Course : Algorithm and Programming

Effective Period : 2022

TOPIC 05

POINTERS AND ARRAY

 LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this session, the student will be able to:

• LO 2: Analyze a program using C language for problem-solving
 OUTLINE

• Pointer
• Pointer Constant & Pointer Variable
• Array
• String Manipulation
 POINTER DEFINITION

o Pointer is a variable that store the address of another variable

o Syntax :
<type> *ptr_name;
o Two operators mostly used in pointer : * (content of) and & (address of)
o Example:
Initialize an integer pointer into a data variable:
int i, *ptr;
ptr = &i;
To assign a new value to the variable pointed by the pointer:
*ptr = 5; /* means i=5 */
POINTER CONCEPT
 POINTER TO POINTER

o Pointer to pointer is a variable that saves another address of a pointer

o Syntax:
<type> **ptr_ptr ;
o Example:
int i, *ptr, **ptr_ptr;
ptr = &i;
ptr_ptr = &ptr;
To assign new value to i:
*ptr = 5; // means i=5 ;
**ptr_ptr = 9; // means i=9; or *ptr=9;
POINTER TO POINTER
 POINTER CONSTANT & POINTER
VARIABLE
o Pointer variable is a pointer that can be assigned with new value at run-time.
o Pointer constant is a pointer that can not be assigned with new value at run-time
o Array is Pointer Constant to its first element of the array. Array can be filled with pointer
variable.
o Example:
• int x=10, y=20;
• int *ptr; //ptr is pointer variable
• ptr = &x;
• ptr = &y;
 POINTER CONSTANT & POINTER
VARIABLE
o Example:
• int x=10, y=20;
• int B[4]; // B is an Array  pointer constant
• int *ptr; // ptr is a pointer variable
• ptr = &x; // ok
• ptr = B; // ok
• ptr++; // ok
• B = ptr; // error
• B++; // error
• B = &y; // error

o ptr = B; analogous with ptr = &B[0]; B is a pointer constant pointing to the first element of an
array.
 POINTER CONSTANT & POINTER
VARIABLE
o Pointer constant can only be initialized at definition time

o Example:
int Arr1[10];
Arr1[10] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; // error
Arr1 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; // error
Arr1[10] = 12; // error max 9
Arr1[0] = 23; // ok

int Arr2[10] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; //ok

 ARRAY DEFINITION

o Data saved in a certain structure to be accessed as a group or individually. Some variables

saved using the same name distinguish by their index.

o Array characteristics:
• Homogenous
All elements have similar data type
• Random Access
Each element can be reached individually, does not have to be sequential
 ARRAY DEFINITION

o Syntax:
type array_value [value_dim];

o Example :
int A[10];

o The definition consists of 4 components:

• Type specified
• Identifier (name of the array)
• Operator index ([ ])
• Dimensional value inside operator [ ]
 ARRAY DEFINITION

o An illustration of array 1D
o Elements of an array indexed starting from 0

A[0] A[1] A[2] A[3] A[4] A[5] A[6] A[7] A[8] A[9]
 ARRAY INITIALIZATION

o Array can be initialized explicitly without dimensional value declaration

• Example:
int B[ ]={1, 2, -4, 8};
Array B has 4 elements

• Example:
int B[8]={1, 2, -4, 8};
 ARRAY INITIALIZATION

- Example: int B[4] = { 1, 2, -4, 8, 9 }; //error

error in result; smaller dimensional value

o Example array initialization after definition:

int A[5];
(for i=0; i<5;i++) A[i]=0;

int B[5];
Error, why ?
B[5]={0,0,0,0,0};
 ACCESSING ARRAYS

o Two analogous ways of accessing an element i=2;

*(A+2) or A[2]
o A is equivalent with &A[0] or a constant pointer to the first element of particular array
o To show A[2] on the monitor screen:
printf(“%d”,A[2]) or
printf(“%d\n”,*(A+2));
 ASSIGNING VALUES

o Assigning value to an element

o Example : A[6] = 15; A[3] = 27;

