Character String

What we should learn about strings

– Representation in C
– String Literals
– String Variables
– String Input/Output
• printf, scanf, gets, fgets, puts, fputs
– String Functions
• strlen, strcpy, strncpy, strcmp, strncmp, strcat, strncat, strchr,
strrchr, strstr, strspn, strcspn, strtok
– Reading from/Printing to Strings
• sprintf, sscanf

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 Introduction

• A string is an array of characters.

– Individual characters are stored in memory in ASCII
code.
– A string is represented as a sequence of characters
terminated by the null (‘\0’) character.

“Hello”  H e l l o ‘\0’

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 String Literals
• String literal values are represented by sequences of
characters between double quotes (“)

• Examples
–  represents empty string
– hello

• a versus ‘a’

– ‘a’ is a single character value (stored in 1 byte) as the ASCII value for
the letter, a.
– a is an array with two characters, the first is a, the second is the
character value \0.

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 Referring to String Literals

• String literal is an array, can refer to a single character from

the literal as a character

• Example:
printf(”%c”, ”hello”[1]);
outputs the character ‘e’

• During compilation, C creates space for each string literal

(number of characters in the literal + 1)

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 Duplicate String Literals

• Each string literal in a C program is stored at a different

location.
– Even if the string literals contain the same string, they are not equal (in
the == sense)
• Example:
char string1[6] = hello;
char string2[6] = hello;
– but string1 does not equal string2 (they are stored
in different memory locations).

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 Declaring String Variables

• A string is declared like any other array:

char string-name[size];
– size determines the number of characters in
string_name.
• When a character string is assigned to a character array,
it automatically appends the null character (‘\0’) at the
end of the string.
– size should be equal to the number of characters in
the string plus one.

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 Examples

char name[30];
char city[15];
char dob[11];

• A string may be initialized at the time of

declaration.
Equivalent

char city[15] = Calcutta;

char city[15] = {'C', 'a', 'l', 'c', 'u',
't', 't', 'a’, ’\0'};
char dob[] = 12-10-1975;

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 Changing String Variables

• Cannot change string variables connected to string constants,

but can change pointer variables that are not tied to space.

• Example:
char *str1 = hello; /* str1 unchangeable */
char *str2 = goodbye; /* str2 unchangeable */

char *str3; /* Not tied to space */

str3 = str1; /* str3 points to same space as str1 */
str3 = str2;

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 Changing String Variables (cont)

• Can change parts of a string variable:

char str1[6] = hello;
str1[0] = 'y’; /* str1 is now “yello” */
str1[4] = '\0’; /* str1 is now “yell” */

• Have to stay within limits of the array.

– Responsibility of programmer.

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 Reading Strings from the Keyboard

• Two different cases will be considered:

– Reading words
– Reading an entire line

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 Reading “words”
• scanf can be used with the “%s” format specifier.
char name[30];
:
scanf (%s, name);

– The ampersand (&) is not required before the variable

name with %s.
• Because name represents an address.

– The problem here is that the string is taken to be upto

the first white space (blank, tab, carriage return, etc.)
• If we type Rupak Biswas
• name will be assigned the string Rupak

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 Reading a “line of text”

• In many applications, we need to read in an entire line of

text (including blank spaces).
• We can use the getchar() function for the purpose.

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 char line[81], ch;
int c = 0;
:
:
do
{
ch = getchar();
Read characters until CR
line[c] = ch;
(‘\n’) is encountered
c++;
}
while (ch != '\n');

c = c – 1; Make it a valid string

line[c] = '\0';

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 Reading a line :: Alternate Approach

char line[81];
:
:
scanf (%[ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ], line);

 Reads a string containing uppercase

characters and blank spaces

char line[81];
:
:
scanf (%[^\n], line);

 Reads a string containing any characters

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 More on String Input

• Edit set input %[ListofChars]

