations (like
reading, writing, adding etc) can be performed on the opened data files. We cannot open
as many files as we wish. Typically, the number of files that can be opened
simultaneously, is limited to 20.

A library function is provided to open a data file. The function is called fopen and its
general syntax is

fileptr = fopen (file-name, file-type);

Here, fileptr is a pointer to data type FILE. The function opens the file specified by the
string file-name. The naming convention of the file is governed by the operating system.
File-type (also called file mode) defines what operations can be performed on the opened
file. The table below shows the possible values for file-type and their meaning (possible
file operations). This argument is also a string type.

File-type Meaning
"r" Open an existing file only for reading.
Open a new file for writing only. If the file already exists, it is
"w"
destroyed and a new file is created in its place.
Open an existing file for appending (adding more data at the end of
"a"
the file). A new file is created if the file does not exist.
"r+" Open an existing file for both reading and writing.
Open a new file for both reading and writing. If the file already
"w+"
exists, it is destroyed and a new file is created in its place.
Open an existing file for both reading and appending. A new file is
"a+"
created if the file does not exist.

The function fopen returns a pointer to the beginning of the buffer area associated with
the file whose name is supplied as an argument to the function. If a buffer area could not
be allocated, it returns NULL. This NULL value can be used to inform the user about the
problem.

When all the operations associated to a opened file are complete, the file must be closed.
This is done by using the fclose function. This function takes the fileptr as an argument
and closes the file associated with that pointer. Before closing the file, it updates the file
with the content of buffer area if the file is not up-to-date. The syntax for fclose is

fclose (fileptr);

Typically, many compilers automatically close the file at the end of the program if not
closed explicitly by the programmer.

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Creating a data file

We can write a program to create a data file (sometimes a data file is created using a text
editor also). A file must be created before it can be processed. The first step in creating a
data file is already mentioned in the preceding section. After opening the file, we can
directly write information entered by the user or write data obtained after processing
some input by the user. Whatever be the case, there are several library functions to write
data to a file. This can be done character by character, a whole string or a complete data
structure like an array or a structure variable. This time we will consider only character
and string writing.

Some functions to write data to a file are listed in table below.

Function Prototype Purpose

write variables with format to
fprintf (FILE *stream, const char the file stream (similar to
fprintf ()
*format, ...); printf function but can write
to a data file)
write a single character to the
fputc () fputc (int c, FILE *stream); file stream (similar to putc
but can write to a data file)
write a string to the file
fputs () fputs (const char *s, FILE *stream); stream (similar to puts but
can write to a data file)
fwrite (const void *ptr, size_t size, write a whole data item such
fwrite () size_t n, as structure at once to a data
FILE *stream); file

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An example is given below that reads some information from the user and writes to a data
file. This program uses three different functions to write to a file. The program will
generate an error message if the file could not be opened.

void main(){
FILE *fileptr; /* required variables */
char name[40];
int roll;
char program[12];
char group;

/* read data to write to a file */

printf ("Enter Name:");
gets (name);
printf ("Enter Roll No:");
scanf (" %d", &roll);
printf ("Enter Program:");
fflush (stdin);
gets (program);
printf ("Enter Group:");
scanf (" %c", &group);
/* create and open the file to write the information*/
fileptr = fopen ("test.txt", "w"); /* open for writing*/
if (fileptr==NULL) { /* file is not opened due to some error so display the
message and quit */
printf ("ERROR opening the file. Press any key to continue...");
getch();
exit(1); /* quit the program*/
}
/* write different types of data to file*/
fprintf (fileptr, "%s\n", name); /* write a formatted string at once */
fprintf (fileptr, "%d\n",roll); /* write formatted integer data */
fputs(program, fileptr); /* write a string*/
fprintf(fileptr,"\n");
fputc(group, fileptr); /* write a single character */
fclose(fileptr); /* close the file explicitly*/
printf("\n\nData were successfully written to the file");
getch();
}

Reading a data file

An existing data file can be read, its contents processed and written to the file again. We
can read the content of an existing file by opening it in the read mode ( "r" file-type).
Once the file is opened for reading, there are several library functions to read the content.
Some may read only one character, some read a whole line of characters or some read
formatted data. We must read the content of the file in same format as it was written.

