C Programming NOTES
C Programming NOTES
C Programming NOTES
An introduction
A SIMPLE C PROGRAM
In C, lowercase and uppercase characters are very important! All commands in C must be lowercase. The C programs starting point is identified by the word
main()
This informs the computer as to where the program actually starts. The brackets that follow the keyword main indicate that there are no arguments supplied to this program (this will be examined later on). The two braces, { and }, signify the begin and end segments of the program. The purpose of the statment
#include <stdio.h>
is to allow the use of the printf statement to provide program output. Text to be displayed by printf() must be enclosed in double quotes. The program has only one statement
printf("Programming in C is easy.\n");
printf() is actually a function (procedure) in C that is used for printing variables and text. Where text appears in double quotes "", it is printed without modification. There are some exceptions however. This has to do with the \ and % characters. These characters are modifier's, and for the present the \ followed by the n character represents a newline character. Thus the program prints
Programming in C is easy.
and the cursor is set to the beginning of the next line. As we shall see later on, what follows the \ character will determine what is printed, ie, a tab, clear screen, clear line etc. Another important thing to remember is that all C statements are terminated by a semi-colon ;
program execution begins at main() keywords are written in lower-case statements are terminated with a semi-colon text strings are enclosed in double quotes C is case sensitive, use lower-case and try not to capitalise variable names \n means position the cursor on the beginning of the next line printf() can be used to display text to the screen the curly braces {} define the beginning and end of a program block
A SIMPLE C PROGRAM
This shows a C and Pascal program side by side, for comparison purposes.
#include <stdio.h> main() { printf("Programming in C is easy.\n"); in C is easy') } program One (output);
Note how the braces are similar in usage to the begin and end statements in Pascal. Note also that C encloses strings in double quotes, whereas Pascal uses single quotes. CLASS EXERCISE C1
Another thing about programming in C is that it is not necessary to repeatedly call the printf routine, so try and work out what the following program displays,
#include <stdio.h> main() { printf("Hello...\n..oh my\n...when do i stop?\n"); }
#include <stdio.h> main() { printf("The black dog was big. "); printf("The cow jumped over the moon.\n"); }
The black dog was big. The cow jumped over the moon. _
C provides the programmer with FOUR basic data types. User defined variables must be declared before they can be used in a program.
Get into the habit of declaring variables using lowercase characters. Remember that C is case sensitive, so even though the two variables listed below have the same name, they are considered different variables in C.
sum Sum
It is possible to declare variables elsewhere in a program, but lets start simply and then get into variations later on. The basic format for declaring variables is
data_type var, var, ... ;
where data_type is one of the four basic types, an integer, character, float, or double type. The program declares the variable sum to be of type INTEGER (int). The variable sum is then assigned the value of 500 + 15 by using the assignment operator, the = sign.
sum = 500 + 15;
Now lets look more closely at the printf() statement. It has two arguments, separated by a comma. Lets look at the first argument,
"The sum of 500 and 15 is %d\n"
The % sign is a special character in C. It is used to display the value of variables. When the program is executed, C starts printing the text until it finds a % character. If it finds one, it looks up for the next argument (in this case sum), displays its value, then continues on.
The d character that follows the % indicates that a decimal integer is expected. So, when the %d sign is reached, the next argument to the printf() routine is looked up (in this case the variable sum, which is 515), and displayed. The \n is then executed which prints the newline character. The output of the program is thus,
The sum of 500 and 15 is 515 _
Variable Formatters %d decimal integer %c character %s string or character array %f float %e double
The following program prints out two integer values separated by a TAB It does this by using the \t cursor control formatter
#include <stdio.h> main() { int sum, value; sum = 10; value = 15; printf("%d\t%d\n", sum, value); }
CLASS EXERCISE C2
value1 = 35; value2 = 18; sum = value1 + value2; printf("The sum of %d and %d is %d\n", value1, value2, sum); }
Note that the program declares three variables, all integers, on the same declaration line. This could've been done by three separate declarations,
int int int value1; value2; sum;
value1 = 35; value2 = 18; sum = value1 + value2; printf("The sum of %d and %d is %d\n", value1, value2, sum); }
COMMENTS
The addition of comments inside programs is desirable. These may be added to C programs by enclosing them as follows,
/* bla bla bla bla bla bla */
Note that the /* opens the comment field and */ closes the comment field. Comments may span multiple lines. Comments may not be nested one inside another.
/* this is a comment. /* this comment is inside */ wrong */
In the above example, the first occurrence of */ closes the comment statement for the entire line, meaning that the text wrong is interpreted as a C statement or variable, and in this example, generates an error.
documentation of variables and their usage explaining difficult sections of code describes the program, author, date, modification changes, revisions etc copyrighting
/* any global variables declared here /* FUNCTIONS SECTION /* user defined functions /* main() SECTION int main() { }
*/ */ */ */
Variables must begin with a character or underscore, and may be followed by any combination of characters, underscores, or the digits 0 - 9. The following is a list of valid variable names,
summary exit_flag i Jerry7 Number_of_moves _valid_flag
You should ensure that you use meaningful names for your variables. The reasons for this are,
meaningful names for variables are self documenting (see what they do at a glance) they are easier to understand there is no correlation with the amount of space used in the .EXE file makes programs easier to read
CLASS EXERCISE C3
During the development of OS/2, it became common to add prefix letters to variable names to indicate the data type of variables. This enabled programmers to identify the data type of the variable without looking at its declaration, thus they could easily check to see if they were performing the correct operations on the data type and hopefully, reduce the number of errors.
Prefix b c clr f h hwnd id l msg P rc s ul us sz psz Purpose or Type a byte value count or size a variable that holds a color bitfields or flags a handle a window handle an identity a long integer a message a Pointer return value short integer unsigned long integer unsigned short integer a null terminated string variable a pointer to a null terminated string variable
In viewing code written for Windows or OS/2, you may see variables written according to this convention.
INTEGER
These are whole numbers, both positive and negative. Unsigned integers (positive values only) are supported. In addition, there are short and long integers. The keyword used to define integers is,
int
An example of an integer value is 32. An example of declaring an integer variable called sum is,
int sum; sum = 20;
FLOATING POINT These are numbers which contain fractional parts, both positive and negative. The keyword used to define float variables is,
float
An example of a float value is 34.12. An example of declaring a float variable called money is,
float money; money = 0.12;
DOUBLE These are exponetional numbers, both positive and negative. The keyword used to define double variables is,
double
An example of a double value is 3.0E2. An example of declaring a double variable called big is,
double big; big = 312E+7;
CHARACTER These are single characters. The keyword used to define character variables is,
char
An example of a character value is the letter A. An example of declaring a character variable called letter is,
char letter; letter = 'A';
Note the assignment of the character A to the variable letter is done by enclosing the value in single quotes. Remember the golden rule: Single character - Use single quotes.
/* assign a double value */ sum = %d\n", sum ); money = %f\n", money ); letter = %c\n", letter ); pi = %e\n", pi );
Sample program output value of sum = 10 value of money = 2.210000 value of letter = A value of pi = 2.010000e+06
Unlike PASCAL, in C variables may be initialized with a value when they are declared. Consider the following declaration, which declares an integer variable count which is initialized to 10.
int count = 10;
The = operator is used to assign values to data variables. Consider the following statement, which assigns the value 32 an integer variable count, and the letter A to the character variable letter
count = 32; letter = 'A';
Lets examine what the default value a variable is assigned when its declared. To do this, lets consider the following program, which declares two variables, count which is an integer, and letter which is a character.
Neither variable is pre-initialized. The value of each variable is printed out using a printf() statement.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int char count; letter;
It can be seen from the sample output that the values which each of the variables take on at declaration time are no-zero. In C, this is common, and programmers must ensure that variables are assigned values before using them. If the program was run again, the output could well have different values for each of the variables. We can never assume that variables declare in the manner above will take on a specific value. Some compilers may issue warnings related to the use of variables, and Turbo C from Borland issues the following warning,
possible use of 'count' before definition in function main
RADIX CHANGING
Data numbers may be expressed in any base by simply altering the modifier, e.g., decimal, octal, or hexadecimal. This is achieved by the letter which follows the % sign related to the printf argument.
#include <stdio.h> main() /* Prints the same value in Decimal, Hex and Octal */ {
int
number = 100;
printf("In decimal the number is %d\n", number); printf("In hex the number is %x\n", number); printf("In octal the number is %o\n", number); /* what about %X\n as an argument? */ }
Sample program output In decimal the number is 100 In hex the number is 64 In octal the number is 144
Note how the variable number is initialized to zero at the time of its declaration.
Often, when writing systems programs, the programmer needs to use a different number base rather than the default decimal. Integer constants can be defined in octal or hex by using the associated prefix, e.g., to define an integer as an octal constant use %o
int sum = %o567;
C displays both float and double variables to six decimal places. This does NOT refer to the precision (accuracy) of which the number is actually stored, only how many decimal places printf() uses to display these variable types. The following program illustrates how the different data types are declared and displayed,
#include <stdio.h> main() { int char float double sum = 100; letter = 'Z'; set1 = 23.567; num2 = 11e+23;
printf("Integer variable is %d\n", sum); printf("Character is %c\n", letter); printf("Float variable is %f\n", set1); printf("Double variable is %e\n", num2); }
Sample program output Integer variable is 100 Character variable is Z Float variable is 23.567000 Double variable is 11.000000e23
To change the number of decimal places printed out for float or double variables, modify the %f or %e to include a precision value, eg,
printf("Float variable is %.2f\n", set1 );
In this case, the use of %.2f limits the output to two decimal places, and the output now looks like
Sample program output Integer variable is 100 Character variable is Z Float variable is 23.56 Double variable is 11.000000e23
Even though the above declaration seems to work, it is not always 100% reliable. Note how answer does not contain a proper fractional part (ie, all zero's). To ensure that the correct result always occurs, the data type of value1 and value2 should be converted to a float type before assigning to the float variable answer. The following change illustrates how this can be done,
answer = (float)value1 / (float) value2;
A normal integer is limited in range to +-32767. This value differs from computer to computer. It is possible in C to specify that an integer be stored in four memory locations instead of the normal two. This increases the effective range and allows very large integers to be stored. The way in which this is done is as follows,
long int big_number = 245032L;
The size occupied by integers varies upon the machine hardware. ANSI C (American National Standards Institute) has tried to standardise upon the size of data types, and hence the number range of each type.
The following information is from the on-line help of the Turbo C compiler,
Type: int Integer data type Variables of type int are one word in length. They can be signed (default) or unsigned, which means they have a range of -32768 to 32767 and 0 to 65535, respectively.
Type modifiers: signed, unsigned, short, long A type modifier alters the meaning of the base type to yield a new type. Each of the above can be applied to the base type int. The modifiers signed and unsigned can be applied to the base type char. In addition, long can be applied to double. When the base type is ommitted from a declaration, int is assumed. Examples: long unsigned char signed int unsigned long int
PREPROCESSOR STATEMENTS
The define statement is used to make programs more readable. Consider the following examples,
#define TRUE character on line */ #define FALSE #define NULL #define AND #define OR #define EQUALS 1 0 0 & | == /* Don't use a semi-colon , # must be first
Note that preprocessor statements begin with a # symbol, and are NOT terminated by a semicolon. Traditionally, preprocessor statements are listed at the beginning of the source file. Preprocessor statements are handled by the compiler (or preprocessor) before the program is actually compiled. All # statements are processed first, and the symbols (like TRUE) which occur in the C program are replaced by their value (like 1). Once this substitution has taken place by the preprocessor, the program is then compiled. In general, preprocessor constants are written in UPPERCASE.
PREPROCESSOR STATEMENTS
The define statement is used to make programs more readable, and allow the inclusion of macros. Consider the following examples,
#define TRUE character on line */ #define FALSE #define NULL #define AND #define OR #define EQUALS 1 0 0 & | == game_over = TRUE; while( list_pointer != NULL ) ................ /* Do not use a semi-colon , # must be first
Macros Macros are inline code which are substituted at compile time. The definition of a macro, which accepts an argument when referenced,
#define SQUARE(x) (x)*(x)
y = SQUARE(v);
In this case, v is equated with x in the macro definition of square, so the variable y is assigned the square of v. The brackets in the macro definition of square are necessary for correct evaluation. The expansion of the macro becomes
y = (v) * (v);
Class Exercise C4
Answers
Use pre-processor statements to replace the following constants
0.312 W 37
0.312 'W' 37
Lets now examine a few examples of using these symbolic constants in our programs. Consider the following program which defines a constant called TAX_RATE.
#include <stdio.h> #define TAX_RATE main() { float balance; float tax; balance = 72.10; tax = balance * TAX_RATE; printf("The tax on %.2f is %.2f\n", balance, tax ); } 0.10
The pre-processor first replaces all symbolic constants before the program is compiled, so after preprocessing the file (and before its compiled), it now looks like,
#include <stdio.h> #define TAX_RATE main() { float balance; float tax; balance = 72.10; tax = balance * 0.10; printf("The tax on %.2f is %.2f\n", balance, tax ); } 0.10
Considering the above program as an example, look at the changes we have made below. We have added a statement which tries to change the TAX_RATE to a new value.
#include <stdio.h> #define TAX_RATE main() { float balance; float tax; balance = 72.10; TAX_RATE = 0.15; tax = balance * TAX_RATE; 0.10
As shown above, the preprocessor performs literal substitution of symbolic constants. Lets modify the previous program slightly, and introduce an error to highlight a problem.
#include <stdio.h> #define TAX_RATE main() { float balance; float tax; balance = 72.10; tax = (balance * TAX_RATE )+ 10.02; printf("The tax on %.2f is %.2f\n", balance, tax ); } 0.10;
In this case, the error that has been introduced is that the #define is terminated with a semi-colon. The preprocessor performs the substitution and the offending line (which is flagged as an error by the compiler) looks like
tax = (balance * 0.10; )+ 10.02;
However, you do not see the output of the preprocessor. If you are using TURBO C, you will only see
tax = (balance * TAX_RATE )+ 10.02;
flagged as an error, and this actually looks okay (but its not! after substitution takes place).
