Character Arrays and Strings

-by
Ujwala H. Wanaskar
Contents:
• Character Arrays and Strings:
• Declaration and Initialization String Variables
• Reading Strings from Terminal
• Writing Strings to Screen
• Putting Strings Together
• Comparison of Two Strings
• Introduction to String handling Functions
Definition:
• A String in C programming is a sequence of characters terminated
with a null character ‘\0’.
• The C String is stored as an array of characters.
• The difference between a character array and a C string is that the
string in C is terminated with a unique character ‘\0’.
Declaration Syntax

• char string_name[size];

• Ex. Char str[20];

C String Initialization
• char str[] = “AISSMSCOE";

• char str[50] = “AISSMSCOE";

• char str[10] = { ‘A',‘I',‘S',‘S',‘M',‘S',‘C',‘O',‘E','\0'};

• char str[] = { ‘A',‘I',‘S',‘S',‘M',‘S',‘C',‘O',‘E','\0'};

Reading string as an input
• Char str[30];
• scanf(“%s”,&str); //stops scanning if whitespace occurs

Or

• gets(str);//dangerous as it puts no limit on the input, so can crash the

system

Or

• fgets(str, sizeof(str), stdin);//Okay to use than above two

Displaying the string
• Char str[30];

• Printf(“%s”,str);

Or

puts(str);

Or

fputs(str,stdout);
String Library function(string.h)
1. Strlen()
2. Strcpy()
3. Strncpy()
4. Strcat()
5. Strncat()
6. Strcmp()
1.strlen():finds length of a string
char str[20];
int len;
gets(str);

len=strlen(str);

Or

printf(“Length=%d”,strlen(str));
2.strcpy:copying the string
• Syntax:

• Strcpy(destination_string,source_string);

• Copies source string to destination string.

Using strcpy()
char str1[20],str2[20]; • char str1[20] = "Hello World!";
gets(str1); char str2[20];

// Copy str1 to str2

Strcpy(str2,str1); strcpy(str2, str1);

// Print str2
Or printf("%s", str2);
Strcpy(str2,”Hello”);
strncpy()
• Copies first n characters from source string to destination string.

• Strncpy(dest_string,source_string,n);
Using strncpy()
char str1[20],str2[20]; • char str1[20] = "Hello World!";
gets(str1); char str2[20];

// Copy str1 to str2

Strncpy(str2,str1,4); strncpy(str2, str1,4);

// Print str2
printf("%s", str2);
strcat()
• to concatenate (combine) two • char str1[20] = "Hello ";
strings, we use the strcat() char str2[] = "World!";
function:
// Concatenate str2 to str1
(result is stored in str1)
• strcat(str2,str1); strcat(str1, str2);

// Print str1
printf("%s", str1);
strncat()
• to concatenate (combine) two • char str1[20] = "Hello ";
strings, we use the strncat() char str2[] = "World!";
function:
// Concatenate str2 to str1
(result is stored in str1)
• strcat(str2,str1,n); strncat(str1, str2,2);

// Print str1
printf("%s", str1);
 • char str1[] = "Hello";
strcmp() char str2[] = "Hello";
char str3[] = "Hi";
• To compare two strings
// Compare str1 and str2, and
Syntax: print the result
printf("%d\n", strcmp(str1,
Value=strcmp(str1,str2); str2)); // Returns 0 (the strings
are equal)

