Strings

What is String
• A sequence of characters is often referred to as a character
“string”.
• A string is stored in an array of type char ending with the null
character '\0 '.
• A string containing a single character takes up 2 bytes of storage
 Character vs. String
• A string constant is a sequence of characters enclosed in
double quotes.
• For example, the character string:
char s1[2]="a"; //Takes two bytes of storage.
s1:
a \0
• On the other hand, the character, in single quotes:
char s2= `a`; //Takes only one byte of storage.
s2:
a
String Declaration
Format :
char stringname [size];

Example:
char s[10];
 String Initialization
Complile time initialization
char s[10]=“SIKKIM”; OR char s[10]={‘S’, ’I’, ’K’, ’K’, ‘I’ ’M’, ’\0’};

S I K K I M \0

Char s[15] = “SIKKIM MANIPAL”

S I K K I M M A N I P A L \0

Length of the String : No of characters in the array (less the Null Character).
Run time initialization
char s[10];
scanf(“%s”, s); → reading terminates whenever
blank space is encountered
Use header file “string.h”
gets (s); → seamless reading

Display of string
printf(“%s”, s); → print all contents in string s
char s[6]; 0 ‘T’
int i; 1 ‘H’
2 ‘E’
for (i=0; i<6; i++)
3 ‘‘
{ 4 ‘F’
scanf(“%c”, &s[i]); 5 ‘\0’
}
Problem with this approach: The entire array needs to be populated

Best Solution for reading String – gets(array_name);

String Operations
Reading & Displaying Strings
Count the characters in the string
Copying of Strings
Combining of Strings
Comparing of strings
 Read & Display String
#include<stdio.h> Assignment:
Perform read operation without using
#include<string.h> gets() function

Approach:
main()
{ • Use loop to read characters
char a[100]; and fill in the array
printf(“Enter String”);
• Terminate reading when some
gets(a); character (say asterisk *) is
printf(“%s”, a); encountered.

} • Replace * with \0

Input: S M I T I N D \0
Output: SMIT IND
Implementation of gets()
main() I Ch ARRAY Test
{ Condi
char a[100], ch; tion
int i=0; 0 N N N0
printf(“Enter text data and press ‘*’ at end);
1 E NE NO
// Reading
2 W NEW NO
do
{ 3 space NEW b NO
ch=getchar(); 4 S NEW S NO
a[i] = ch;
5 K NEW SK NO
i++;
6 Y NEW SKY NO
} while (ch != ‘*’);
i=i-1; 7 * NEW SKY* YES
a[i]=‘\0’; 8 -- --- ---
// Display the string
‘i’ will change to 7
printf (“%s”, a);
‘\0’ will override *
}
N E W S K Y \0
Count the characters in the string
strlen (name_of_string); Strlen() returns Integer Value

• String Length – No of Characters in a string (less the

NULL character)
Using built-in function Without Using built-in function
#include <stdio.h> #include <stdio.h>
#include<string.h> int main() {
int main() {
char s[100] = "SMIT";
char s[100] = "SMIT";
int i;
int i;

i=strlen(s); for (i = 0; s[i] != '\0’; i++);

printf("Length of the string: %d", i); printf("Length of the string: %d", i);
return 0; return 0;
} }
Output: 4
Copying of Strings
Str1 S M I T \0
Copy the content
Str2 S M I T \0

Built-in Function Without Built-in Function

strcpy (destString, srcString); Approach:

• Copy characters in appropriate
main() positions.
{ • Insert NULL character in the
char s1[100], s2[100]; target array.
gets(s1); for (i = 0; s1[i] != '\0'; ++i) {
strcpy(s2,s1); s2[i] = s1[i];
printf(“%s”, s2); }
} s2[i] = '\0';
Combining Strings (Concatenation)
S1 S2
S M I T \0 I N D I A \0
Combined string
S M I T I N D I A \0

Built-in Function
strcat (destString, SrcString); Without Built-in Function
for(i=0; s1[i]!='\0'; i++)
main() { {
char s1[10], s2[100]; }
gets(s1);
gets(s2); for(j=0; s2[j]!='\0'; j++)
strcat(s2,s1); {
} s1[i+j]=s2[j];
S1 A B \0 }
s1[i+j]='\0';
S2 P Q A B \0
Combining strings contd..
S1 S2
S M I T \0 I N D I A \0
S3
S M I T I N D I A \0

When i  4
for(i=0; s[i] != ‘\0’; i++) Condition – Violated
{ Copying from S1 to S3 does not take
s3[i]=s1[i]; place
} S[4]  ‘ ‘
s3[i]= ‘ ‘ ;
for(j=0;s2[j]!=‘\0’;j++) Now i stands at 4
{
s3[i+j+1]=s2[j]; When j  0
Copying from S2 to S3 takes place
}
from position 5 at s3
s3[i+j+1]=‘\0’; This continues.
Comparing Strings
• Built in function
• strcmp(string1, string2);

• Compares character by character and returns as-

• Less than 0: if first string is less than second
• Equal to 0: if both are equal
• Greater than 0: if second string is greater than first

ASCII Code S1→ABC

A → 65 S2→ ABD
B → 66 strcmp(S1,S2) → O or +ve or –ve
…
.. A→ 65 C→ 67
B→ 66 D→ 68
 String Compare (Without Built-in)
i = 0;
#include <stdio.h> // while s1 is equal to s2
int main() while (s1[i] == s2[i] && s1[i] != '\0')
{ i++;
char s1[100], s2[100]; if (s1[i] > s2[i])
int i; printf("s1 is greater than s2");
else if (s1[i] < s2[i])
printf("s1 is less than s2");
printf("\nEnter two strings :"); else
gets(s1); printf("s1 is equal to s2");
gets(s2);
return 0;
}
Other string functions
• strcmpi() – compares two strings without case
sensitivity.
• strlwr()- converts to lower case
• strrev(): Reverses all characters in the string less
NULL character
• Assignment: List all string built in functions along
with their syntax and purpose.

Program exercise:

• Check if string is palindrome

• Compare two strings without using built-in function strcmp()