The whole point of using #define in your programs is to make them easier to read and modify. Considering the above programs as examples, what changes would you need to make if the TAX_RATE was changed to 20%. Obviously, the answer is once, where the #define statement which declares the symbolic constant and its value occurs. You would change it to read
#define TAX_RATE = 0.20
Without the use of symbolic constants, you would hard code the value 0.20 in your program, and this might occur several times (or tens of times). This would make changes difficult, because you would need to search and replace every occurrence in the program. However, as the programs get larger, what would happen if you actually used the value 0.20 in a calculation that had nothing to do with the TAX_RATE!
SUMMARY OF #define
allow the use of symbolic constants in programs in general, symbols are written in uppercase are not terminated with a semi-colon generally occur at the beginning of the file each occurrence of the symbol is replaced by its value makes programs readable and easy to maintain
HEADER FILES
Header files contain definitions of functions and variables which can be incorporated into any C program by using the pre-processor #include statement. Standard header files are provided with each compiler, and cover a range of areas, string handling, mathematical, data conversion, printing and reading of variables. To use any of the standard functions, the appropriate header file should be included. This is done at the beginning of the C source file. For example, to use the function printf() in a program, the line
#include <stdio.h>
should be at the beginning of the source file, because the definition for printf() is found in the file stdio.h All header files have the extension .h and generally reside in the /include subdirectory.
#include <stdio.h> #include "mydecls.h"
The use of angle brackets <> informs the compiler to search the compilers include directory for the specified file. The use of the double quotes "" around the filename inform the compiler to search in the current directory for the specified file.
5. Declare a variable called arctan which will hold scientific notation values (+e)
double arctan;
int sum; sum int; 2. The statement that correctly defines a character called letter is letter := char; char letter; letter : char; character letter; 3. The correct define statement for a constant called TRUE, which has a value of 1 is int TRUE = 1; #define TRUE = 1 #define TRUE 1; #define TRUE 1 4. The correct definition for a variable called money which can be used to hold currency, is money : real; real money; float money; money float; 5. The correct definition of a variable called arctan which will hold scientific notation values (+e), is arctan : float; real arctan; double arctan; arctan float; 6. The correct definition of an integer variable called total initialized to zero, is total : integer = 0; total = 0, int;
int total = 0; int = 0, total; 7. The correct definition of a variable called loop, which can hold an integer value, is loop : integer; integer loop; int loop; loop int; 8. The correct define statement for a constant called GST with a value of .125, is #define GST 0.125 GST .125; float GST=0.125; #define GST .125;
ARITHMETIC OPERATORS
The symbols of the arithmetic operators are:Operation Operator Comment Multiply Divide Addition Subtraction Increment Decrement Modulus * / + ++ -% sum = sum * 2; sum = sum / 2; sum = sum + 2; sum = sum -2; ++sum; --sum; sum = sum % 3; Value of Sum before Value of sum after 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 8 2 6 2 5 3 1
The following code fragment adds the variables loop and count together, leaving the result in the variable sum
sum = loop + count;
Note: If the modulus % sign is needed to be displayed as part of a text string, use two, ie %%
#include <stdio.h> main() { int sum = 50; float modulus; modulus = sum % 10; printf("The %% of %d by 10 is %f\n", sum, modulus); }
CLASS EXERCISE C5
What does the following change do to the printed output of the previous program?
printf("The %% of %d by 10 is %.2f\n", sum, modulus);
The % of 50 by 10 is 0.00 _
2. Assign the sum of the two variables loop_count and petrol_cost to the variable sum
sum = loop_count + petrol_cost;
3. Divide the variable total by the value 10 and leave the result in the variable discount
discount = total / 10;
5. Assign the result of dividing the integer variable sum by 3 into the float variable costing. Use type casting to ensure that the remainder is also held by the float variable.
costing = (float) sum / 3;
5. The correct statement which assign the decimal result of dividing the integer variable sum by 3 into the float variable costing, is ( Use type casting to ensure that floating point division is performed) Given: int sum = 7; float costing; (float) costing = sum / 3; costing = (float) (sum / 3); costing = (float) sum / 3; costing = float ( sum / 3 );
PRE means do the operation first followed by any assignment operation. POST means do the operation after any assignment operation. Consider the following statements
++count; count++; /* PRE Increment, means add one to count */ /* POST Increment, means add one to count */
In the above example, because the value of count is not assigned to any variable, the effects of the PRE/POST operation are not clearly visible. Lets examine what happens when we use the operator along with an assignment operation. Consider the following program,
#include <stdio.h> main() { int count = 0, loop; loop = ++count; */ printf("loop = %d, count = %d\n", loop, count); loop = count++; */ printf("loop = %d, count = %d\n", loop, count); } /* same as loop = count; count = count + 1; /* same as count = count + 1; loop = count;
loop = 1; count = 2
If the operator precedes (is on the left hand side) of the variable, the operation is performed first, so the statement
loop = ++count;
really means increment count first, then assign the new value of count to loop.
Where the increment/decrement operation is used to adjust the value of a variable, and is not involved in an assignment operation, which should you use,
++loop_count; or loop_count++;
The answer is, it really does not matter. It does seem that there is a preference amongst C programmers to use the post form.
Whilst we are on the subject, do not get into the habit of using a space(s) between the variable name and the pre/post operator.
loop_count ++;
GOOD FORM
Perhaps we should say programming style or readability. The most common complaints we would have about beginning C programmers can be summarized as,
Your programs will be quicker to write and easier to debug if you get into the habit of actually formatting the layout correctly as you write it. For instance, look at the program below
#include<stdio.h> main() { int sum,loop,kettle,job; char Whoknows; sum=9; loop=7; whoKnows='A'; printf("Whoknows=%c,kettle=%d\n",whoknows,kettle); }
It is our contention that the program is hard to read, and because of this, will be difficult to debug for errors by an inexperienced programmer. It also contains a few deliberate mistakes! Okay then, lets rewrite the program using good form.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int sum, loop, kettle = 0, job; char whoknows; sum = 9; loop = 7; whoknows = 'A'; printf( "Whoknows = %c, kettle = %d\n", whoknows, kettle ); }
the { and } braces directly line up underneath each other This allows us to check ident levels and ensure that statements belong to the correct block of code. This becomes vital as programs become more complex spaces are inserted for readability We as humans write sentences using spaces between words. This helps our comprehension of what we read (if you dont believe me, try reading the following sentence. wishihadadollarforeverytimeimadeamistake. The insertion of spaces will also help us identify mistakes quicker.
good indentation Indent levels (tab stops) are clearly used to block statements, here we clearly see and identify functions, and the statements which belong to each { } program body. initialization of variables The first example prints out the value of kettle, a variable that has no initial value. This is corrected in the second example.
KEYBOARD INPUT
There is a function in C which allows the programmer to accept input from a keyboard. The following program illustrates the use of this function,
#include <stdio.h> main() { int /* program which introduces keyboard input */ number;
printf("Type in a number \n"); scanf("%d", &number); printf("The number you typed was %d\n", number); }
Sample Program Output Type in a number 23 The number you typed was 23
An integer called number is defined. A prompt to enter in a number is then printed using the statement
printf("Type in a number \n:");
The scanf routine, which accepts the response, has two arguments. The first ("%d") specifies what type of data type is expected (ie char, int, or float). List of formatters for scanf() found here. The second argument (&number) specifies the variable into which the typed response will be placed. In this case the response will be placed into the memory location associated with the variable number. This explains the special significance of the & character (which means the address of).
Sample program illustrating use of scanf() to read integers, characters and floats
#include < stdio.h > main() { int sum; char letter; float money; printf("Please enter an integer value "); scanf("%d", &sum ); printf("Please enter a character "); /* the leading space before the %c ignores space characters in the input */ scanf(" %c", &letter );
printf("Please enter a float variable "); scanf("%f", &money ); printf("\nThe printf("value printf("value printf("value } variables you entered were\n"); of sum = %d\n", sum ); of letter = %c\n", letter ); of money = %f\n", money );
Sample Program Output Please enter an integer value 34 Please enter a character W Please enter a float variable 32.3 The variables you entered were value of sum = 34 value of letter = W value of money = 32.300000
the c language provides no error checking for user input. The user is expected to enter the correct data type. For instance, if a user entered a character when an integer value was expected, the program may enter an infinite loop or abort abnormally. its up to the programmer to validate data for correct type and range of values.
2. Use a printf statement to print out the text string "Welcome", followed by a newline.
printf("Welcome\n");
5. Use a printf statement to print out the float variable dump using two decimal places
printf("%.2f", dump);
6. Use a scanf statement to read a decimal value from the keyboard, into the integer variable sum
scanf("%d", &sum);
7. Use a scanf statement to read a float variable into the variable discount_rate
scanf("%f", &discount_rate);
8. Use a scanf statement to read a single character from the keyboard into the variable operator. Skip leading blanks, tabs and newline characters.
scanf(" %c", &operator);
3. The statement which prints out the value of the character variable letter, is printf(letter); printf("%c", &letter); printf("%d", letter); printf("%c", letter); 4. The statement which prints out the value of the float variable discount, is printf("%s", discount); print('discount'); printf("%f", discount); printf("%d", discount); 5. The statement which prints out the value of the float variable dump using two decimal places, is printf("%f", dump); printf("%.2f", dump); printf("%2f", dump); printf("%f", &dump); 6. The statement to read a decimal value from the keyboard, into the integer variable sum, is scanf("%d", &sum); scanf(sum); scanf("%s", sum); scanf("%f", &sum); 7. The statement to read a float value into the variable discount_rate is scanf("%f", discount_rate); scanf("%d", &discount_rate); scanf(discount_rate); scanf("%f", &discount_rate);
8. The statement to read a single character from the keyboard into the variable operator, skipping leading blanks, tabs and newline characters, is scanf("%s", operator); scanf("%c", &operator); scanf(" %c", &operator); scanf("%c", operator);
THE RELATIONAL OPERATORS These allow the comparision of two or more variables. Operator Meaning == != < <= > >= equal to not equal less than less than or equal to greater than greater than or equal to
In the next few screens, these will be used in for loops and if statements. The operator
<>
/* sample program using a for statement */ #include <stdio.h> main() { /* Program introduces the for statement, counts to ten */ int count;
for( count = 1; count <= 10; count = count + 1 ) printf("%d ", count ); printf("\n"); }
The program declares an integer variable count. The first part of the for statement
for( count = 1;
initialises the value of count to 1. The for loop continues whilst the condition
count <= 10;
evaluates as TRUE. As the variable count has just been initialised to 1, this condition is TRUE and so the program statement
printf("%d ", count );
is executed, which prints the value of count to the screen, followed by a space character. Next, the remaining statement of the for is executed
count = count + 1 );
which adds one to the current value of count. Control now passes back to the conditional test,
count <= 10;
is executed. Count is incremented again, the condition re-evaluated etc, until count reaches a value of 11. When this occurs, the conditional test
count <= 10;
evaluates as FALSE, and the for loop terminates, and program control passes to the statement
printf("\n");
which prints a newline, and then the program terminates, as there are no more statements left to execute.
/* sample program using a for statement */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int n, t_number;
t_number = 0; for( n = 1; n <= 200; n = n + 1 ) t_number = t_number + n; printf("The 200th triangular_number is %d\n", t_number); }
The above program uses a for loop to calculate the sum of the numbers from 1 to 200 inclusive (said to be the triangular number).
The following diagram shows the order of processing each part of a for
In the above example, the variable total is initialised to 0 as the first part of the for loop. The two statements,
for( total = 0, loop = 1;
are part of the initialisation. This illustrates that more than one statement is allowed, as long as they are separated by commas.
The following diagram shows the initial state of the program, after the initialization of the variables x, y, and z.
On entry to the for statement, the first expression is executed, which in our example assigns the value 1 to x. This can be seen in the graphic shown below (Note: see the Variable Values: section)
The next part of the for is executed, which tests the value of the loop variable x against the constant 6.
It can be seen from the variable window that x has a current value of 1, so the test is successful, and program flow branches to execute the statements of the for body, which prints out the value of y, then adds 1 to y. You can see the program output and the state of the variables shown in the graphic below.
After executing the statements of the for body, execution returns to the last part of the for statement. Here, the value of x is incremented by 1. This is seen by the value of x changing to 2.
Next, the condition of the for variable is tested again. It continues because the value of it (2) is less than 6, so the body of the loop is executed again. Execution continues till the value of x reaches 7. Lets now jump ahead in the animation to see this. Here, the condition test will fail, and the for statement finishes, passing control to the statement which follows.
EXERCISE C6
Rewrite the previous program by calculating the 200th triangular number, and make the program shorter (if possible).
CLASS EXERCISE C7
CLASS EXERCISE C8 Change the printf line of the above program to the following,
printf(" %2d %2d\n",n,t_number);
EXERCISE C9 Create a C program which calculates the triangular number of the users request, read from the keyboard using scanf(). A triangular number is the sum of the preceding numbers, so the triangular number 7 has a value of 7+6+5+4+3+2+1 Answer: EXERCISE C6
#include <stdio.h> main() { int n = 1, t_number = 0;
for( ; n <= 200; n++ ) t_number = t_number + n; printf("The 200th triangular_number is %d\n", t_number); }
a = 2
assignment
The inclusion of the 2 in the %d statements achieves a field width of two places, and prints a leading 0 where the value is less than 10.
Answer: EXERCISE C9
#include <stdio.h> main() { int n = 1, t_number = 0, input;
printf("Enter a number\n"); scanf("%d", &input); for( ; n <= input; n++ ) t_number = t_number + n; printf("The triangular_number of %d is %d\n", input, t_number); }
3. Write a for loop which sums all values between 10 and 100 into a variable called total. Assume that total has NOT been initialized to zero. 4. Write a for loop to print out the character set from A-Z.
