IGIT, SARANG

STRINGS AND COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS

(PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE C)

Contents:
o Introduction to String
o Read & write Strings in C using Printf() and Scanf() functions
o Read & Write Strings in C using gets() and puts() functions
o String functions and its different types (string handling functions)
o Example each of`-
• strlen, strcat, strcpy function
• strcmp function
• strchr function
• strstr function
o Command Line Arguments and its different conditions
 C – Strings
Definition: Strings are actually one-dimensional array of characters terminated by
a null character '\0'.

Declaration and Initialization : The following declaration and initialization create a

string consisting of the word "Hello".

– char greeting[6] = {'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', '\0'};

– char greeting[] = "Hello";

– Following is the memory presentation of above example

– Actually, you do not place the null character at the end of a string constant. The C
compiler automatically places the '\0' at the end of the string when it initializes the
array

String I/O in C programming

Read & write Strings in C using Printf() and Scanf() functions :
#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

int main()

/* String Declaration*/

char name[20];

printf("Enter your name:");

/* I am reading the input string and storing it in name

* Array name alone works as a base address of array so

* we can use name instead of &name here */

scanf("%s", name);

/*Displaying String*/

printf("%s",name);

return 0;

Output:

Enter your name: San

San

• Note: %s format specifier is used for strings input/output

Read & Write Strings in C using gets() and puts() functions:
#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

int main()

/* String Declaration*/

char name[20];

/* Console display using puts */

puts("Enter your name:");

/*Input using gets*/

gets(name);

puts(name);

return 0;

Output:

Enter your name: San

San
C – String functions
• We will see how to compare two strings, concatenate strings, copy one string to
another & perform various string manipulation operations.

• We can perform such operations using the pre-defined functions of “string.h” header
file.

• In order to use these string functions you must include string.h file in your C
program.

Different types of String handling functions

Sr.No. Function & Purpose

1 strcpy(s1, s2);
Copies string s2 into string s1.

2 strcat(s1, s2);
Concatenates string s2 onto the end of string s1.

3 strlen(s1);
Returns the length of string s1.

4 strcmp(s1, s2);
Returns 0 if s1 and s2 are the same; less than 0 if s1<s2;
greater than 0 if s1>s2.

5 strchr(s1, ch);
Returns a pointer to the first occurrence of character ch in
string s1.

6 strstr(s1, s2);
Returns a pointer to the first occurrence of string s2 in string
s1.
Example of strlen, strcat, strcpy function:
#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

int main ()

char str1[12] = "Hello";

char str2[12] = "World";

char str3[12];

int len ;

/* copy str1 into str3 */

strcpy(str3, str1);

printf("strcpy( str3, str1) : %s\n", str3 );

/* concatenates str1 and str2 */

strcat( str1, str2);

printf("strcat( str1, str2): %s\n", str1 );

/* total lenghth of str1 after concatenation */

len = strlen(str1);

printf("strlen(str1) : %d\n", len );

return 0;

output−

strcpy( str3, str1) : Hello

strcat( str1, str2): HelloWorld

strlen(str1) : 10
Example of strcmp function:
#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

int main()

char s1[12] = "Hello";

char s2[12] = "Hello.c";

if (strcmp(s1, s2) ==0)

printf("string 1 and string 2 are equal");

else

printf("string 1 and 2 are different");

return 0;

Output:

string 1 and 2 are different

Example of strchr function

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main()
{
char mystr[30] = "I’m an example of function strchr";
printf ("%s", strchr(mystr, 'f'));
return 0;
}
Output:

f function strchr

Example of strstr function

#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

int main()

char inputstr[70] = "String Function in C at BeginnersBook.COM";

printf ("Output string is: %s", strstr(inputstr, 'Begi'));

return 0;

Output:

Output string is: BeginnersBook.COM

 Command Line Arguments
• It is possible to pass some values from the command line to your C programs when
they are executed. These values are called command line arguments.

• These arguments are supplied after the program name in operating system command
line and these arguments values are passed to your program at time of execution
from operating system.

• It is used to control your program from outside.

• These arguments are handled by main () function.

• Syntax:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

Here argc is an ARGument Count that counts the number of arguments on the command
line

argv[ ] is called ARGument Vector is a pointer array which holds pointers of

type char which points to the arguments passed to the program.

• The value of argc should be non-negative.

• Properties of Command Line Arguments:

– They are passed to main() function.

– They are parameters/arguments supplied to the program when it is invoked.

– They are used to control program from outside instead of hard coding those
values inside the code.

– argv[argc] is a NULL pointer.

– argv[0] holds the name of the program.

– argv[1] points to the first command line argument and argv[n] points last
argument.
Example:
#include <stdio.h>

int main( int argc, char *argv[] )

printf("Program name %s\n", argv[0]);

if( argc == 2 )

printf("The argument supplied is %s\n", argv[1]);

else if( argc > 2 )

printf("Too many arguments supplied.\n");

else

printf("One argument expected.\n");

Outputs: (in different scenarios)

When the above code is compiled and executed with single argument, it produces the
following result.

$./a.out testing

Progranm name ./a.out

The argument supplied is testing

When the above code is compiled and executed with a two arguments, it produces the
following result.

$./a.out testing1 testing2

Progranm name ./a.out

Too many arguments supplied.

When the above code is compiled and executed without passing any argument, it
produces the following result.

$./a.out

Progranm name ./a.out

One argument expected

When the above code is compiled and executed with a single argument separated by
space but inside double quotes, it produces the following result.

$./a.out "testing1 testing2“

Progranm name ./a.out

The argument supplied is testing1 testing2

• Remember that argv[0] holds the name of the program and argv[1] points to the first
command line argument and argv[n] gives the last argument. If no argument is
supplied, argc will be 1.