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Otherwise, we may lose the required information. Table below shows some of the
functions to read data from an existing file.

Function Prototype Purpose

read variables from the file
fscanf (FILE *stream, const char stream (similar to scanf
fscanf ()
*format, ...); function but can read from a
data file)
read a single character from
the file stream (similar to
fgetc () fgetc (FILE *stream);
getc but can read from a data
file)
read a line from the file
fgets () fgets (char *s, int n, FILE *stream); stream (similar to gets but
can read from a data file)
read a block of data at once
fread (void *ptr, size_t size, size_t n, such as for a structure
fread ()
FILE *stream); (written format must match
the reading data structure)

Here's an example that reads and displays the content of the previously written
file. The program does this in two ways, character by character until the end of file (a
integer value of -1 to indicate the end of file) is reached and line by line till the end is
reached.
/* display the file line by line*/
/* display the file character by character */
void main(){
void main(){
FILE *fileptr;
FILE *fileptr;
char line[81];
char ch;
fileptr = fopen ("test.txt","r"); /* open for
fileptr = fopen ("test.txt","r"); /* open for
reading*/
reading*/
if (fileptr==NULL) {
if (fileptr==NULL) {
printf ("ERROR opening the file. Press
printf ("ERROR opening the file. Press
any key to continue...");
any key to continue...");
getch();
getch();
exit(1);
exit(1);
}
}
/* read 80 characters at a time until end
/* read character by character untill eond
of file is reached */
of file is reached */
while ((fgets (line, 80,
while ((ch = fgetc (fileptr))!=EOF) /*
fileptr))!=NULL)/* when all the lines are
EOF indicated end of file */
read, line will be NULL */
putchar (ch);
printf ("%s",line);
/* close the file */
/* close the file */
fclose (fileptr);
fclose (fileptr);
printf("\n\nEnd of data");
printf("\n\nEnd of data");
}
}

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Here is another program that takes two filenames entered by the user and copies the
content of the first file to second file if the first file exists.

void main(){
FILE *srcfile, *trgfile;
char ch;
char sfile[13], tfile[13]; /* file names*/
printf("Enter the source file name:");
scanf(" %s", sfile);
printf("Enter the target file name:");
scanf(" %s", tfile);
srcfile = fopen (sfile, "r"); /* open source for reading*/
if (srcfile==NULL) {
printf ("File %s does not exist. Press any key to continue...", sfile);
getch();
exit(1);
}
trgfile = fopen (tfile, "w"); /* open destination for writing*/
if (trgfile==NULL) {
printf ("File %s cannot be created. Press any key to continue...", tfile);
getch();
exit(1);
}
/* read character by character from srcfile and write to trgfile until end of file in
srcfile is reached */
while ((ch=fgetc (srcfile))!=EOF)
fputc (ch, trgfile);
/* close both files */
fclose (srcfile);
fclose (trgfile);
printf("\n\n1 file copied.");
}

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Here is a program that reads the formatted data from a file using fscanf function. The file
is written using the first example program of this chapter. The formats for reading are
same as format used in writing and all separate data are written in new line.
Function fscanf reads data from each line.