PRACTISE EXERCISE 4
for loops
2. Write a for loop which will produce the following output (hint: use two nested for loops)
1 22 333 4444 55555 for( loop = 1; loop <= 5; loop = loop + 1 ) { for( count = 1; count <= loop; count printf("%d", loop ); printf("\n"); }
= count + 1 )
3. Write a for loop which sums all values between 10 and 100 into a variable called total. Assume that total has NOT been initialized to zero.
for( loop = 10, total = 0; loop <= 100; loop = loop + 1 ) total = total + loop;
4. Write a for loop to print out the character set from A-Z.
for( ch = 'A'; ch <= 'Z'; ch = ch + 1 ) printf("%c", ch ); printf("\n");
PRACTISE EXERCISE 4
For loops
This browser supports JavaScript.
1. The statement which prints out the values 1 to 10 on separate lines, is Statement 1
for( count = 1; count <= 10; count = count + 1) printf("%d\n", count);
Statement 2
for( count = 1; count < 10; count = count + 1) printf("%d\n", count);
Statement 3
for( count = 0; count <= 9; count = count + 1) printf("%d ", count);
Statement 4
for( count = 1; count <> 10; count = count + 1) printf("%d\n", count);
2. The statement which produces the following output is, (hint: use two nested for loops)
1 22 333 4444 55555
Statement 1
for(a = 1; a <= 5; a = a + 1) { for( b = 1; b <= 5; b = b + 1) printf("%d", b); printf("\n"); }
Statement 2
for( a = 1; a <= 5; a = a + 1) { for( b = 1; b <= a; b = b + 1) printf("%d", a); printf("\n"); }
Statement 3
for( a = 1; a <= 5; a = a + 1) { for( b = a; b <= 5; b = b + 1) printf("%d", b); printf("\n"); }
Statement 4
for( a = 1; a <= 5; a = a + 1) { for( b = 1; b < a; b = b + a) printf("%d", b); printf("\n"); }
3. The statement which sums all values between 10 and 100 into a variable called total is, assuming that total has NOT been initialised to zero.
Statement 1
for( a = 10; a <= 100; a = a + 1) total = total + a;
Statement 2
for( a = 10; a < 100; a = a + 1, total = 0) total = total + a;
Statement 3
for( a = 10; a <= 100, total = 0; a = a + 1) total = total + a;
Statement 4
for( a = 10, total = 0; a <= 100; a = a + 1) total = total + a;
4. The statement that prints out the character set from A-Z, is
Statement 1
for( a = 'A'; a < 'Z'; a = a + 1) printf("%c", a);
Statement 2
for( a = 'a'; a <= 'z'; a = a + 1) printf("%c", &a);
Statement 3
for( a = 'A'; a <= 'Z'; a = a + 1) printf("%c", a);
Statement 4
The while provides a mechanism for repeating C statements whilst a condition is true. Its format is,
while( condition ) program statement;
Somewhere within the body of the while loop a statement must alter the value of the condition to allow the loop to finish.
/* Sample program including while #include <stdio.h> main() { int loop = 0; */
whilst the value of the variable loop is less than or equal to 10.
Note how the variable upon which the while is dependant is initialised prior to the while statement (in this case the previous line), and also that the value of the variable is altered within the loop, so that eventually the conditional test will succeed and the while loop will terminate. This program is functionally equivalent to the earlier for program which counted to ten.
The do { } while statement allows a loop to continue whilst a condition evaluates as TRUE (nonzero). The loop is executed as least once.
/* Demonstration of DO...WHILE #include <stdio.h> main() { int value, r_digit; */
printf("Enter the number to be reversed.\n"); scanf("%d", &value); do { r_digit = value % 10; printf("%d", r_digit); value = value / 10; } while( value != 0 ); printf("\n"); }
The above program reverses a number that is entered by the user. It does this by using the modulus % operator to extract the right most digit into the variable r_digit. The original number is then divided by 10, and the operation repeated whilst the number is not equal to 0.
It is our contention that this programming construct is improper and should be avoided. It has potential problems, and you should be aware of these. One such problem is deemed to be lack of control. Considering the above program code portion,
do { r_digit = value % 10; printf("%d", r_digit); value = value / 10; } while( value != 0 );
there is NO choice whether to execute the loop. Entry to the loop is automatic, as you only get a choice to continue. Another problem is that the loop is always executed at least once. This is a by-product of the lack of control. This means its possible to enter a do { } while loop with invalid data. Beginner programmers can easily get into a whole heap of trouble, so our advice is to avoid its use. This is the only time that you will encounter it in this course. Its easy to avoid the use of this construct by replacing it with the following algorithms,
initialise loop control variable while( loop control variable is valid ) { process data adjust control variable if necessary }
Okay, lets now rewrite the above example to remove the do { } while construct.
/* rewritten code to remove construct */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int value, r_digit;
value = 0; while( value <= 0 ) { printf("Enter the number to be reversed.\n"); scanf("%d", &value); if( value <= 0 ) printf("The number must be positive\n"); } while( value != 0 ) { r_digit = value % 10; printf("%d", r_digit); value = value / 10; } printf("\n"); }
Sample Program Output Enter the number to be reversed. -43 The number must be positive Enter the number to be reversed. 423 324
MAKING DECISIONS
SELECTION (IF STATEMENTS)
The if statements allows branching (decision making) depending upon the value or state of variables. This allows statements to be executed or skipped, depending upon decisions. The basic format is,
if( expression ) program statement;
Example;
if( students < 65 ) ++student_count;
In the above example, the variable student_count is incremented by one only if the value of the integer variable students is less than 65.
The following program uses an if statement to validate the users input to be in the range 1-10.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int number; int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter a number between 1 and 10 -->"); scanf("%d", &number); /* assume number is valid */ valid = 1; if( number < 1 ) { printf("Number is below 1. Please re-enter\n"); valid = 0; } if( number > 10 ) { printf("Number is above 10. Please reenter\n"); valid = 0; } } printf("The number is %d\n", number );
Sample Program Output Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> -78 Number is below 1. Please re-enter Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> 4 The number is 4
EXERCISE C10
Write a C program that allows the user to enter in 5 grades, ie, marks between 0 - 100. The program must calculate the average mark, and state the number of marks less than 65.
Write a C program that allows the user to enter in 5 grades, ie, marks between 1 - 100. The program must calculate the average mark, and state the number of marks less than 65.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int grade; /* float average; /* int loop; /* int sum; /* int valid_entry; int failures; /* sum = 0; failures = 0; to hold the entered grade */ the average mark */ loop count */ running total of all entered grades */ /* for validation of entered grade */ number of people with less than 65 */
for( loop = 0; loop < 5; loop = loop + 1 ) { valid_entry = 0; while( valid_entry == 0 ) { printf("Enter mark (1-100):"); scanf(" %d", &grade ); if ((grade > 1 ) { if( grade < 100 ) valid_entry = 1; } } if( grade < 65 )
failures++; sum = sum + grade; } average = (float) sum / loop; printf("The average mark was %.2f\n", average ); printf("The number less than 65 was %d\n", failures ); }
Consider the following program which determines whether a character entered from the keyboard is within the range A to Z.
#include <stdio.h> main() { char letter; printf("Enter a character -->"); scanf(" %c", &letter ); if( letter >= 'A' ) { if( letter <= 'Z' ) printf("The character is within A to Z\n"); } }
The program does not print any output if the character entered is not within the range A to Z. This can be addressed on the following pages with the if else construct. Please note use of the leading space in the statement (before %c)
scanf(" %c", &letter );
This enables the skipping of leading TABS, Spaces, (collectively called whitespaces) and the ENTER KEY. If the leading space was not used, then the first entered character would be used, and scanf would not ignore the whitespace characters.
Because of the way in which float types are stored, it makes it very difficult to compare float
types for equality. Avoid trying to compare float variables for equality, or you may encounter unpredictable results.
The else clause allows action to be taken where the condition evaluates as false (zero).
The following program uses an if else statement to validate the users input to be in the range 1-10.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int number; int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter a number scanf("%d", &number); if( number < 1 ) { printf("Number valid = 0; } else if( number > 10 ) printf("Number enter\n"); valid = 0; } else valid = 1; } printf("The number is %d\n", number ); }
Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> 12 Number is above 10. Please re-enter Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> 5 The number is 5
This program is slightly different from the previous example in that an else clause is used to set the variable valid to 1. In this program, the logic should be easier to follow.
/* Illustates nested if else and multiple arguments to the scanf function. */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int char float invalid_operator = 0; operator; number1, number2, result;
printf("Enter two numbers and an operator in the format\n"); printf(" number1 operator number2\n"); scanf("%f %c %f", &number1, &operator, &number2); if(operator == '*') result = number1 else if(operator == '/') result = number1 else if(operator == '+') result = number1 else if(operator == '-') result = number1 else invalid_operator
if( invalid_operator != 1 ) printf("%f %c %f is %f\n", number1, operator, number2, result ); else printf("Invalid operator.\n"); }
Sample Program Output Enter two numbers and an operator in the format number1 operator number2 23.2 + 12 23.2 + 12 is 35.2
MAKING DECISIONS
3. Use an if statement to compare the value of an integer called sum against the value 65, and if it is less, print the text string "Sorry, try again". 4. If total is equal to the variable good_guess, print the value of total, else print the value of good_guess.
MAKING DECISIONS
#include <stdio.h> main() { int loop; loop = 1; while( loop <= 10 ) { printf("%d", loop); loop++; }
printf("\n"); }
#include <stdio.h> main() { int loop; int count; loop = 1; while( loop <= 5 ) { count = 1; while( count <= loop ) { printf("%d", count); count++; } loop++; } printf("\n"); }
3. Use an if statement to compare the value of an integer called sum against the value 65, and if it is less, print the text string "Sorry, try again".
if( sum < 65 ) printf("Sorry, try again.\n");
4. If total is equal to the variable good_guess, print the value of total, else print the value of good_guess.
if( total == good_guess ) printf("%d\n", total ); else printf("%d\n", good_guess );
LOGICAL OR
||
LOGICAL NOT
LOGICAL EOR
Logical eor will be excuted if either condition is TRUE, but NOT if they are all true.
The following program uses an if statement with logical OR to validate the users input to be in the range 1-10.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int number; int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter a number between 1 and 10 -->"); scanf("%d", &number); if( (number < 1 ) || (number > 10) ){ printf("Number is outside range 1-10. Please re-enter\n"); valid = 0; } else
Sample Program Output Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> 56 Number is outside range 1-10. Please re-enter Enter a number between 1 and 10 --> 6 The number is 6
This program is slightly different from the previous example in that a LOGICAL OR eliminates one of the else clauses.
Sample Program Output The flag is not set. The value of flag is 1
The program tests to see if flag is not (!) set; equal to zero. It then prints the appropriate message, changes the state of flag; flag becomes equal to not flag; equal to 1. Finally the value of flag is printed.
Consider where a value is to be inputted from the user, and checked for validity to be within a certain range, lets say between the integer values 1 and 100.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int number; int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter a number between 1 and 100"); scanf("%d", &number ); if( (number < 1) || (number > 100) ) printf("Number is outside legal range\n"); else valid = 1; } printf("Number is %d\n", number ); }
Sample Program Output Enter a number between 1 and 100 203 Number is outside legal range Enter a number between 1 and 100 -2 Number is outside legal range Enter a number between 1 and 100 37 Number is 37
The program uses valid, as a flag to indicate whether the inputted data is within the required range of allowable values. The while loop continues whilst valid is 0. The statement
if( (number < 1) || (number > 100) )
checks to see if the number entered by the user is within the valid range, and if so, will set the value of valid to 1, allowing the while loop to exit.
Now consider writing a program which validates a character to be within the range A-Z, in other words alphabetic.
#include <stdio.h> main() { char ch; int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter a character A-Z"); scanf(" %c", &ch ); if( (ch >= 'A') && (ch <= 'Z') ) valid = 1; else printf("Character is outside legal range\n"); } printf("Character is %c\n", ch ); }
Sample Program Output Enter a character A-Z a Character is outside legal range Enter a character A-Z 0 Character is outside legal range Enter a character A-Z R Character is R
In this instance, the AND is used because we want validity between a range, that is all values between a low and high limit. In the previous case, we used an OR statement to test to see if it was outside or below the lower limit or above the higher limit.
switch() case:
The switch case statement is a better way of writing a program when a series of if elses occurs. The general format for this is,
switch ( expression ) { case value1: program statement; program statement; ...... break; case valuen:
The keyword break must be included at the end of each case statement. The default clause is optional, and is executed if the cases are not met. The right brace at the end signifies the end of the case selections.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int menu, numb1, numb2, total; printf("enter in two numbers -->"); scanf("%d %d", &numb1, &numb2 ); printf("enter in choice\n"); printf("1=addition\n"); printf("2=subtraction\n"); scanf("%d", &menu ); switch( menu ) { case 1: total = numb1 + numb2; break; case 2: total = numb1 - numb2; break; default: printf("Invalid option selected\n"); } if( menu == 1 ) printf("%d plus %d is %d\n", numb1, numb2, total ); else if( menu == 2 ) printf("%d minus %d is %d\n", numb1, numb2, total ); }
Sample Program Output enter in two numbers --> 37 23 enter in choice 1=addition 2=subtraction
2 37 minus 23 is 14
The above program uses a switch statement to validate and select upon the users input choice, simulating a simple menu of choices. EXERCISE C11 Rewrite the previous program, which accepted two numbers and an operator, using the switch case statement.
THE switch case STATEMENT
EXERCISE C11 Rewrite the previous program, which accepted two numbers and an operator, using the switch case statement.