– ListofChars specifies set of characters (called scan set)
– Characters read as long as character falls in scan set
– Stops when first non scan set character encountered
– Any character may be specified except ]
– Putting ^ at the start to negate the set (any character BUT list is
allowed)

• Examples:
scanf (%[+0123456789], Number);
scanf (%[^\n], Line); /* read until newline char */

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 Writing Strings to the Screen

• We can use printf with the “%s” format specification.

char name[50];
:
:
printf (\n %s, name);

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 Input / Output Example
#include <stdio.h>

void main( )
{
char LastName[11];
char FirstName[11];

printf(Enter your name (last, first): );

scanf(%10s%*[^,],%10s, LastName, FirstName);

printf(Nice to meet you %s %s\n, FirstName, LastName);

}

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String Functions
 Processing Character Strings

• There exists a set of C library functions for

character string manipulation.
– strcpy :: string copy
– strlen :: string length
– strcmp :: string comparison
– strtcat :: string concatenation
• It is required to add the line
#include <string.h>

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 strcpy()

• Works like a string assignment operator.

char *strcpy (char *str1, char *str2);

– Assigns the contents of str2 to str1.

– Returns address of the destination string.
• Examples:
strcpy (city, Calcutta);
strcpy (city, mycity);
• Warning:
– Assignment operator do not work for strings.
city = Calcutta ;  INVALID

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 strlen()

• Counts and returns the number of characters in a

string.
int strlen (char *str);

• Example:
len = strlen (string);
/* Returns an integer */

–The null character (‘\0’) at the end is not counted.

–Counting ends at the first null character.

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 char city[15];
int n;
:
:
strcpy (city, Calcutta);
n = strlen (city);

n is assigned 8

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 strcmp()

• Compares two character strings.

int strcmp (char *str1, char *str2);
– Compares the two strings and returns 0 if they are
identical; non-zero otherwise.
• Examples:
if (strcmp(city, Delhi) == 0)
{ …… }

if (strcmp(city1, city2) != 0)
{ …… }

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• Actually, the function returns the difference in ASCII
values of the first letter of mismatch.
– Less than 0
• If the ASCII value of the character they differ at is smaller for
str1, or str2 is longer than str1
– Greater than 0
• If the ASCII value of the character they differ at is greater for
str1, or str1 is longer than str2
– Equal to 0
• If the two strings are identical

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strcmp examples:
strcmp(hello, hello) -- returns 0
strcmp(yello, hello) -- returns value > 0
strcmp(Hello, hello) -- returns value < 0
strcmp(hello, hello there) -- returns value < 0
strcmp(some diff, some dift) -- returns value < 0

• Expression for determining if two strings s1, s2 hold the

same string value:
!strcmp(s1, s2)

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 String Comparison (strncmp)

Sometimes we only want to compare first n chars:

int strncmp(char *s1, char *s2, int n)

Works the same as strcmp except that it stops at the nth character
looks at less than n characters if either string is shorter than n

strcmp(some diff, some DIFF) -- returns value > 0

strncmp(some diff, some DIFF,4) -- returns 0

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 String Comparison (ignoring case)

int strcasecmp(char *str1, char *str2)

• similar to strcmp except that upper and lower case characters
(e.g., ‘a’ and ‘A’) are considered to be equal

int strncasecmp(char *str1, char *str2, int n)

• version of strncmp that ignores case

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 strcat()

• Joins or concatenates two strings together.

char *strcat (char *str1, char *str2);
– str2 is appended to the end of str1.
– The null character at the end of str1 is removed, and str2 is
joined at that point.