/* read file using fscanf function */

void main(){
FILE *fileptr;
char name[40];
int roll;
char program[12];
char group;

fileptr = fopen("test.txt","r"); /* open file for reading*/

if (fileptr==NULL) {
printf("ERROR opening the file. Press any key to continue...");
getch();
exit(1);
}
/* read one data at a time */
fscanf(fileptr,"%s", name);
fscanf(fileptr,"%d", &roll);
fscanf(fileptr, "%s", program);
fscanf(fileptr, "%s", &group);
/*display the read data */
printf("\n%s", name);
printf("\n%d", roll);
printf("\n%s", program);
printf("\n%c", group);
/* close the file */
fclose(fileptr);
printf("\n\nEnd of data");
}

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Record I/O in binary mode

There are functions fread ( ) and fwrite( ) for reading from and writing to structure
(record) in a file on the disk

Example:
#include<stdio.h>
struct employee
{
char name[100];
int salary;
float age;
};
void main()
{
struct employee emp, e;
FILE *filepointer;
char filename[50];
int decision = 1;
printf(“Enter filename:”);
scanf(“%s”,filename);
if((filepointer=fopen(filename, “wb”)= =NULL)
exit();
while(decision)
{
printf(“Enter name salary and age of employees:”);
scanf(“%s%d%f”,emp.name,&emp.salary,&emp.age);
fwrite(&emp,sizeof(emp),1,filepointer);
printf(“Enter \n0 to exit: \n 1 to continue”);
scanf(“%d”,&decision);
}
fclose(filepointer);
if((filepointer=fopen(filename, “rb”))= =NULL)
exit();
while(fread(&e,sizeof(e),1,filepointer)= =1)
printf(“Name : %s\nSalary : %d\n age : %f\n”,e.name,e.salary,e.age);
fclose(filepointer);
getch( );
}

This example reads the structure members from the standard input device, writes them to
the file using function fwrite. It takes four arguments: the first is the address of the
structure to be written to the disk. The second is the size of the structure in bytes, the
third is the number of such structures that we want to write at a time and the fourth is the
pointer to the file where we want to write. Then, the written contents is read back using
function fread, which takes the similar four arguments as in fwrite: address of structure,

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size, number of structures to be read at a time and file pointer. It returns the number of
records it read. In the above example, it returns 1. After reaching at the end of file, fread
cannot read anything; it returns 0, which signal to stop reading. Function fread causes the
data read from the disk and to be placed in the structure variable e. We can use the
structure variable emp. Note that, in this example file is opened in binary mode. After
reading from file to memory, the structure members are displayed on the screen using
function printf.

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Computer Programming I
(EG 442 CT)

Lecture: 3 Year: 1
Practical: 3 Part: A

Course Objective:
To develop a working knowledge of computer methods, systems and
languages. Emphasis on developing programming skills using C language.

Topic No. Topic Lecture Hrs.

1. Introduction to Computers 3 hours
1.1 Historical development and Generation of Computers
1.2 Computer System and Organisation
1.2.1 Computer Hardware
1.2.2 Computer Software and its Types
1.2.3 Programming Language

2. Problem Solving Using Computer 4 hours

2.1 Problem Analysis
2.2 Algorithm Development and Flowcharting
2.3 Coding
2.4 Compilation and Execution
2.5 Debugging and Testing
2.6 Program Documentation

3. Introduction to C 3 hours
3.1 Data Types in C
3.2 Arithmetic Expressions in C
3.3 Structure of a C program

4. Input and Output 3 hours

4.1 Formatted I/O
4.2 Character I/O
4.3 Programs using I/O Statements

5. Structured Programming Fundamentals 7 hours

5.1 Sequential Structure
5.2 Selective Structure
5.3 Repetitive Structure
5.4 Programs Using Decision making statements and Looping

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6. Functions 5 hours
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Function Definition and return statement
6.3 Function Prototypes
6.4 Function Invocation, Call by value & Call by reference
6.5 Concept of Local, Global, Automatic and static variables
6.6 Recursive Functions

7. Arrays, Pointers and Strings 10 hours

7.1 Introduction to Arrays
7.2 Inputting and Outputting Arrays
7.3 Manipulation of Arrays
7.4 Pointers
7.5 Relationship between Arrays and Pointers
7.6 Pointers Arithmetic
7.7 Arrays as function arguments
7.8 Dynamic memory allocation
7.9 String & String handling Functions

8. Structures 5 hours
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Declaring and defining Structures
8.3 Arrays of Structures
8.4 Structures within Structures
8.5 Structures containing Arrays