27 15
A[0] A[1] A[2] A[3] A[4] A[5] A[6] A[7] A[8] A[9]

o Statement A[2] = A[3] - A[6], resulting:

12 27 15
A[0] A[1] A[2] A[3] A[4] A[5] A[6] A[7] A[8] A[9]
 ACCESSING ARRAYS

o Accessing array using a pointer

int arr[10];
int *ptr_arr;
ptr_arr = arr; //or ptr_arr = &arr[0];

o To access certain element can be done using:

ptr_arr[i];
arr[i];
*(ptr_arr + i);
*(arr + i);
ptr_arr = ptr_arr + i; *ptr_arr;
 ARRAY: PROGRAM EXAMPLES

o Example:
#include <stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i;
int list_int[10];
for (i=0; i<10; i++){
list_int[i] = i + 1;
printf( "list_int[%d] init with %d.\n", i,
list_int[i]);
}
}
 ONE DIMENSIONAL ARRAY

o C compiler does not limit number of dimensional which can be created. Our PC memory does.
o Example Array 1D:
#include<stdio.h>

int SIZE = 5;

void main() {
int i, j;
int n[SIZE] = {15, 9, 1, 7, 5};
for( i=0 ; i<= SIZE ; i++) {
printf("%5d ", n[i]);
for ( j=1; j<=n[i] ; j++)
printf("%c","*");
printf("\n");
}
}
 TWO DIMENSIONAL ARRAY

o Syntax 2D Array:
type name_array[row][col];
o Example:
int a[3][4];
Column 0 Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

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

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

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

Column subscript
Array name

Row subscript
 TWO DIMENSIONAL ARRAY

o Initialization:
using rmo (row major order)
o Example:
 int b[2][2] = {1, 2, 3, 4 }; 1 2
 int b[2][2] = { { 1, 2 }, { 3, 4 } }; 3 4

1 0
 int b[2][2] = { { 1 }, { 3, 4 } };
3 4

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

 int x[3][4] = { {1, 2, 3, 4},
{5, 6, 7, 8},
{9, 10, 11, 12}
};
 TWO DIMENSIONAL ARRAY

o Example Array 2D:

/* Printing out array 2-D */

#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
int two_dim[3][5] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
10, 20, 30, 40, 50,
100, 200, 300, 400,
500};
int i, j;
for (i=0; i<3; i++){
for (j=0; j<5; j++) printf("%6d",
two_dim[i][j]);
printf("\n");
}
}Output:
12345
10 20 30 40 50
100 200 300 400 500
 THREE DIMENSIONAL ARRAY

o Syntax 3D Array :
type name_array[row][col][depth];

o Example:
int x[3][2][4] = {{{1,2,3,4}, {5,6,7,8}},
{{11,12,13,14}, {15,16,17,18}},
{{21,22,23,24}, {25,26,27,28}}
};
void main() {
int x[4][3][5] = {{{1, 2, 3}, {0, 4, 3, 4}, {1, 2}},
{{9, 7, 5}, {5, 7, 2}, {9}},
{{3, 3, 5}, {2, 8, 9, 9}, {1, 2, 1}},
{{0}, {1}, {0, 1, 9}}
};
printf(“%5d”, x[2][1][3]);
}
 ARRAY OF POINTER

o An array filled with pointer/s

o Syntax :
type *array_name [value_dim];
o Example:
int i;
int *ptr[4];
int x=1, y=2, z=3, w=5;
ptr[0]=&x, ptr[1]=&y; ptr[2]=&z; ptr[3]=&w;
for(i=0;i<4;i++) printf("%d ",*ptr[i]);