A m i t ‘\0’
• Example:
strcpy(name1, Amit ); R o y ‘\0’
strcpy(name2, Roy);
strcat(name1, name2);

A m i t R o y ‘\0’
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 Example:: count uppercase
/* Read a line of text and count the number of
uppercase letters */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char line[81];
int i, n, count=0;
scanf (%[^\n], line);
n = strlen (line);
for (i=0; i<n; i++)
if (isupper(line[i]) count++;
printf (\n The number of uppercase letters in
the string %s is %d, line, count);
}

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 Example:: compare two strings
Parameters passed as character array
#include <stdio.h>

int my_strcmp (char s1[],char s2[])

{
int i=0;
while(s1[i]!='\0' && s2[i]!='\0'){
if (s1[i]!=s2[i]) return(s1[i]-s2[i]);
else i++;
}
return(s1[i]-s2[i]);
}

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 main()
{
char string1[100],string2[100];

printf(Give two strings \n);

scanf(%s %s, string1, string2);

printf (Comparison result: %d \n,

my_strcmp(string1,string2));
}

Give two strings Give two strings

IITKGP IITMUMBAI KOLKATA KOLKATA
Comparison result: -2 Comparison result: 0

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 Searching for a Character/String

char *strchr (char *str, int ch)

• returns a pointer to the first occurrence of ch in str
• returns NULL if ch does not occur in str
• can subtract original pointer from result pointer to
determine which character in array
char *strstr (char *str, char *searchstr)
• similar to strchr, but looks for the first occurrence of the
string searchstr in str
char *strrchr (char *str, int ch)
• similar to strchr except that the search starts from the end of
string str and works backward

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 Printing to a String

• The sprintf function allows us to print to a string argument

using printf formatting rules.
• First argument of sprintf is string to print to, remaining
arguments are as in printf.

Example:
char buffer[100];
sprintf (buffer, %s, %s, LastName, FirstName);
if (strlen(buffer) > 15)
printf(Long name %s %s\n, FirstName, LastName);

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 Reading from a String

• The sscanf function allows us to read from a string argument

using scanf rules
• First argument of sscanf is string to read from, remaining
arguments are as in scanf

Example:
char buffer[100] = A10 50.0;
sscanf (buffer, %c%d%f, &ch, &inum, &fnum);
/* puts ‘A’ in ch, 10 in inum and 50.0 in fnum */

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 Example: Duplicate Removal

Write a C function that takes a string as an argument and

modifies the string so as to remove all consecutive
duplicate characters, e.g., mississippi -> misisipi

void remove_duplicates (char word[]) {

int k, j;
char prev = '\0';
for (k = j = 0; word[k]!='\0'; k++) {
if (prev != word[k]) word[j++] = word[k];
prev = word[k];
}
word[j] = '\0';
}

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 Two Dimensional Arrays

• We have seen that an array variable can store a list of

values.
• Many applications require us to store a table of values.

Subject 1 Subject 2 Subject 3 Subject 4 Subject 5

Student 1 75 82 90 65 76
Student 2 68 75 80 70 72
Student 3 88 74 85 76 80
Student 4 50 65 68 40 70

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 Contd.

• The table contains a total of 20 values, five in each line.

– The table can be regarded as a matrix consisting of
four rows and five columns.
• C allows us to define such tables of items by using two-
dimensional arrays.

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 Declaring 2-D Arrays

• General form:
type array_name[row_size][column_size];

• Examples:
int marks[4][5];
float sales[12][25];
double matrix[100][100];

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 Accessing Elements of a 2-D Array

• Similar to that for 1-D array, but use two indices.

– First indicates row, second indicates column.
– Both the indices should be expressions that evaluate to
integer values.
• Examples:
x[m][n] = 0;
c[i][k] += a[i][j] * b[j][k];
val = sqrt (a[j*3][k]);

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 How is a 2-D array is stored in memory?

• Starting from a given memory location, the elements are

stored row-wise in consecutive memory locations.
x: starting address of the array in memory
c: number of columns
k: number of bytes allocated per array element

Element a[i][j] :: allocated memory location at

address x+(i*c+j)*k

a[0][0] a[0][1] a[0]2] a[0][3] a[1][0] a[1][1] a[1][2] a[1][3] a[2][0] a[2][1] a[2][2] a[2][3]

Row 0 Row 1 Row 2

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 How to read the elements of a 2-D array of
size nrowncol?
• By reading them one element at a time
for (i=0; i<nrow; i++)
for (j=0; j<ncol; j++)
scanf (”%f”, &a[i][j]);

• The ampersand (&) is necessary.