9. Files and File handling in ‘C’ 5 hours

Reference Books:

1. Gottfried, Byron S., Programming with C, Second Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill

Edition, 2003.
2. Balagurusamy, E., Programming in ANSI, Third Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill,
2004.
3. Venugopal, K. R., Prasad, Sudeep R., Programming with C, Sixteenth Reprint
Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2004.
4. Lafore, Robert, The Waite Group’s® C Programming Using Turbo C++,
Second Edition, SAMS Publishing, 1993.
5. Kanetkar Yashavant, Let Us C, Fourth Revised Updated Edition,BPB
Publication, 2002.
6. Kelly and Pohl, A Book On C.
7. Brian W. Keringhan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The ‘C’ Programming Language
8. Stephen G. Kochan, Programming in C

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Practice Questions
1. Write a program that takes two strings - string1 and string2. Add a function that
takes those two strings and compare their corresponding characters until end of
one string is reached. When a differing character is found, the function should
return the difference of ASCII code of the differing characters of string1 and
string2. If no differing characters are found the function should return 0. Now test
your function by providing two strings and calling the function.

2. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Take n from
the user. Write a function to read and store n numbers in the reserved space. Write
another function that finds the prime numbers among the stored numbers and
display them.

3. Write a program that takes a 2-dimensional array of order M x N. Read M and N

from the user. Add a function that takes the blank array, reads all the elements,
calculates and displays the average of each column of the array.

4. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Your program
should find out the largest positive number and the smallest negative number
entered by the user, calculate sum of these two numbers and display it.

5. Write a program that takes a string and pass to a function. The function takes the
string and converts all of its upper case characters to lower case and vice versa. In
the main program display the string before conversion and after conversion. Your
function must convert the original string not a copy of it.

6. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Take n from
the user. Write a function to read and store n numbers in the reserved space. Write
another function that finds the largest and smallest numbers stored in the reserved
space and display them.

7. Write a program that takes a 2-dimensional array of order M x N. Read M and N

from the user. Add a function that takes the blank array, reads all the elements,
calculates and displays the average of each row of the array.

8. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Your program
should calculate and display the average of positive and negative numbers
separately excluding the last zero.

9. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one

function that takes the array, finds and returns both the largest positive number
and smallest negative numbers in the array. In the main program, display these
numbers obtained from the function.

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10. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Write a
function that reads and stores n number in the reserved space. Write another
function that finds the largest and smallest number stored and display their sum.

11. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, and counts the prime numbers in that array and
return the count. In the main program, display the count.

12. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Count and sum all
the numbers which are exactly divisible by four but not by eight. Display the sum
and count.

13. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Write a
function that reads and stores n number in the reserved space. Write another
function that finds the largest positive and smallest negative number stored and
display their sum.

14. Write a program that reads data for a MxN order matrix. Write a function that
takes the matrix and generates its transpose. Write another function that takes the
transpose matrix and display it.

15. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. If a number entered
is prime display it.

16. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, and finds the smallest positive number and largest
negative numbers in that array and return them to the main function and in the
main display them.

17. Write a program that reads numbers until user enters zero. Your program must
sum and count positive and negative numbers separately and displays them.

18. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, finds and returns both the largest and smallest
numbers in the array. In the main program, display the largest and smallest
number obtained from the function.

19. Write a program that finds the sum of a series 1x2 + 2x3 + 3x4 + 4x5 + … up to n
terms. Read n from the user.

20. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, and counts the prime numbers in that array and
return the count. In the main program, display the count.

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21. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Find and display
the smallest negative number and largest positive number among them.

22. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, and returns the count and sum of the elements that
are divisible by seven. In the main program, display the count and sum.

23. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Count and sum all
the numbers which are exactly divisible by five but not by four. Display the sum
and count.