/* Illustates nested if else and multiple arguments to the scanf function. */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int invalid_operator = 0; char operator; float number1, number2, result; printf("Enter two numbers and an operator in the format\n"); printf(" number1 operator number2\n"); scanf("%f %c %f", &number1, &operator, &number2); if(operator == '*') result = number1 else if(operator == '/') result = number1 else if(operator == '+') result = number1 else if(operator == '-') result = number1 else invalid_operator
if( invalid_operator != 1 ) printf("%f %c %f is %f\n", number1, operator, number2, result ); else printf("Invalid operator.\n"); }
Solution
/* Illustates switch */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int invalid_operator = 0; char operator; float number1, number2, result; printf("Enter two numbers and an operator in the format\n"); printf(" number1 operator number2\n"); scanf("%f %c %f", &number1, &operator, &number2); switch( operator ) { case '*' : result = number1 * number2; break; case '/' : result = number1 / number2; break; case '+' : result = number1 + number2; break; case '-' : result = number1 - number2; break; default : invalid_operator = 1; } switch( invalid_operator ) { case 1 : printf("Invalid operator.\n"); break; default : printf("%f %c %f is %f\n", number1, operator, number2, result ); } }
Practise Exercise 6
Compound Relationals and switch
1. if sum is equal to 10 and total is less than 20, print the text string "incorrect.". 2. if flag is 1 or letter is not an 'X', then assign the value 0 to exit_flag, else set exit_flag to 1. 3. rewrite the following statements using a switch statement
if( letter == 'X' ) sum = 0; else if ( letter == 'Z' ) valid_flag = 1; else if( letter == 'A' ) sum = 1; else printf("Unknown letter -->%c\n", letter );
1. if sum is equal to 10 and total is less than 20, print the text string "incorrect.".
if( (sum == 10) && (total < 20) ) printf("incorrect.\n");
2. if flag is 1 or letter is not an 'X', then assign the value 0 to exit_flag, else set exit_flag to 1.
if( (flag == 1) || (letter != 'X') ) exit_flag = 0; else exit_flag = 1;
{ : : : :
sum = 0; break; valid_flag = 1; break; sum = 1; break; printf("Unknown letter -->%c\n", letter );
Practise Exercise 6
Compound Relationals and switch
This browser supports JavaScript. 1. The statement that tests to see if sum is equal to 10 and total is less than 20, and if so, prints the text string "incorrect.", is
Statement 1
if( (sum = 10) && (total < 20) ) printf("incorrect.");
Statement 2
if( (sum == 10) && (total < 20) ) printf("incorrect.");
Statement 3
if( (sum == 10) || (total < 20) ) printf("incorrect.");
2. if flag is 1 or letter is not an 'X', then assign the value 0 to exit_flag, else set exit_flag to 1.
Statement 1
if( (flag = 1) || (letter != 'X') ) exit_flag = 0; else exit_flag = 1;
Statement 2
if( (flag == 1) || (letter <> 'X') ) exit_flag = 0; else exit_flag = 1;
Statement 3
if( (flag == 1) || (letter != 'X') ) exit_flag = 0; else exit_flag = 1;
Statement 1
switch( letter ) { case 'X' : sum = 0; break; case 'Z' : valid_flag = 1; break; case 'A' : sum = 1; break; default : printf( "Unknown letter -->%c\n", letter ); break; }
Statement 2
switch( letter ) { case 'X' : sum = 0; case 'Z' : valid_flag = 1; case 'A' : sum = 1; default : printf( "Unknown letter -->%c\n", letter ); }
Statement 3
switch( letter ) { case "X" : sum = 0; break; case "Z" : valid_flag = 1; break; case "A" : sum = 1; break; default : printf( "Unknown letter -->%c\n", letter ); break; }
The program reads five characters (one for each iteration of the for loop) from the keyboard. Note that getchar() gets a single character from the keyboard, and putchar() writes a single character (in this case, ch) to the console screen. The file ctype.h provides routines for manipulating characters.
BUILT IN FUNCTIONS FOR STRING HANDLING string.h You may want to look at the section on arrays first!. The following macros are built into the file string.h
strcat strchr strcmp strcmpi strcpy strlen strlwr strncat strncmp strncpy strnset strrchr strrev strset strspn
Appends a string Finds first occurrence of a given character Compares two strings Compares two strings, non-case sensitive Copies one string to another Finds length of a string Converts a string to lowercase Appends n characters of string Compares n characters of two strings Copies n characters of one string to another Sets n characters of string to a given character Finds last occurrence of given character in string Reverses string Sets all characters of string to a given character Finds first substring from given character set in string
strupr
printf("Enter in a name in lowercase\n"); scanf( "%s", name ); strupr( name ); printf("The name is uppercase is %s", name ); }
Sample Program Output Enter in a name in lowercase samuel The name in uppercase is SAMUEL
BUILT IN FUNCTIONS FOR CHARACTER HANDLING The following character handling functions are defined in ctype.h
isalnum isalpha isascii iscntrl isdigit isgraph islower isprint ispunct isspace isupper isxdigit toascii tolower toupper
Tests for alphanumeric character Tests for alphabetic character Tests for ASCII character Tests for control character Tests for 0 to 9 Tests for printable character Tests for lowercase Tests for printable character Tests for punctuation character Tests for space character Tests for uppercase character Tests for hexadecimal Converts character to ascii code Converts character to lowercase Converts character to uppercase
printf("Enter in a name in lowercase\n"); scanf( "%s", name ); for( loop = 0; name[loop] != 0; loop++ ) name[loop] = toupper( name[loop] );
Sample Program Output Enter in a name in lowercase samuel The name in uppercase is SAMUEL Validation Of User Input In C Basic Rules
Don't pass invalid data onwards. Validate data at input time. Always give the user meaningful feedback Tell the user what you expect to read as input
main() { int valid_input; /* when 1, data is valid and loop is exited */ /* handles user input, single character menu choice */
char user_input;
valid_input = 0; while( valid_input == 0 ) { printf("Continue (Y/N)?\n"); scanf(" %c", &user_input ); user_input = toupper( user_input ); if((user_input == 'Y') || (user_input == 'N') ) valid_input = 1; else printf("\007Error: Invalid choice\n"); } }
Sample Program Output Continue (Y/N)? b Error: Invalid Choice Continue (Y/N)? N
/* example two, getting and validating choices */ #include <stdio.h> #include <ctype.h>
char menu_choice;
while( exit_flag == 0 ) { valid_choice = 0; while( valid_choice == 0 ) { printf("\nC = Copy File\nE = Exit\nM = Move File\n");
printf("Enter choice:\n"); scanf(" %c", &menu_choice ); if((menu_choice=='C') || (menu_choice=='E') || (menu_choice=='M')) valid_choice = 1; else printf("\007Error. Invalid menu choice selected.\n"); } switch( menu_choice ) { case 'C' : ....................(); break;
case 'E' : exit_flag = 1; break; case 'M' : ....................(); break; default : printf("Error--- Should not occur.\n"); break; } } }
Sample Program Output C = Copy File E = Exit M = Move File Enter choice: X
Error. Invalid menu choice selected. C = Copy File E = Exit M = Move File Enter choice: E
THE CONDITIONAL EXPRESSION OPERATOR This conditional expression operator takes THREE operators. The two symbols used to denote this operator are the ? and the :. The first operand is placed before the ?, the second operand between the ? and the :, and the third after the :. The general format is, condition ? expression1 : expression2 If the result of condition is TRUE ( non-zero ), expression1 is evaluated and the result of the evaluation becomes the result of the operation. If the condition is FALSE (zero), then expression2 is evaluated and its result becomes the result of the operation. An example will help,
s = ( x < 0 ) ? -1 : x * x;
If x is less than zero then s = -1 If x is greater than zero then s = x * x Example program illustrating conditional expression operator #include <stdio.h> main() { int input;
printf("I will tell you if the number is positive, negative or zero!"\n"); printf("please enter your number now--->"); scanf("%d", &input ); (input < 0) ? printf("negative\n") : ((input > 0) ? printf("positive\n") : printf("zero\n")); } Sample Program Output I will tell you if the number is positive, negative or zero! please enter your number now---> 32 positive CLASS EXERCISE C12 Evaluate the following expression, where a=4, b=5
least_value = ( a < b ) ? a : b;
Answers: CLASS EXERCISE C12 Evaluate the following expression, where a=4, b=5
ARRAYS Little Boxes on the hillside Arrays are a data structure which holds multiple variables of the same data type. Consider the case where a programmer needs to keep track of a number of people within an organization. So far, our initial attempt will be to create a specific variable for each user. This might look like,
It becomes increasingly more difficult to keep track of this as the number of variables increase. Arrays offer a solution to this problem. An array is a multi-element box, a bit like a filing cabinet, and uses an indexing system to find each variable stored within it. In C, indexing starts at zero. Arrays, like other variables in C, must be declared before they can be used. The replacement of the above example using arrays looks like, int names[4]; names[0] = 101; names[1] = 232; names[2] = 231; names[3] = 0; We created an array called names, which has space for four integer variables. You may also see that we stored 0 in the last space of the array. This is a common technique used by C programmers to signify the end of an array. Arrays have the following syntax, using square brackets to access each indexed value (called an element). x[i]
so that x[5] refers to the sixth element in an array called x. In C, array elements start with 0. Assigning values to array elements is done by, x[10] = g; And assigning array elements to a variable is done by, g = x[10]; In the following example, a character based array named word is declared, and each element is assigned a character. The last element is filled with a zero value, to signify the end of the character string (in C, there is no string type, so character based arrays are used to hold strings). A printf statement is then used to print out all elements of the array. /* Introducing array's, 2 */ #include <stdio.h> main() { char word[20]; word[0] = 'H'; word[1] = 'e'; word[2] = 'l'; word[3] = 'l'; word[4] = 'o'; word[5] = 0; printf("The contents of word[] is -->%s\n", word ); }
DECLARING ARRAYS Arrays may consist of any of the valid data types. Arrays are declared along with all other variables in the declaration section of the program. /* Introducing array's */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int numbers[100]; float averages[20]; numbers[2] = 10; --numbers[2]; printf("The 3rd element of array numbers is %d\n", numbers[2]); }
Sample Program Output The 3rd element of array numbers is 9 The above program declares two arrays, assigns 10 to the value of the 3rd element of array numbers, decrements this value ( --numbers[2] ), and finally prints the value. The number of elements that each array is to have is included inside the square brackets.
The declaration is preceded by the word static. The initial values are enclosed in braces, e.g.
{ int x; static int values[] = { 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 }; static char word[] = { 'H','e','l','l','o' }; for( x = 0; x < 9; ++x ) printf("Values [%d] is %d\n", x, values[x]); }
The previous program declares two arrays, values and word. Note that inside the squarebrackets there is no variable to indicate how big the array is to be. In this case, C initializes the array to the number of elements that appear within the initialize braces. So values consist of 9 elements (numbered 0 to 8) and the char array word has 5 elements.
The following program shows how to initialise all the elements of an integer based array to the value 10, using a for loop to cycle through each element in turn.
#include <stdio.h> main() { int count; int values[100]; for( count = 0; count < 100; count++ ) values[count] = 10; }
Multi-dimensioned arrays have two or more index values which specify the element in the array.
multi[i][j]
In the above example, the first index value i specifies a row index, whilst j specifies a column index.
int m1[10][10]; static int m2[2][2] = { {0,1}, {2,3} }; sum = m1[i][j] + m2[k][l];
NOTE the strange way that the initial values have been assigned to the two-dimensional array m2. Inside the braces are,
{ 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 }
Remember that arrays are split up into row and columns. The first is the row, the second is the column. Looking at the initial values assigned to m2, they are,
m2[0][0] m2[0][1] m2[1][0] m2[1][1] = = = = 0 1 2 3
EXERCISE C13 Given a two dimensional array, write a program that totals all elements, printing the total.
CLASS EXERCISE C14 What value is assigned to the elements which are not assigned initialised. Answers EXERCISE C13 Given a two dimensional array write a program that totals all elements printing the total.
#include <stdio.h> main() { static int m[][] = { {10,5,-3}, {9, 0, 0}, {32,20,1}, {0,0,8} }; int row, column, sum; sum = 0; for( row = 0; row < 4; row++ ) for( column = 0; column < 3; column++ ) sum = sum + m[row][column];
Sample Program Output Helloxghifghjkloqw30-=kl`' Hello The difference between the two arrays is that name2 has a null placed at the end of the string, ie, in name2[5], whilst name1 has not. This can often result in garbage characters being printed on the end. To insert a null at the end of the name1 array, the initialization can be changed to, static char name1[] = {'H','e','l','l','o','\0'};
Consider the following program, which initialises the contents of the character based array word during the program, using the function strcpy, which necessitates using the include file string.h #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> main() { char word[20]; strcpy( word, "hi there." );
printf("%s\n", word ); }
SOME VARIATIONS IN DECLARING ARRAYS int numbers[10]; static int numbers[10] = { 34, 27, 16 }; static int numbers[] = { 2, -3, 45, 79, -14, 5, 9, 28, -1, 0 }; static char text[] = "Welcome to New Zealand."; static float radix[12] = { 134.362, 1913.248 }; double radians[1000];
READING CHARACTER STRINGS FROM THE KEYBOARD Character based arrays are often refered to in C as strings. C does not support a string type, so character based arrays are used in place of strings. The %s modifier to printf() and scanf() is used to handle character based arrays. This assumes that a 0 or NULL value is stored in the last element of the array. Consider the following, which reads a string of characters (excluding spaces) from the keyboard. char string[18]; scanf("%s", string);
NOTE that the & character does not need to precede the variable name when the formatter %s is used! If the users response was Hello<enterkey> then string[0] = 'H' string[1] = 'e'
Note how the enterkey is not taken by scanf() and the text string is terminated by a NULL character '\0' after the last character stored in the array.
2. Assign the character value 'Z' to the fourth element of the letters array
3. Use a for loop to total the contents of an integer array called numbers which has five elements. Store the result in an integer called total.
4. Declare a multidimensioned array of floats called balances having three rows and five columns.
5. Write a for loop to total the contents of the multidimensioned float array balances.
6. Assign the text string "Hello" to the character based array words at declaration time.
7. Assign the text string "Welcome" to the character based array stuff (not at declaration time)
8. Use a printf statement to print out the third element of an integer array called totals
9. Use a printf statement to print out the contents of the character array called words
10. Use a scanf statement to read a string of characters into the array words.
11. Write a for loop which will read five characters (use scanf) and deposit them into the character based array words, beginning at element 0.