Output : 1 2 3 5
 ARRAY OF CHARACTER

o Array filled with character/s

o Syntax:
char array_name[value_dim];

o Example:
char name[40];
char ss[20]={‘B’,’I’,’N’,’U’,’S’}; //20 elements
char ss[ ]= {‘B’,’I’,’N’,’U’,’S’}; // 5 elements
 STRING

o String is an array of character that ended with null character ( ‘\0’ or in ASCII = 0)
o String constant or string literal is some characters written between double quote
• Example: ”Welcome to Binus”

o String constant type is pointer constant, thus can be assigned to an array of character :
• Example :
char name[40] = ”Amir”; //ok
name = ”Amir”; // error name is a constant pointer
Name[40]= “Amir”; //error
 STRING

o A Constant String can be linked at compile-time:

”Hello,” ” world”
Similar to:
”Hello, world”
o Example string initialization:
char s[ ] = ”BiNus”;
Similar to :
char s[ ] = {’B’,’i’,’N’,’u’,’s’,’\0’};
o String as a data type does not known in C
 CHAR VS STRING

o Character in c written between single quote. Each uses one byte of computer memory
o Example:
char ch=’A’;
char ch=65; //Ascii Similar
char ch=0x41; //Ascii

o String written in between double quote.

 STRING MANIPULATION

o In Standard Library Function (header file string.h) provides functions to manipulate string:
• strlen()
Return a value of string length; excluded null char
• strcpy(s1,s2)
Copy s2 to s1
• strncpy(s1,s2,n)
Copy first n characters of s2 to s1
• strcat(s1,s2)
Adding string s2 to the end of string s1
• strncat(s1,s2,n)
Adding n characters of string s2 to the end of string s1
• strcmp(s1,s2)
Comparing the value of string s1 and s2, if similar returning 0
• etc.
 PROGRAM EXAMPLES

o Example: (String Manipulation)

char s1[ ] = “abcdef”;
char s2[ ] = “xyz”;

strlen(“nana”); // 4
strcmp(“nana”, “nana”) // result 0
strcpy(s1,s2); // s1 = “xyz”, s2 = “xyz”
strncpy(s1,s2,2); // s1 = “xycdef”, s2 = “xyz”
strncpy(s1,s2,4); // if n>=strlen(s2) similar with
// strcpy() s1 = “xyz”
strcat(s1,s2); // s1=“abcdefxyz”, s2=“xyz”
strncat(s1,s2,2); // s1=“abcdefxy”, s2=“xyz”

s1 = “Happy”
s2 = “New Year”

strcat( s1, s2 ) // s1= “Happy New Year”

strncat( s3, s1, 6 ) // s1= “Happy”
strcat( s3, s1 ) // s1= “Happy Happy New Year”
 PROGRAM EXAMPLES

o Example: (Copy String)

/* Copy string */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void main() {
char str1[] = "Copy a string.";
char str2[15];
char str3[15];
int i;

strcpy(str2, str1); // with strcpy()

for (i=0; str1[i]; i++) // without strcpy()

str3[i] = str1[i];
str3[i] = `\0';

/* print out str2 and str3 */

printf("The content of str2: %s\n", str2);
printf("The content of str3: %s\n", str3);
}
 SUMMARY

o Pointer is a variable that stores the address of another variable

o Pointer to pointer is a variable that saves another address of a pointer
o Data saved in a certain structure to be accessed as a group or individually. Some variables
saved using the same name distinguish by their index which called an array
o String is an array of characters that ended with a null character
ThankYOU...
 REFERENCES

o Paul J. Deitel & Harvey. Deitel. (2022). C how to program. 09. Pearson Education. Hoboken.
ISBN:978-0-13-739839-3. Chapter 7 & 8
o C Programming – Pointers: http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/c-language/c-pointers.html
o https://www.cs.bu.edu/teaching/cpp/string/array-vs-ptr/
o http://www.programiz.com/c-programming/library-function/string.h
o http://www.tutorialspoint.com/c_standard_library/string_h.htm
o Storing Similar Data Items: http://aelinik.free.fr/c/ch12.htm