24. Write a program to calculate and display the interest for a bank account. The
conditions for interest rates are as follows:
a. Rate = 15% if P >= 1,000,000
b. Rate = 12 % if P > 100,000 or N >= 2
c. Rate = 10 % if P < 20,000 or N < 2
d. Rate = 8% otherwise

25. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Write a
function that reads the n numbers and stores them in the reserved memory and
find and return the largest number. In the main program, display that number.

26. Write a program that takes a string from the user and passes it to a function. The
function finds and returns the number of words in the string. In the main program,
display the number of words.

27. Write a function that finds and returns the number of digits in an integer number.
In the main program read a number, pass it to the function, and display the result.

28. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array and converts each element to its absolute value if the
element is negative and square value if the element is positive. In the main
program, display the new content of the array.

29. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Write a
function to read n numbers, store them in the reserved memory space, and find
and return the average of them. In the main program, display all the numbers and
the average.

30. Write a program to take a string form the user and convert all lower case
characters into upper case and display. Your program must have a function that
takes the string and converts the characters.

31. Write a function that takes an integer number and return the number reversed. In
the main program read a number, pass it to the function, and display the result. (if
n =123 return 321)

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32. Write a program that reads n elements of a one-dimensional array. Write one
function that takes the array, finds and returns the average, the largest and the
smallest element of the array. In the main program display them.

33. Write a computer program to evaluate the following series, where the value of x
and n can be given by a user in main function. Create two functions. One for
evaluating xn and other for calculating the factorial of n. Both functions should
return values to the main functions. You should display the individual terms and
total sum of the given series.

x/1!-x3/3!+x5/5!-x7/7!………………….. nth term

34. Write a computer program to read two matrices A and B in the main function,
check the condition for multiplication, if the condition is not satisfied display a
message for that, if the condition is satisfied multiply them and store the result in
the third matrix named C. Now create a function display( ).Pass the matrix to the
display( ) function and display the product matrix.

35. Write a program that reads two one dimensional arrays of order m and n
respectively and merge the contain of first and second array to find third array of
order (m +n ) and display it.( Use dynamic memory allocation.)

36. Write a program to print pyramid of numbers.

1
1 2 1
1 2 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 3 2 1

37. Write a program to take names as string, marks for seven subjects as integer array
and total percentage of a student as float as input & print them back using
structure.

38. Write a program to check user word, whether it is palindrome or not.

39. Write a program to find difference of two matrices. Use function.

40. Write a program to find product of two matrices. Make interactive output.

41. Write a program to concatenate to strings using user defined functions.

42. WAP to find the sum of user given numbers until user enters a zero.

43. Write a program to store roll no, name, faculty & batch of 10 students using
structures and print only the name of all students who joined in the year 2000.

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44. WAP to display following

1 2 3 4 3 2 1
1 2 3 2 1
1 2 1
1

45. Write a program that takes two strings – string 1 and string 2. Add a function
comstr( ) that takes those two strings and compare them.

46. Write a program that takes a string from the user and pass it to a function strfunc(
). The function finds and returns the number of words in the string in the main
program. Display the number of words.
47. Write a program to sort the given array. Take inputs from user.

48. Write a program to display highest user given number from an array, the number
of elements in array is input by the user.

49. Create function count( ) to count the vowels in entered string using switch
statement and display result in main( ).

50. Write a program that reads numbers until the user enters zero. Your program
should calculate and display the average of positive and negative numbers
separately.

51. Write a program that allocates memory space for n integer numbers. Write a
function that reads and stores n numbers in the reserved space. Write another
function that finds the largest positive and smallest negative number stored and
display their sum.

52. Write a program that reads data for an M x N order matrix. Write a function that
takes the matrix and generates its transpose. Write another function that takes the
transpose matrix and display.

53. WAP to find whether the given number is prime or not.

54. Calculate the following series using function

Y=(x-1/x) - ½(x-1/x)2 + 1/3(x-1/x)3 - ¼(x- 1/x)4 + 1/5 (x-1/x)5……………….

Up to 10 terms. Take ‘x’ as input from user.