2. Assign the character value 'Z' to the fourth element of the letters array letters[3] = 'Z';
3. Use a for loop to total the contents of an integer array called numbers which has five elements. Store the result in an integer called total. for( loop = 0, total = 0; loop < 5; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop];
4. Declare a multidimensioned array of floats called balances having three rows and five columns. float balances[3][5];
5. Write a for loop to total the contents of the multidimensioned float array balances. for( row = 0, total = 0; row < 3; row++ ) for( column = 0; column < 5; column++ ) total = total + balances[row][column];
6. Assign the text string "Hello" to the character based array words at declaration time. static char words[] = "Hello";
7. Assign the text string "Welcome" to the character based array stuff (not at declaration time) char stuff[50];
8. Use a printf statement to print out the third element of an integer array called totals printf("%d\n", totals[2] );
9. Use a printf statement to print out the contents of the character array called words printf("%s\n", words);
10. Use a scanf statement to read a string of characters into the array words. scanf("%s", words);
11. Write a for loop which will read five characters (use scanf) and deposit them into the character based array words, beginning at element 0. for( loop = 0; loop < 5; loop++ ) scanf("%c", &words[loop] );
The statement which declares a character based array called letters of ten elements is, o o o o letters : char[10]; char[10] letters; char letters[10]; char array letters[0..9];
2. Assign the character value 'Z' to the fourth element of the letters array o o o letters[4] := "Z"; letters[3] = 'Z'; letters[3] = 'z';
letters[4] = "Z";
3. Use a for loop to total the contents of an integer array called numbers which has five elements. Store the result in an integer called total. o Statement 1
for( loop = 0, total = 0; loop >= 4; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop]; o Statement 2
for( loop = 0, total = 0; loop < 5; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop]; o Statement 3
4. Declare a multidimensioned array of floats called balances having three rows and five columns. o o o o float balances[3][5]; balances[3][5] of float; float balances[5][3]; array of float balances[0..2][0..5];
5. Write a for loop to total the contents of the multidimensioned float array balances, as declared in question 4. o Statement 1
for( row = 0, total = 0; row < 3; row++ ) for( column = 0, total = 0; column < 5; column++ )
for( row = 0, total = 0; row < 3; row++ ) for( column = 0; column < 5; column++ ) total = total + balances[row][column]; o Statement 3
for( row = 0, total = 0; row < 3; row++ ) for( column = 0; column < row; column++ ) total = total + balances[row][column];
6. Assign the text string "Hello" to the character based array words at declaration time. o o o o char words[10] = 'Hello'; static char words[] = "Hello"; static char words["hello"]; static char words[] = { Hello };
7. Assign the text string "Welcome" to the character based array stuff (not at declaration time) o o o o strcpy( stuff, 'Welcome' ); stuff = "Welcome"; stuff[0] = "Welcome"; strcpy( stuff, "Welcome" );
8. Use a printf statement to print out the third element of an integer array called totals o o o o printf("%d\n", &totals[3] ); printf("%d\n", totals[3] ); printf("%c\n", totals[2] ); printf("%d\n", totals[2] );
9. Use a printf statement to print out the contents of the character array called words
o o o o
10. Use a scanf statement to read a string of characters into the array words. o o o o scanf("%s\n", words); scanf(" %c", words); scanf("%c", words); scanf("%s", words);
11. Write a for loop which will read five characters (use scanf) and deposit them into the character based array words, beginning at element 0. o Statement 1
FUNCTIONS
A function in C can perform a particular task, and supports the concept of modular programming design techniques.
We have already been exposed to functions. The main body of a C program, identified by the keyword main, and enclosed by the left and right braces is a function. It is called by the operating system when the program is loaded, and when terminated, returns to the operating system.
It is worth noting that a return_data_type is assumed to be type int unless otherwise specified, thus the programs we have seen so far imply that main() returns an integer to the operating system.
ANSI C varies slightly in the way that functions are declared. Its format is
This permits type checking by utilizing function prototypes to inform the compiler of the type and number of parameters a function accepts. When calling a function, this information is used to perform type and parameter checking.
ANSI C also requires that the return_data_type for a function which does not return data must be type void. The default return_data_type is assumed to be integer unless otherwise specified, but must match that which the function declaration specifies.
Note the function name is print_message. No arguments are accepted by the function, this is indicated by the keyword void in the accepted parameter section of the function declaration. The return_data_type is void, thus data is not returned by the function.
Function prototypes are listed at the beginning of the source file. Often, they might be placed in a users .h (header) file.
main() { print_message(); }
To call a function, it is only necessary to write its name. The code associated with the function name is executed at that point in the program. When the function terminates, execution begins with the statement which follows the function name.
In the above program, execution begins at main(). The only statement inside the main body of the program is a call to the code of function print_message(). This code is executed, and when finished returns back to main().
As there is no further statements inside the main body, the program terminates by returning to the operating system.
FUNCTIONS In the following example, the function accepts a single data variable, but does not return any information.
int i, factorial_number = 1;
Lets look at the function calc_factorial(). The declaration of the function void calc_factorial( int n )
indicates there is no return data type and a single integer is accepted, known inside the body of the function as n. Next comes the declaration of the local variables, int i, factorial_number = 0;
as the keyword auto designates to the compiler that the variables are local. The program works by accepting a variable from the keyboard which is then passed to the function. In other words, the variable number inside the main body is then copied to the variable n in the function, which then calculates the correct answer.
This is done by the use of the keyword return, followed by a data variable or constant value, the data type of which must match that of the declared return_data_type for the function.
float add_numbers( float n1, float n2 ) { return n1 + n2; /* legal */ return 6; /* illegal, not the same data type */ return 6.0; /* legal */ }
1; 2; 0;
result = numb1 * numb2; return result; } main() { int digit1 = 10, digit2 = 30, answer = 0; answer = calc_result( digit1, digit2 ); printf("%d multiplied by %d is %d\n", digit1, digit2, answer ); }
NOTE that the value which is returned from the function (ie result) must be declared in the function. NOTE: The formal declaration of the function name is preceded by the data type which is returned,
int calc_result ( numb1, numb2 )
EXERCISE C15
Write a program in C which incorporates a function using parameter passing and performs the addition of three numbers. The main section of the program is to print the result.
Write a program in C which incorporates a function using parameter passing and performs the addition of three numbers. The main section of the program is to print the result.
#include <stdio.h> int calc_result( int, int, int ); int calc_result( int var1, int var2, int var3 ) { int sum; sum = var1 + var2 + var3; return( sum ); /* return( var1 + var2 + var3 ); */ }
main() { int numb1 = 2, numb2 = 3, numb3=4, answer=0; answer = calc_result( numb1, numb2, numb3 ); printf("%d + %d + %d = %d\n", numb1, numb2, numb3, answer); }
These variables only exist inside the specific function that creates them. They are unknown to other functions and to the main program. As such, they are normally implemented using a stack. Local variables cease to exist once the function that created them is completed. They are recreated each time a function is executed or called. Global
These variables can be accessed (ie known) by any function comprising the program. They are implemented by associating memory locations with variable names. They do not get recreated if the function is recalled.
/* These are global variables and can be accessed by functions from this point on */ int value1, value2, value3; int add_numbers( void ) { auto int result; result = value1 + value2 + value3; return result; } main() { auto int result;
value1 = 10; value2 = 20; value3 = 30; result = add_numbers(); printf("The sum of %d + %d + %d is %d\n", value1, value2, value3, final_result); }
The scope of global variables can be restricted by carefully placing the declaration. They are visible from the declaration until the end of the current source file.
#include <stdio.h> void no_access( void ); /* ANSI function prototype */ void all_access( void ); static int n2; /* n2 is known from this point onwards */
void no_access( void ) { n1 = 10; /* illegal, n1 not yet known */ n2 = 5; /* valid */ } static int n1; /* n1 is known from this point onwards */
C programs have a number of segments (or areas) where data is located. These segments are typically,
_DATA Static data _BSS Uninitialized static data, zeroed out before call to main() _STACK Automatic data, resides on stack frame, thus local to functions _CONST Constant data, using the ANSI C keyword const
The use of the appropriate keyword allows correct placement of the variable onto the desired data segment.
/* example program illustrates difference between static and automatic variables */ #include <stdio.h> void demo( void ); /* ANSI function prototypes */ void demo( void ) { auto int avar = 0; static int svar = 0; printf("auto = %d, static = %d\n", avar, svar); ++avar; ++svar; }
AUTOMATIC AND STATIC VARIABLES /* example program illustrates difference between static and automatic variables */ #include <stdio.h> void demo( void ); /* ANSI function prototypes */ void demo( void ) { auto int avar = 0; static int svar = 0; printf("auto = %d, static = %d\n", avar, svar);
++avar; ++svar; }
Static variables are created and initialized once, on the first call to the function. Subsequent calls to the function do not recreate or re-initialize the static variable. When the function terminates, the variable still exists on the _DATA segment, but cannot be accessed by outside functions. Automatic variables are the opposite. They are created and re-initialized on each entry to the function. They disappear (are de-allocated) when the function terminates. They are created on the _STACK segment.
max_value = values[0];
for( i = 0; i < 5; ++i ) if( values[i] > max_value ) max_value = values[i]; return max_value; } main() { int values[5], i, max; printf("Enter 5 numbers\n"); for( i = 0; i < 5; ++i ) scanf("%d", &values[i] ); max = maximum( values ); printf("\nMaximum value is %d\n", max ); }
Note: The program defines an array of five elements (values) and initializes each element to the users inputted values. The array values is then passed to the function. The declaration
int maximum( int values[5] )
defines the function name as maximum, and declares that an integer is passed back as the result, and that it accepts a data type called values, which is declared as an array of five integers. The values array in the main body is now known as the array values inside function maximum. IT IS NOT A COPY, BUT THE ORIGINAL. This means any changes will update the original array. A local variable max_value is set to the first element of values, and a for loop is executed which cycles through each element in values and assigns the lowest item to max_value. This number is then passed back by the return statement, and assigned to max in the main section.
However, in its present form this module or function is limited as it only accepts ten elements. It is thus desirable to modify the function so that it also accepts the number of elements as an argument also. A modified version follows,
/* example program to demonstrate the passing of an array */ #include <stdio.h> int findmaximum( int [], int ); */ int { findmaximum( int numbers[], int elements ) int largest_value, i; /* ANSI function prototype
largest_value = numbers[0]; for( i = 0; i < elements; ++i ) if( numbers[i] > largest_value ) largest_value = numbers[i]; return largest_value; } main() { static int numb1[] = { 5, 34, 56, -12, 3, 19 }; static int numb2[] = { 1, -2, 34, 207, 93, -12 }; printf("maximum of numb1[] is %d\n", findmaximum(numb1, 6)); printf("maximum is numb2[] is %d\n", findmaximum(numb2, 6)); }
If an entire array is passed to a function, any changes made also occur to the original array.
If passing a multidimensional array, the number of columns must be specified in the formal parameter declaration section of the function.
EXERCISE C16
Write a C program incorporating a function to add all elements of a two dimensional array. The number of rows are to be passed to the function, and it passes back the total sum of all elements (Use at least a 4 x 4 array).
Answer
EXERCISE C16 Write a C program incorporating a function to add all elements of a two dimensional array. The number of rows are to be passed to the function, and it passes back the total sum of all elements (Use at least a 4 x 4 array).
#include <stdio.h> int add2darray( int [][5], int ); /* function prototype */
int add2darray( int array[][5], int rows ) { int total = 0, columns, row; for( row = 0; row < rows; row++ ) for( columns = 0; columns < 5; columns++ ) total = total + array[row][columns]; return total; } main() { int numbers[][] = { {1, 2, 35, 7, 10}, {6, 7, 4, 1, 0} }; int sum; sum = add2darray( numbers, 2 ); printf("the sum of numbers is %d\n", sum ); }
FUNCTION PROTOTYPES
These have been introduced into the C language as a means of provided type checking and parameter checking for function calls. Because C programs are generally split up over a number
of different source files which are independently compiled, then linked together to generate a run-time program, it is possible for errors to occur. Consider the following example.
/* source file add.c */ void add_up( int numbers[20] ) { .... } /* source file mainline.c */ static float values[] = { 10.2, 32.1, 0.006, 31.08 }; main() { float result; ... result = add_up( values ); }
As the two source files are compiled separately, the compiler generates correct code based upon what the programmer has written. When compiling mainline.c, the compiler assumes that the function add_up accepts an array of float variables and returns a float. When the two portions are combined and ran as a unit, the program will definitely not work as intended. To provide a means of combating these conflicts, ANSI C has function prototyping. Just as data types need to be declared, functions are declared also. The function prototype for the above is,
/* source file mainline.c */ void add_up( int numbers[20] );
NOTE that the function prototype ends with a semi-colon; in this way we can tell its a declaration of a function type, not the function code. If mainline.c was re-compiled, errors would be generated by the call in the main section which references add_up(). Generally, when developing a large program, a separate file would be used to contain all the function prototypes. This file can then be included by the compiler to enforce type and parameter checking.
numbers[loop] += 7;
This assignment += is equivalent to add equals. It takes the value of numbers[loop], adds it by 7, then assigns the value to numbers[loop]. In other words it is the same as,
numbers[loop] = numbers[loop] + 7;
What is the outcome of the following, assuming time=2, a=3, b=4, c=5
time -= 5; a *= b + c;
Answers
CLASS EXERCISE C17
What is the outcome of the following, assuming time=2, a=3, b=4, c=5
time -= 5; a *= b + c;
time = -3 a = 27
exchange their values If j < n goto step 3 If i < n - 1 goto step 2 in ascending order.
EXERCISE C18
Implement the above algorithm as a function in C, accepting the array and its size, returning the sorted array in ascending order so it can be printed out by the calling module. The array should consist of ten elements.
Answer
A SIMPLE EXCHANGE SORT ALGORITHM
exchange their values If j < n goto step 3 If i < n - 1 goto step 2 in ascending order.
EXERCISE C18
Implement the above algorithm as a function in C, accepting the array and its size, returning the sorted array in ascending order so it can be printed out by the calling module. The array should consist of ten elements.