If value==0,both strings are equal // Compare str1 and str3, and

If value!=0,strings are not equal print the result
printf("%d\n", strcmp(str1,
str3)); // Returns non zero value
(the strings are not equal)
 char s1[] = “Hello World";
char s2[] = “or";
Strstr() char* result;
• function returns a pointer to result = strstr(s1, s2);
the position of the first
occurrence of a string in if (result != NULL) {
another string. // If 'result' is not NULL, it means the substring
// was found, so print it
printf("Substring found: %s\n", result);
Syntax: }
Strstr(main_string,substring); else {
// If 'result' is NULL, it means the substring was
// not found, so print appropriate message
printf("Substring not found.\n");
}
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char sentence[] = "This is a sample
sentence.";
if (strstr(sentence,’is’)!=NULL)
printf(“Substring is present in string);
else
printf(“Substring is not present in string”);
}
 Example:
#include <stdio.h>
strchr() #include <string.h>
int main() {
• This function locates the first char sentence[] = "This is a sample
occurrence of a character in a sentence.";
string.
char *ptr = strchr(sentence, 'a');
if(ptr!=NULL)
printf(“Character Present”);
else
printf(“character is not in string”);
return 0;
}
Output:
Character Present
Ex.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char sentence[] = "This is a sample sentence.";
char *ptr = strchr(sentence, 'a');
printf("strchr(): %s\n", ptr);
return 0;
}
Output:
strchr(): a sample sentence.
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char sentence[] = "This is a sample
sentence.";
if (strchr(sentence,’a’)!=NULL)
printf(“character is present in string);
else
printf(“character is not present in string”);
}
 Example:
strrchr() #include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
• This function locates the last int main() {
occurrence of a character in a char sentence[] = "This is a sample
string. sentence.";
char *lastPtr = strrchr(sentence, 'a');
printf("strrchr(): %s\n", lastPtr);
return 0;
}
Output:
strrchr(): ample sentence.
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char sentence[] = "This is a sample sentence.";
if (strrchr(sentence,’a’)!=NULL)
printf(“character is present in string);
else
printf(“character is not present in string”);
}
String Operations without C library functions
Determine Length of string
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
char str[100];
int i,length=0;

printf("Enter a string: \n");

scanf("%s",str);
Output:
for(i=0; str[i]!='\0'; i++) Enter a string: AISSMS
{ Length of input string: 6
length++;
}
printf("\nLength of input string: %d",length);
return 0;
}
String Copy
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
char s1[100], s2[100], i;
printf("Enter string s1: ");
fgets(s1, sizeof(s1), stdin);
Output:
for (i = 0; s1[i] != '\0'; ++i) {
Enter string s1: Hey fellow
s2[i] = s1[i]; programmer.
}
String s2: Hey fellow programmer.
s2[i] = '\0';
printf("String s2: %s", s2);
return 0;
}
String compare
/* without using strcmp() */ else
{
#include <stdio.h>
flag=1;
#include <string.h> break;
int main() }

{
If(flag==1 ||str1[i]!=str2[i])
char Str1[100], Str2[100];
printf(“strings are not equal”);
int result, I,flag=0; else
printf("\n Please Enter the First String : "); printf(“Strings are equal”);
Return 0;
gets(Str1);
}
printf("\n Please Enter the Second String : ");
gets(Str2); O/P:
Please Enter the First String : cat
for(i = 0; Str1[i] != '\0'; i++)
{ Please Enter the Second String : dog
if(str1[i]==str2[i])
continue; strings are not equal

}
String concatenation
#include <stdio.h> str1[i]='\0';
int main() printf("\nOutput: %s",str1);
{ return 0;
char str1[50], str2[50], i, j; }
printf("\nEnter first string: ");
scanf("%s",str1);
printf("\nEnter second string: "); • O/P:
scanf("%s",str2); • Enter first string:hello
for(i=0; str1[i]!='\0'; ++i); • Enter second string:World
• Output:helloWorld
for(j=0; str2[j]!='\0'; ++j, ++i)
{
str1[i]=str2[j];
}
String Reverse
int main() {
char str[100] = "Hello World"; • O/P:
char rstr[100];
i=len-1;
j=0; • Original String: Hello World
while(i>=0) • Reversed string: dlroW olleH
{
rstr[j]=str[i];
i--;
j++;
}
rstr[j]='\0';
printf("\n\n Original string=%s",str);
printf("\n\n Reveresed string =%s",rstr);
return 0;
}
Array Sorting methods:
1. Bubble Sort
2. Selection sort
3. Insertion Sort.
4. Heap sort
5. QuickSort
6. Merge Sort
7. Shell sort
Array Searching Methods
1. Sequential Search/Linear Search
2. Binary search.