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55. Write a program to generate the Fibonacci series up to nth term using recursive
function.

56. Write a program that reads two one dimensional arrays of order m and n
respectively and merge the contain of first and second array to find third array of
order (m+ n) and display it.( Use dynamic memory allocation.)

57. Write a program to take names, mark and percentage of a student as input & print
them back using structure.

58. Write a program to check user word, whether it is palindrome or not.

59. Write a program to find difference of two matrices. Use function.

60. WAP to find product of two matrices.

61. WAP to concatenate to strings using user defined functions

62. WAP to find the sum of user given numbers until user enters a zero.

63. Write a program to store roll no, name, faculty & batch of 10 students using
structures and write a function to print the name of all students who joined in the
year 2000.

64. Write a program that takes two strings – string 1 and string 2. Add a function that
takes those two strings and compare them.

65. Write a program to input a sentence and display the number of words in the
sentence.

66. WAP to sort the given array. Take inputs from user.

67. Write a program to display highest user given number from an array, the number
of elements in array is input by the user.

68. Write a program for calculator operation with +, /, *, - using switch statement and
function for each case.

69. Write a program that allocates memory apace for n integer numbers. Write a
function that reads and stores n numbers in the reserved space. Write another
function that finds the largest positive and smallest negative number stored and
display their sum.

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70. Write a program that reads data for an M x N order matrix. Write a function that
takes the matrix and generates its transpose. Write another function that takes the
transpose matrix and display.

71. Write a computer program to copy the content of one text file named first.txt to
another file second.txt. Then, read the content of second file and display on the
screen. The name of both files must be input by the user.

72. Create a structure student-containing name, roll number, mark obtained as

members. Use this structure in a program to read data for four different students.
Display the data on the screen as well as on a text file.

73. Write a computer program to read two matrices A and B in the main function,
check the condition for multiplication, if the condition is not satisfied display a
message for that, if the condition is satisfied multiply them and store the result in
the third matrix named C. Now create a function display().Pass the matrix to the
display() function and display the product matrix.

74. Write a computer program to evaluate the following series. Where the value of x
and n can be given by a user in main function. Create two functions. One for
evaluating xn and other for calculating the factorial of n. Both functions should
return values to the main functions. You should display the individual terms and
total sum of the given series.

x/1!-x3/3!+x5/5!-x7/7!…………………..

75. Write a computer program to allocate the memory space as required by the user
for three arrays. User enters the numbers for two arrays and the program sums the
corresponding array elements and stores them in the third array.

76. Write a computer program to create an integer type array of size n. Read the array
elements from user. Create a function minmax(). Pass the array to the function
using pointer notation. Find the largest and smallest element in the side the
function. Display the smallest element from minmax() function and return the
largest element to main function and display it.

77. Write a computer program that takes a string from a user pass it to function
named wordscount(). Calculate the numbers of words in the string as well as
number of a’s in the string. Return the numbers of words in the main function and
display. Display the number of a’s in the wordcount() function.

78. Write a program that takes a string from the user and converts the string into
lower case if the first character is lowercase or convert the string in to uppercase
if the first character is uppercase. (Hint use islower() or isupper() functions to
detect the characters in the given string and use toupper() or tolower() functions
to convert the characters.)

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References
1. Gottfried, Byron S., Programming with C, Second Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill
Edition, 2003.

2. Balagurusamy, E., Programming in ANSI, Third Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill,

2004.

3. Venugopal, K. R., Prasad, Sudeep R., Programming with C, Sixteenth Reprint

Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2004.

4. Lafore, Robert, The Waite Group’s® C Programming Using Turbo C++,

Second Edition, SAMS Publishing, 1993.

5. Kanetkar Yashavant, Let Us C, Fourth Revised Updated Edition,BPB

Publication, 2002.

6. Kelly and Pohl, A Book On C.

7. Brian W. Keringhan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The ‘C’ Programming Language.

8. Stephen G. Kochan, Programming in C.