#include <stdio.h> void sort( int [], int ); void sort( int a[], int elements ) { int i, j, temp; i = 0; while( i < (elements - 1) ) { j = i + 1; while( j < elements ) { if( a[i] > a[j] ) { temp = a[i]; a[i] = a[j]; a[j] = temp; } j++;
} i++; } } main() { int numbers[] = { 10, 9, 8, 23, 19, 11, 2, 7, 1, 13, 12 }; int loop; printf("Before the sort the array was \n"); for( loop = 0; loop < 11; loop++ ) printf(" %d ", numbers[loop] ); sort( numbers, 11 ); printf("After the sort the array was \n"); for( loop = 0; loop < 11; loop++ ) printf(" %d ", numbers[loop] ); }
RECURSION
This is where a function repeatedly calls itself to perform calculations. Typical applications are games and Sorting trees and lists. Consider the calculation of 6! ( 6 factorial )
ie 6! 6! 6! n! = 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 6 * 5! = 6 * ( 6 - 1 )! = n * ( n - 1 )! /* bad example for demonstrating recursion */ #include <stdio.h> long int factorial( long int ); long int factorial( long int n ) { long int result; if( n == 0L ) result = 1L; else result = n * factorial( n - 1L ); return ( result ); } main() { int j; for( j = 0; j < 11; ++j ) printf("%2d! = %ld\n", factorial( (long) j) ); /* ANSI function prototype */
Answer
RECURSIVE PROGRAMMING: EXERCISE C19 Rewrite example c9 using a recursive function.
#include <stdio.h> long int triang_rec( long int ); long int triang_rec( long int number ) { long int result; if( number == 0l ) result = 0l; else result = number + triang_rec( number - 1 ); return( result ); } main () { int request; long int triang_rec(), answer; printf("Enter number to be calculated.\n"); scanf( "%d", &request); answer = triang_rec( (long int) request ); printf("The triangular answer is %l\n", answer); }
Note this version of function triang_rec #include <stdio.h> long int triang_rec( long int ); long int triang_rec( long int number ) { return((number == 0l) ? 0l : number*triang_rec( number-1)); }
2. Write a function prototype for the above function. 3. Write a function called print which prints a text string passed to it as a parameter (ie, a character based array). 4. Write a function prototype for the above function print. 5. Write a function called total, which totals the sum of an integer array passed to it (as the first parameter) and returns the total of all the elements as an integer. Let the second parameter to the function be an integer which contains the number of elements of the array. 6. Write a function prototype for the above function.
Answers
3. Write a function called print which prints a text string passed to it as a parameter (ie, a character based array).
void print( char message[] ) { printf("%s, message ); }
5. Write a function called total, which totals the sum of an integer array passed to it (as the first parameter) and returns the total of all the elements as an integer. Let the second parameter to the function be an integer which contains the number of elements of the array.
int total( int array[], int elements ) { int loop, sum; for( loop = 0, sum = 0; loop < elements; loop++ ) sum += array[loop]; return sum; }
function 2
int menu( void ) { printf("Menu choices"); }
function 3
int menu( char string[] ) { printf("%s", string); }
2. A function prototype for the above function looks like int menu( char [] ); void menu( char [] );
3. A function called print which prints a text string passed to it as a parameter (ie, a character based array), looks like function 1
int print( char string[] ) { printf("%s", string); }
function 2
void print( char string[] ) { printf("Menu choices"); }
function 3
void print( char string[] ) { printf("%s", string); }
4. A function prototype for the above function print looks like int print( char [] ); void print( char [] ); void print( void ); int print( void );
5. A function called total, totals the sum of an integer array passed to it (as the first parameter) and returns the total of all the elements as an integer. Let the second parameter to the function be an integer which contains the number of elements of the array. function 1
int total( int numbers[], int elements ) { int total = 0, loop; for( loop = 0; loop < elements; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop]; return total; }
function 2
int total( int numbers[], int elements ) { int total = 0, loop; for( loop = 0; loop <= elements; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop]; return total; }
function 3
int total( int numbers[], int elements ) { int total, loop; for( loop = 0; loop > elements; loop++ ) total = total + numbers[loop]; return total; }
6. A function prototype for the above function looks like int total( char [] ); int total( int [], int ); void total( char [], int ); int total( void );
} main() { char char int line */ int int exit_flag = 0; valid_choice; ch; buffer[MAXBUFFERSIZE]; char_count; /* handles user input */ /* sufficient to handle one line */ /* number of characters read for this
while( exit_flag == 0 ) { printf("Enter a line of text (<80 chars)\n"); ch = getchar(); char_count = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (char_count < MAXBUFFERSIZE)) { buffer[char_count++] = ch; ch = getchar(); } buffer[char_count] = 0x00; /* null terminate buffer */ printf("\nThe line you entered was:\n"); printf("%s\n", buffer); valid_choice = 0; while( valid_choice == 0 ) { printf("Continue (Y/N)?\n"); scanf(" %c", &ch ); ch = toupper( ch ); if((ch == 'Y') || (ch == 'N') ) valid_choice = 1; else printf("\007Error: Invalid choice\n"); cleartoendofline(); } if( ch == 'N' ) exit_flag = 1; } }
} main() { char char int line */ int exit_flag = 0, number, valid_choice; ch; buffer[MAXBUFFERSIZE]; char_count; /* handles user input */ /* sufficient to handle one line */ /* number of characters read for this
while( exit_flag == 0 ) { valid_choice = 0; while( valid_choice == 0 ) { printf("Enter a number between 1 and 1000\n"); ch = getchar(); char_count = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (char_count < MAXBUFFERSIZE)) { buffer[char_count++] = ch; ch = getchar(); } buffer[char_count] = 0x00; buffer */ number = atoi( buffer ); if( (number < 1) || (number > 1000) ) printf("\007Error. Number outside range 11000\n"); else valid_choice = 1; } printf("\nThe number you entered was:\n"); printf("%d\n", number); valid_choice = 0; while( valid_choice == 0 ) { printf("Continue (Y/N)?\n"); scanf(" %c", &ch ); ch = toupper( ch ); if((ch == 'Y') || (ch == 'N') ) valid_choice = 1; else printf("\007Error: Invalid choice\n"); cleartoendofline(); } if( ch == 'N' ) exit_flag = 1; } } /* null terminate
the input is not validated to see if its the correct data type it is not clear if there are explicit number ranges expected the program might crash if an incorrect data type was entered
Perhaps the best way of handling input in C programs is to treat all input as a sequence of characters, and then perform the necessary data conversion. At this point we shall want to explore some other aspects also, like the concepts of
This means that the validation of data as to its correct range/limit and data type is best done at the point of entry. The benefits of doing this at the time of data entry are
less cost later in the program maintenance phase (because data is already validated) programs are easier to maintain and modify reduces the chances of incorrect data crashing the program later on
This refers to the problem of incorrect data which is allowed to propagate through the program. An example of this is sending invalid data to a function to process.
By trapping data at the source, and ensuring that it is correct as to its data type and range, we ensure that bad data cannot be passed onwards. This makes the code which works on processing the data simpler to write and thus reduces errors. An example Lets look at the case of wanting to handle user input. Now, we know that users of programs out there in user-land are a bunch of annoying people who spend most of their time inventing new and more wonderful ways of making our programs crash. Lets try to implement a sort of general purpose way of handling data input, as a replacement to scanf(). To do this, we will implement a function which reads the input as a sequence of characters. The function is readinput(), which, in order to make it more versatile, accepts several parameters,
a character array to store the inputted data an integer which specifies the data type to read, STRING, INTEGER, ALPHA an integer which specifies the amount of digits/characters to read
We have used some of the functions covered in ctype.h to check the data type of the inputted data.
/* version 1.0 */ #include <stdio.h> #include <ctype.h> #define #define #define #define MAX DIGIT ALPHA STRING 80 1 2 3 /* /* /* /* maximum length of buffer data will be read as digits 0-9 data will be read as alphabet A-Z data is read as ASCII */ */ */ */
void readinput( char buff[], int mode, int limit ) { int ch, index = 0; ch = getchar(); while( (ch != '\n') && (index < limit) ) { switch( mode ) { case DIGIT: if( isdigit( ch ) ) buff[index] index++; } break; case ALPHA: if( isalpha( ch ) ) buff[index] index++; } break; case STRING: if( isascii( ch ) )
{ = ch;
{ = ch;
buff[index] = ch; index++; } break; default: /* this should not occur */ break; } ch = getchar(); } buff[index] = 0x00; } main() { char buffer[MAX]; int number; printf("Please enter an integer\n"); readinput( buffer, DIGIT, MAX ); number = atoi( buffer ); printf("The number you entered was %d\n", number ); } /* null terminate input */
Of course, there are improvements to be made. We can change readinput to return an integer value which represents the number of characters read. This would help in determining if data was actually entered. In the above program, it is not clear if the user actually entered any data (we could have checked to see if buffer was an empty array). So lets now make the changes and see what the modified program looks like
/* version 1.1 */ #include <stdio.h> #include <ctype.h> #define #define #define #define MAX DIGIT ALPHA STRING 80 1 2 3 /* /* /* /* maximum length of buffer data will be read as digits 0-9 data will be read as alphabet A-Z data is read as ASCII */ */ */ */
int readinput( char buff[], int mode, int limit ) { int ch, index = 0; ch = getchar(); while( (ch != '\n') && (index < limit) ) { switch( mode ) { case DIGIT: if( isdigit( ch ) ) { buff[index] = ch; index++; } break; case ALPHA: if( isalpha( ch ) ) {
buff[index] = ch; index++; } break; case STRING: if( isascii( ch ) ) { buff[index] = ch; index++; } break; default: /* this should not occur */ break; } ch = getchar(); } buff[index] = 0x00; return index; } main() { char buffer[MAX]; int number, digits = 0; while( digits == 0 ) { printf("Please enter an integer\n"); digits = readinput( buffer, DIGIT, MAX ); if( digits != 0 ) { number = atoi( buffer ); printf("The number you entered was %d\n", number ); } } } /* null terminate input */
The following characters, after the % character, in a scanf argument, have the following effect.
Modifer Meaning d o x h l f e c s read a decimal integer read an octal value read a hexadecimal value read a short integer read a long integer read a float value read a double value read a single character read a sequence of characters, stop reading when an enter key or whitespace character [tab or space] Read a character string. The characters inside the brackets indicate the allow-able characters that are to be contained in the string. If any other character is typed, the string is terminated. If the first characteris a ^, the remaining characters inside the brackets indicate that typing them will terminate the string. this is used to skip input fields
[...]
then
text1 = hello, number = 14, text2 = uncle
and the next call to the scanf function will continue from where the last one left off, so if
scanf("%s ", text2);
Enclosing the character to be printed within single quotes will instruct the compiler to print out the Ascii value of the enclosed character.
printf("The character A has a value of %d\n", 'A');
The program will print out the integer value of the character A.
EXERCISE C20
Answer
PRINTING OUT THE ASCII VALUES OF CHARACTERS
EXERCISE C20 What would the result of the following operation be?
int c; c = 'a' + 1; printf("%c\n", c); The program adds one to the value 'a', resulting in the value 'b' as the value which is assigned to the variable c.
BIT OPERATIONS
C has the advantage of direct bit manipulation and the operations available are, Operation AND OR Exclusive OR 1's Complement Left Shift Right Shift Operator Comment & | ^ ~ << >> sum = sum & 2; sum = sum | 2; sum = sum ^ 2; sum = ~sum; sum = sum << 2; sum = sum >> 2; Value of Sum before Value of sum after 4 4 4 4 4 4 0 6 6 -5 16 1
/* Example program illustrating << and >> */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int n1 = 10, n2 = 20, i = 0;
i = n2 << 4; /* n2 shifted left four times */ printf("%d\n", i); i = n1 >> 5; /* n1 shifted right five times */ printf("%d\n", i); } Sample Program Output 320 0
/* Example program using EOR operator #include <stdio.h> main() { int value1 = 2, value2 = 4;
*/
value1 ^= value2; value2 ^= value1; value1 ^= value2; printf("Value1 = %d, Value2 = %d\n", value1, value2); } Sample Program Output Value1 = 4, Value2 = 2
/* Example program using AND operator #include <stdio.h> main() { int loop;
*/
for( loop = 'a'; loop <= 'f'; loop++ ) printf("Loop = %c, AND 0xdf = %c\n", loop, loop & 0xdf); } Sample Loop = Loop = Loop = Loop = Loop = Loop = Program Output a, AND 0xdf = A b, AND 0xdf = B c, AND 0xdf = C d, AND 0xdf = D e, AND 0xdf = E f, AND 0xdf = F
STRUCTURES
A Structure is a data type suitable for grouping data elements together. Lets create a new data structure suitable for storing the date. The elements or fields which make up the structure use the four basic data types. As the storage requirements for a structure cannot be known by the compiler, a definition for the structure is first required. This allows the compiler to determine the storage allocation needed, and also identifies the various sub-fields of the structure.
struct date { int month; int day; int year;
};
This declares a NEW data type called date. This date structure consists of three basic data elements, all of type integer. This is a definition to the compiler. It does not create any storage space and cannot be used as a variable. In essence, its a new data type keyword, like int and char, and can now be used to create variables. Other data structures may be defined as consisting of the same composition as the date structure,
struct date todays_date;
defines a variable called todays_date to be of the same data type as that of the newly defined data type struct date.
To assign todays date to the individual elements of the structure todays_date, the statement
todays_date.day = 21; todays_date.month = 07; todays_date.year = 1985;
is used. NOTE the use of the .element to reference the individual elements within todays_date.
/* Program to illustrate a structure */ #include <stdio.h> struct date int int int }; main() { struct date today; { month; day; year; /* global definition of type date */
today.month = 10; today.day = 14; today.year = 1995; printf("Todays date is %d/%d/%d.\n", \ today.month, today.day, today.year ); }
Write a program in C that prompts the user for todays date, calculates tomorrows date, and displays the result. Use structures for todays date, tomorrows date, and an array to hold the days for each month of the year. Remember to change the month or year as necessary.
Answer
CLASS EXERCISE C21 Write a program in C that prompts the user for todays date, calculates tomorrows date, and displays the result. Use structures for todays date, tomorrows date, and an array to hold the days for each month of the year. Remember to change the month or year as necessary.