• The elements can be entered all in one line or in
different lines.

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 How to print the elements of a 2-D array?

• By printing them one element at a time.

for (i=0; i<nrow; i++)
for (j=0; j<ncol; j++)
printf (”\n %f”, a[i][j]);

– The elements are printed one per line.

for (i=0; i<nrow; i++)

for (j=0; j<ncol; j++)
printf (”%f”, a[i][j]);

– The elements are all printed on the same line.

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 Contd.
for (i=0; i<nrow; i++)
{
printf (”\n”);
for (j=0; j<ncol; j++)
printf (”%f ”, a[i][j]);
}

– The elements are printed nicely in matrix form.

• How to print two matrices side by side?

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• Printing two matrices A and B of sizes mn each side by
side.

for (i=0; i<m; i++)

{
printf (”\n”);
for (j=0; j<n; j++)
printf (”%f ”, A[i][j]);
printf (” ”);
for (j=0; j<n; j++)
printf (”%f ”, B[i][j]);
}

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 Example: Matrix Addition

#include <stdio.h> for (p=0; p<m; p++)

for (q=0; q<n; q++)
main() c[p]q] = a[p][q] + b[p][q];
{
int a[100][100], b[100][100], for (p=0; p<m; p++)
c[100][100], p, q, m, n; {
printf (”\n”);
scanf (”%d %d”, &m, &n); for (q=0; q<n; q++)
printf (”%f ”, c[p][q]);
for (p=0; p<m; p++) }
for (q=0; q<n; q++)
}
scanf (”%d”, &a[p][q]);

for (p=0; p<m; p++)

for (q=0; q<n; q++)
scanf (”%d”, &b[p][q]);

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 Passing 2-D Arrays

• Similar to that for 1-D arrays.

– The array contents are not copied into the function.
– Rather, the address of the first element is passed.
• For calculating the address of an element in a 2-D array, we
need:
– The starting address of the array in memory.
– Number of bytes per element.
– Number of columns in the array.
• The above three pieces of information must be known to the
function.

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 Example Usage

#include <stdio.h> void add (x,y,rows,cols)

int x[][25], y[][25];
main() int rows, cols;
{ {
int a[15][25],b[15]25]; :
: }
:
add (a, b, 15, 25);
:
} We can also write
int x[15][25], y[15][25];

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 Example: Transpose of a matrix
#include <stdio.h> main()
{
void transpose (x, n) int a[3][3], p, q;
int x[][3], n;
{ for (p=0; p<3; p++)
int p, q, t; for (q=0; q<3; q++)
scanf (”%d”, &a[p][q]);
for (p=0; p<n; p++) transpose (a, 3);
for (q=0; q<n; q++) for (p=0; p<3; p++)
{ {
t = x[p][q]; printf (”\n”);
x[p][q] = x[q][p]; for (q=0; q<3; q++)
x[q][p] = t; printf (”%d ”, a[p][q]);
} }
} }

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 Is the function correct?

10 20 30
40 50 60
70 80 90

10 20 30
40 50 60
70 80 90

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 The Correct Version

10 20 30
void transpose (x, n)
int x[][3], n; 40 50 60
{
int p, q, t; 70 80 90

for (p=0; p<n; p++)

for (q=p; q<n; q++)
{
10 40 70
t = x[p][q];
x[p][q] = x[q][p]; 20 50 80
x[q][p] = t;
} 30 60 90
}

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 Some Exercise Problems to Try Out

1. A shop stores n different types of items. Given the

number of items of each type sold during a given
month, and the corresponding unit prices, compute the
total monthly sales.
2. Multiple two matrices of orders mxn and nxp
respectively.

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