#include <stdio.h> struct date { int day, month, year; }; int days[] = { 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 }; struct date today, tommorrow; void gettodaysdate( void ); void gettodaysdate( void ) { int valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter in the current year (1990-1999)-->"); scanf("&d", &today.year); if( (today.year < 1990) || (today.year > 1999) ) printf("\007Invalid year\n"); else valid = 1; } valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter in the current month (1-12)-->"); scanf("&d", &today.month); if( (today.month < 1) || (today.month > 12) ) printf("\007Invalid month\n"); else valid = 1; } valid = 0; while( valid == 0 ) { printf("Enter in the current day (1-%d)-->", days[today.month-1]); scanf("&d", &today.day);
if( (today.day < 1) || (today.day > days[today.month1]) ) printf("\007Invalid day\n"); else valid = 1; } } main() { gettodaysdate(); tommorrow = today; tommorrow.day++; if( tommorrow.day > days[tommorrow.month-1] ) { tommorrow.day = 1; tommorrow.month++; if( tommorrow.month > 12 ) { tommorrow.year++; tommorrow.month = 1; } } printf("Tommorrows date is %02d:%02d:%02d\n", \ tommorrow.day, tommorrow.month, tommorrow.year ); } /* TIME.C Program updates time by 1 second using functions */ #include <stdio.h> struct time { int hour, minutes, seconds; }; void time_update( struct time ); /* ANSI function prototype */
/* function to update time by one second */ void time_update( struct time new_time ) { ++new_time.seconds; if( new_time.seconds == 60) { new_time.seconds = 0; ++new_time.minutes; if(new_time.minutes == 60) { new_time.minutes = 0; ++new_time.hour; if(new_time.hour == 24) new_time.hour = 0; } } } main() { struct time current_time; printf("Enter the time (hh:mm:ss):\n"); scanf("%d:%d:%d", \
INITIALIZING STRUCTURES
This is similar to the initialization of arrays; the elements are simply listed inside a pair of braces, with each element separated by a comma. The structure declaration is preceded by the keyword static
static struct date today = { 4,23,1998 };
ARRAYS OF STRUCTURES
Lets now create an array called birthdays of the same data type as the structure date
struct date birthdays[5];
int number_of_days; char name[4]; }; static struct month this_month = { 31, "Jan" }; this_month.number_of_days = 31; strcpy( this_month.name, "Jan" ); printf("The month is %s\n", this_month.name );
Note that the array name has an extra element to hold the end of string nul character.
Declaring structures in this way, however, prevents you from using the structure definition later in the program. The structure definition is thus bound to the variable name which follows the right brace of the structures definition.
CLASS EXERCISE C22 Write a program to enter in five dates, Store this information in an array of structures.
Structures can also contain structures. Consider where both a date and time structure are combined into a single structure called date_time, eg,
struct date { int month, day, year; }; struct time { int hours, mins, secs; }; struct date_time { struct date sdate; struct time stime; };
This declares a structure whose elements consist of two other previously declared structures. Initialization could be done as follows,
static struct date_time today = { { 2, 11, 1985 }, { 3, 3,33 } };
which sets the sdate element of the structure today to the eleventh of February, 1985. The stime element of the structure is initialized to three hours, three minutes, thirty-three seconds. Each item within the structure can be referenced if desired, eg,
++today.stime.secs; if( today.stime.secs == 60 ) ++today.stime.mins;
BIT FIELDS
Consider the following data elements defined for a PABX telephone system.
flag = 1 bit off_hook = 1 bit status = 2 bits
In C, these can be defined as a structure, and the number of bits each occupy can be specified.
struct packed_struct unsigned int unsigned int unsigned int } packed_struct1; { flag:1; off_hook:1; status:2;
The :1 following the variable flag indicates that flag occupies a single bit. The C compiler will assign all the above fields into a single word. Assignment is as follows,
packed_struct1.flag = 0; packed_struct1.status = 3; if( packed_struct1.flag ) .............
3. Assign the value 10 to the field loop of the sample structure of type record. 4. Print out (using printf) the value of the word array of the sample structure. 5. Define a new structure called birthdays, whose fields are a structure of type time called btime, and a structure of type date, called bdate. Answers
2. Declare a structure variable called sample, defined from a structure of type struct record.
struct record sample;
3. Assign the value 10 to the field loop of the sample structure of type struct record.
sample.loop = 10;
4. Print out (using printf) the value of the word array of the sample structure.
printf("%s", sample.word );
5. Define a new structure called birthdays, whose fields are a structure of type struct time called btime, and a structure of type struct date, called bdate.
struct birthdays { struct time btime; struct date bdate; };
Structure 2
type structure record { loop : integer; word : array[0..4] of char; sum : real; };
Structure 3
type record { integer loop; char word[4]; float sum; }
2. The statement which declares a structure variable called sample, defined from a structure of type struct record, is type sample : record; struct sample; struct record sample; declare sample as type record;
3. The statment that assigns the value 10 to the field loop of the sample structure (which is of type struct record), is loop = 10; sample.loop = 10;
4. The statement that prints out (using printf) the value of the word array of the sample structure is printf("%d", sample); printf("%s", word ); printf("%c", sample-word ); printf("%s", sample.word );
5. The correct definition for a structure called birthdays, whose fields are a structure of type struct time called btime, and a structure of type struct date, called bdate, is Structure 1
birthdays { time btime; date bdate; };
Structure 2
struct birthdays { struct time btime; struct date bdate; };
Structure 3
struct birthdays { struct bdate date; struct btime time; };
DATA CONVERSION
Example
/* convert a string to an integer */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> char string[] = "1234"; main() { int sum; sum = atoi( string ); printf("Sum = %d\n", sum ); }
/* convert an integer to a string */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> main() { int sum; char buff[20]; printf("Enter in an integer "); scanf(" %d", &sum ); printf( "As a string it is %s\n", itoa( sum, buff, 10 ) ); }
the integer to b converted a character buffer into which the resultant string is stored a radix value (10=decimal,16=hexadecimal)
FILE INPUT/OUTPUT
To work with files, the library routines must be included into your programs. This is done by the statement,
#include <stdio.h>
USING FILES
Declare a variable of type FILE To use files in C programs, you must declare a file variable to use. This variable must be of type FILE, and be declared as a pointer type. FILE is a predefined type. You declare a variable of this type as
FILE *in_file;
Associate the variable with a file using fopen() Before using the variable, it is associated with a specific file by using the fopen() function, which accepts the pathname for the file and the access mode (like reading or writing).
in_file = fopen( "myfile.dat", "r" );
In this example, the file myfile.dat in the current directory is opened for read access.
Process the data in the file Use the appropriate file routines to process the data When finished processing the file, close it Use the fclose() function to close the file.
fclose( in_file );
The following illustrates the fopen function, and adds testing to see if the file was opened successfully.
#include <stdio.h> /* declares pointers to an input file, and the fopen function */ FILE *input_file, *fopen (); /* the pointer of the input file is assigned the value returned from the fopen call. */ /* fopen tries to open a file called datain for read only. Note that */ /* "w" = write, and "a" = append. */ input_file = fopen("datain", "r"); /* The pointer is now checked. If the file was opened, it will point to the first */
/* character of the file. If not, it will contain a NULL or 0. */ if( input_file == NULL ) { printf("*** datain could not be opened.\n"); printf("returning to dos.\n"); exit(1); }
NOTE: Consider the following statement, which combines the opening of the file and its test to see if it was successfully opened into a single statement.
if(( input_file = fopen ("datain", "r" )) == NULL ) { printf("*** datain could not be opened.\n"); printf("returning to dos.\n"); exit(1); }
Single characters may be read/written with files by use of the two functions, getc(), and putc().
int ch; ch = getc( input_file ); /* assigns character to ch */
NOTE that the putc/getc are similar to getchar/putchar except that arguments are supplied specifying the I/O device.
putc('\n', output_file ); /* writes a newline to output file */
CLOSING FILES
When the operations on a file are completed, it is closed before the program terminates. This allows the operating system to cleanup any resources or buffers associated with the file. The fclose() function is used to close the file and flush any buffers associated with the file.
fclose( input_file ); fclose( output_file );
COPYING A FILE
The following demonstrates copying one file to another using the functions we have just covered.
#include <stdio.h> main() { /* FCOPY.C */
char in_name[25], out_name[25]; FILE *in_file, *out_file, *fopen (); int c; printf("File to be copied:\n"); scanf("%24s", in_name); printf("Output filename:\n"); scanf("%24s", out_name); in_file = fopen ( in_name, "r"); if( in_file == NULL ) printf("Cannot open %s for reading.\n", in_name); else { out_file = fopen (out_name, "w"); if( out_file == NULL ) printf("Can't open %s for writing.\n",out_name); else { while( (c = getc( in_file)) != EOF ) putc (c, out_file); putc (c, out_file); /* copy EOF */ printf("File has been copied.\n"); fclose (out_file); } fclose (in_file); } }
This is a built in function incorporated with the stdio.h routines. It returns 1 if the file pointer is at the end of the file.
if( feof ( input_file )) printf("Ran out of data.\n");
These perform the same function as printf and scanf, but work on files. Consider,
fprintf(output_file, "Now is the time for all..\n"); fscanf(input_file, "%f", &float_value);
These are useful for reading and writing entire lines of data to/from a file. If buffer is a pointer to a character array and n is the maximum number of characters to be stored, then
fgets (buffer, n, input_file);
will read an entire line of text (max chars = n) into buffer until the newline character or n=max, whichever occurs first. The function places a NULL character after the last character in the buffer. The function will be equal to a NULL if no more data exists.
fputs (buffer, output_file);
writes the characters in buffer until a NULL is found. The NULL character is not written to the output_file.
NOTE: fgets does not store the newline into the buffer, fputs will append a newline to the line written to the output file.
3. Write C statements which tests to see if input_file has opened the data file successfully. If not, print an error message and exit the program.
if( input_file == NULL ) { printf("Unable to open file.\n");\ exit(1); }
4. Write C code which will read a line of characters (terminated by a \n) from input_file into a character array called buffer. NULL terminate the buffer upon reading a \n.
int ch, loop = 0; ch = fgetc( input_file ); while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF) ) {
2. Using input_file, open the file results.dat for read mode. input_file = "results.dat" opened as "r"; open input_file as "results.dat" for "r"; fopen( input_file, "results.dat", "r" ); input_file = fopen( "results.dat", "r" );
3. Write C statements which tests to see if input_file has opened the data file successfully. If not, print an error message and exit the program. Test 1
if( input_file == NULL ) { printf("Unable to open file.\n");\ exit(1); }
Test 2
if( input_file != NULL ) { printf("Unable to open file.\n");\ exit(1); }
Test 3
while( input_file = NULL ) { printf("Unable to open file.\n");\ exit(1); }
4. Write C code which will read a line of characters (terminated by a \n) from input_file into a character array called buffer. NULL terminate the buffer upon reading a \n. Example 1
int ch, loop = 0; ch = fgetc( input_file ); while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF) ) { buffer[loop] = ch; loop++; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = NULL;
Example 2
int ch, loop = 0; ch = fgetc( input_file ); while( (ch = '\n') && (ch = EOF) ) { buffer[loop] = ch; loop--; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = NULL;
Example 3
int ch, loop = 0; ch = fgetc( input_file ); while( (ch <> '\n') && (ch != EOF) ) { buffer[loop] = ch; loop++; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = -1;
5. Close the file associated with input_file. close input_file; fclose( input_file ); fcloseall(); input_file( fclose );
The previous examples of file handling deal with File Control Blocks (FCB). Under MSDOS v3.x (or greater) and UNIX systems, file handling is often done using handles, rather than file control blocks. Writing programs using handles ensures portability of source code between different operating systems. Using handles allows the programmer to treat the file as a stream of characters.
open()
#include <fcntl.h> int open( char *filename,
int
access,
int
permission
);
The open() function returns an integer value, which is used to refer to the file. If un- successful, it returns -1, and sets the global variable errno to indicate the error type.
read()
#include <fcntl.h>
int
read(
int
handle,
void
*buffer,
int
nbyte );
The read() function attempts to read nbytes from the file associated with handle, and places the characters read into buffer. If the file is opened using O_TEXT, it removes carriage returns and detects the end of the file. The function returns the number of bytes read. On end-of-file, 0 is returned, on error it returns -1, setting errno to indicate the type of error that occurred.
write()
#include <fcntl.h> int write( int handle,
void
*buffer,
int
nbyte
);
The write() function attempts to write nbytes from buffer to the file associated with handle. On text files, it expands each LF to a CR/LF. The function returns the number of bytes written to the file. A return value of -1 indicates an error, with errno set appropriately.
close()
#include <fcntl.h> int close( int handle
);
The close() function closes the file associated with handle. The function returns 0 if successful, 1 to indicate an error, with errno set appropriately.
File handling example of a goods re-ordering program The following program handles an ASCII text file which describes a number of products, and reads each product into a structure with the program.
/* File handling example for PR101 /* processing an ASCII file of records /* Written by B. Brown, April 1994 /* */ */ */ */
/* process a goods file, and print out */ /* all goods where the quantity on */ /* hand is less than or equal to the */
/* re-order level.
*/
/* definition of a record of type goods */ struct goods { char name[20]; /* name of product float price; /* price of product int quantity; /* quantity on hand int reorder; /* re-order level }; /* function prototypes */ void myexit( int ); void processfile( void ); void printrecord( struct goods ); int getrecord( struct goods * ); /* global data variables */ FILE *fopen(), *input_file;
*/ */ */ */
/* provides a tidy means to exit program gracefully */ void myexit( int exitcode ) { if( input_file != NULL ) fclose( input_file ); exit( exitcode ); } /* prints a record */ void printrecord( struct goods record ) { printf("\nProduct name\t%s\n", record.name ); printf("Product price\t%.2f\n", record.price ); printf("Product quantity\t%d\n", record.quantity ); printf("Product reorder level\t%d\n", record.reorder ); } /* reads one record from inputfile into 'record', returns 1 for success */ int getrecord( struct goods *record ) { int loop = 0, ch; char buffer[40]; ch = fgetc( input_file ); /* skip to start of record */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* read product name */ while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch;
ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; strcpy( record->name, buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* read product price */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; record->price = atof( buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* read product quantity */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; record->quantity = atoi( buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; /* read product reorder level */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; record->reorder = atoi( buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0; return 1; } /* processes file for records */ void processfile( void ) { /* signify record has been read successfully */
while( ! feof( input_file )) { if( getrecord( &record ) == 1 ) { if( record.quantity <= record.reorder ) printrecord( record ); } else myexit( 1 ); /* error getting record */ } }
printf("Example Goods Re-Order File Program\n"); printf("Enter database file "); scanf(" %s", filename ); input_file = fopen( filename, "rt" ); if( input_file == NULL ) { printf("Unable to open datafile %s\n", filename ); myexit( 1 ); } processfile(); myexit( 0 ); }
The datafile (a standard ASCII text file) used for this example looks like
baked beans 1.20 10 5 greggs coffee 2.76 5 10 walls ice-cream 3.47 5 5 cadburys chocs 4.58 12 10
POINTERS Pointers enable us to effectively represent complex data structures, to change values as arguments to functions, to work with memory which has been dynamically allocated, and to more concisely and efficiently deal with arrays. A pointer provides an indirect means of accessing the value of a particular data item. Lets see how pointers actually work with a simple example, int count = 10, *int_pointer; declares an integer count with a value of 10, and also an integer pointer called int_pointer. Note that the prefix * defines the variable to be of type pointer. To set up an indirect reference between int_pointer and count, the & prefix is used, ie, int_pointer = &count This assigns the memory address of count to int_pointer, not the actual value of count stored at that address.
POINTERS CONTAIN MEMORY ADDRESSES, NOT VALUES! To reference the value of count using int_pointer, the * is used in an assignment, eg, x = *int_pointer; Since int_pointer is set to the memory address of count, this operation has the effect of assigning the contents of the memory address pointed to by int_pointer to the variable x, so that after the operation variable x has a value of 10. #include <stdio.h> main() { int count = 10, x, *int_pointer;
printf("count = %d, x = %d\n", count, x); } This however, does not illustrate a good use for pointers. The following program illustrates another way to use pointers, this time with characters, #include <stdio.h>
c = 'Z'; printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); *char_pointer = 'Y'; /* assigns Y as the contents of the memory address specified by char_pointer */
CLASS EXERCISE C23 Determine the output of the pointer programs P1, P2, and P3.
printf("count = %d, x = %d\n", count, x); } /* P2.C Further examples of pointers */ #include <stdio.h>
c = '/'; printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); *char_pointer = '('; /* assigns ( as the contents of the memory address specified by char_pointer */
printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); } ANSWER CLASS EXERCISE C23 Determine the output of the pointer programs P1, P2, and P3.
c = '/'; printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); *char_pointer = '('; /* assigns ( as the contents of the memory address specified by char_pointer */
QQ // ((
/* P3.C Another program with pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int i1, i2, *p1, *p2; i1 = 5; p1 = &i1; i2 = *p1 / 2 + 10; p2 = p1; printf("i1 = %d, i2 = %d, *p1 = %d, *p2 = %d\n", i1, i2, *p1, *p2); } i1 = 5, i2 = 12, *p1 = 5, *p2 = 5
CLASS EXERCISE C24 /* P3.C Another program with pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int i1, i2, *p1, *p2;
i1 = 5; p1 = &i1; i2 = *p1 / 2 + 10; p2 = p1; printf("i1 = %d, i2 = %d, *p1 = %d, *p2 = %d\n", i1, i2, *p1, *p2); }
Answers
CLASS EXERCISE C23 Determine the output of the pointer programs P1, P2, and P3. /* P1.C illustrating pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int count = 10, x, *int_pointer; /* this assigns the memory address of count to int_pointer */ int_pointer = &count; /* assigns the value stored at the address specified by int_pointer to x */ x = *int_pointer; printf("count = %d, x = %d\n", count, x); } count = 10, x = 10;
/* P2.C Further examples of pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { char c = 'Q'; char *char_pointer = &c; printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); c = '/'; printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); *char_pointer = '(';
/* assigns ( as the contents of the memory address specified by char_pointer */ printf("%c %c\n", c, *char_pointer); } QQ // ((
/* P3.C Another program with pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { int i1, i2, *p1, *p2;
i1 = 5; p1 = &i1; i2 = *p1 / 2 + 10; p2 = p1; printf("i1 = %d, i2 = %d, *p1 = %d, *p2 = %d\n", i1, i2, *p1, *p2); } i1 = 5, i2 = 12, *p1 = 5, *p2 = 5
Practise Exercise 10: Pointers 1. Declare a pointer to an integer called address. 2. Assign the address of a float variable balance to the float pointer temp. 3. Assign the character value 'W' to the variable pointed to by the char pointer letter. 4. What is the output of the following program segment? int count = 10, *temp, sum = 0; temp = &count; *temp = 20; temp = ∑ *temp = count; printf("count = %d, *temp = %d, sum = %d\n", count, *temp, sum ); 5. Declare a pointer to the text string "Hello" called message.
Answers
Practise Exercise 10: Pointers 1. Declare a pointer to an integer called address. int *address; 2. Assign the address of a float variable balance to the float pointer temp. temp = &balance; 3. Assign the character value 'W' to the variable pointed to by the char pointer letter. *letter = 'W'; 4. What is the output of the following program segment? int count = 10, *temp, sum = 0; temp = &count; *temp = 20; temp = ∑ *temp = count; printf("count = %d, *temp = %d, sum = %d\n", count, *temp, sum ); count = 20, *temp = 20, sum = 20
5. Declare a pointer to the text string "Hello" called message. char *message = "Hello";
/* Program to illustrate structure pointers */ #include <stdio.h> main() { struct date { int month, day, year; }; struct date today, *date_ptr; date_ptr = &today; date_ptr->month = 9; date_ptr->day = 25; date_ptr->year = 1983; printf("Todays date is %d/%d/%d.\n", date_ptr->month, \ date_ptr->day, date_ptr->year % 100); } So far, all that has been done could've been done without the use of pointers. Shortly, the real value of pointers will become apparent.
STRUCTURES CONTAINING POINTERS Naturally, a pointer can also be a member of a structure. struct int_pointers { int *ptr1; int *ptr2; }; In the above, the structure int_pointers is defined as containing two integer pointers, ptr1 and ptr2. A variable of type struct int_pointers can be defined in the normal way, eg,
struct int_pointers ptrs; The variable ptrs can be used normally, eg, consider the following program, #include <stdio.h> main() /* Illustrating structures containing pointers */ { struct int_pointers { int *ptr1, *ptr2; }; struct int_pointers ptrs; int i1 = 154, i2; ptrs.ptr1 = &i1; ptrs.ptr2 = &i2; *ptrs.ptr2 = -97; printf("i1 = %d, *ptrs.ptr1 = %d\n", i1, *ptrs.ptr1); printf("i2 = %d, *ptrs.ptr2 = %d\n", i2, *ptrs.ptr2); }
The following diagram may help to illustrate the connection, |------------| | i1 |<-------------| | | | | |
|------------| | i2 |<------| |
|------------| | |
|------------| | ptr1
|--------------| ptrs
|------------| | ptr2
|--------
|------------|
POINTERS AND CHARACTER STRINGS A pointer may be defined as pointing to a character string. #include <stdio.h> main() { char *text_pointer = "Good morning!"; for( ; *text_pointer != '\0'; ++text_pointer) printf("%c", *text_pointer); }
or another program illustrating pointers to text strings, #include <stdio.h> main() { static char *days[] = {"Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", \ "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"}; int i; for( i = 0; i < 6; ++i ) printf( "%s\n", days[i]); } Remember that if the declaration is, char *pointer = "Sunday"; then the null character { '\0' } is automatically appended to the end of the text string. This means that %s may be used in a printf statement, rather than using a for loop and %c to print out the contents of the pointer. The %s will print out all characters till it finds the null terminator.
6. Assign the value 10 to the field name using the pointer mpu641. 7. A structure pointer times of type time (which has three fields, all pointers to integers, day, month and year respectively) is declared. Using the pointer times, update the field day to 10. 8. An array of pointers (10 elements) of type time (as detailed above in ' 7.), called sample is declared. Update the field month of the third array element to 12.
|-----------| | | memory
|-----------| <--------4. A pointer called mpu641 of type machine is declared. What is the command to assign the value NULL to the field memory. mpu641->memory = (char *) NULL; 5. Assign the address of the character array CPUtype to the field memory using the pointer mpu641. mpu641->memory = CPUtype;
6. Assign the value 10 to the field name using the pointer mpu641. mpu641->name = 10; 7. A structure pointer times of type time (which has three fields, all pointers to integers, day, month and year respectively) is declared. Using the pointer times, update the field day to 10. *(times->day) = 10; 8. An array of pointers (10 elements) of type time (as detailed above in 7.), called sample is declared. Update the field month of the third array element to 12. *(sample[2]->month) = 12; #include <stdio.h> struct machine { int name; char *memory; };
main() { p1.name = 3; p1.memory = "hello"; mpu641 = &p1; printf("name = %d\n", mpu641->name ); printf("memory = %s\n", mpu641->memory );
mpu641->name = 10; mpu641->memory = (char *) NULL; printf("name = %d\n", mpu641->name ); printf("memory = %s\n", mpu641->memory ); }
#include <stdio.h> struct time { int *day; int *month; int *year; };
main() { int d=5, m=12, y=1995; t1.day = &d; t1.month = &m; t1.year = &y;
} main() { struct record item; strcpy( item.name, "Red Plum Jam"); editrecord( &item ); item.price = 2.75; printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); } 1. Before call to editrecord() 2. After return from editrecord() 3. The final values of values, item.name, item.id, item.price
Determine the output of the following program. #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> struct record { char name[20];
int id; float price; }; void editrecord( struct record * ); void editrecord( struct record *goods ) { strcpy( goods->name, "Baked Beans" ); goods->id = 220; (*goods).price = 2.20; printf("Name = %s\n", goods->name ); printf("ID = %d\n", goods->id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", goods->price ); } main() { struct record item; strcpy( item.name, "Red Plum Jam"); editrecord( &item ); item.price = 2.75; printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); }
1. Before call to editrecord() item.name = "Red Plum Jam" item.id = 0 item.price = 0.0
2. After return from editrecord() item.name = "Baked Beans" item.id = 220 item.price = 2.20
3. The final values of values, item.name, item.id, item.price item.name = "Baked Beans" item.id = 220 item.price = 2.75
C25: Examples on Pointer Usage This program introduces a structure which contains pointers as some of its fields.
main() { int code = 312, number; char name[] = "Baked beans"; struct sample item;
item.name = product; item.id = &code; item.price = 2.75; item.name = name; number = *item.id; printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); }
Answer C25: Examples on Pointer Usage Determine the output of the following program.
main() { int code = 312, number; char name[] = "Baked beans"; struct sample item;
item.name = product;
item.id = &code; item.price = 2.75; item.name = name; number = *item.id; printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); }
C26: Examples on Pointer Usage This program introduces a structure which has pointers as some of its fields. The structure is passed to a function printrecord() as a reference and accessed via a pointer goods. This function also updates some of the fields.
struct sample {
static char product[] = "Greggs Coffee"; static float price1 = 3.20; static int id = 773;
void printrecord( struct sample *goods ) { printf("Name = %s\n", goods->name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *goods->id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", goods->price ); goods->name = &product[0]; goods->id = &id; goods->price = price1; }
main() {
int code = 123, number; char name[] = "Apple Pie"; struct sample item;
item.id = &code; item.price = 1.65; item.name = name; number = *item.id; printrecord( &item ); printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); }
Answer C26: Examples on Pointer Usage Determine the output of the following program.
static char product[] = "Greggs Coffee"; static float price1 = 3.20; static int id = 773;
void printrecord( struct sample *goods ) { printf("Name = %s\n", goods->name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *goods->id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", goods->price ); goods->name = &product[0]; goods->id = &id; goods->price = price1; }
item.id = &code; item.price = 1.65; item.name = name; number = *item.id; printrecord( &item ); printf("Name = %s\n", item.name ); printf("ID = %d\n", *item.id); printf("Price = %.2f\n", item.price ); }
eg,
printf("ID = %d\n", *goods->id); %d is an integer we want the value to be a variable integer type goods->id,
what is id, its a pointer, so we mean contents of, therefor we use *goods->id which evaluates to an integer type Name = Apple Pie ID = 123 Price = 1.65
/* process a goods file, and print out */ /* all goods where the quantity on */
/* definition of a record of type goods */ struct goods { char name[20]; float price; int quantity; int reorder; }; /* name of product */
/* function prototypes */ void myexit( int ); void processfile( void ); void printrecord( struct goods ); int getrecord( struct goods * );
/* provides a tidy means to exit program gracefully */ void myexit( int exitcode ) {
/* prints a record */ void printrecord( struct goods record ) { printf("\nProduct name\t%s\n", record.name ); printf("Product price\t%.2f\n", record.price ); printf("Product quantity\t%d\n", record.quantity ); printf("Product reorder level\t%d\n", record.reorder ); }
/* reads one record from inputfile into 'record', returns 1 for success */ int getrecord( struct goods *record ) { int loop = 0, ch; char buffer[40];
ch = fgetc( input_file ); /* skip to start of record */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) )
/* read product name */ while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; strcpy( record->name, buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* read product price */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); }
/* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* read product quantity */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; record->quantity = atoi( buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* skip to start of next field */ while( (ch == '\n') || (ch == ' ') && (ch != EOF) ) ch = fgetc( input_file ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* read product reorder level */ loop = 0; while( (ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) { buffer[loop++] = ch; ch = fgetc( input_file ); } buffer[loop] = 0; record->reorder = atoi( buffer ); if( ch == EOF ) return 0;
/* processes file for records */ void processfile( void ) { struct goods record; /* holds a record read from inputfile */
while( ! feof( input_file )) { if( getrecord( &record ) == 1 ) { if( record.quantity <= record.reorder ) printrecord( record );
printf("Example Goods Re-Order File Program\n"); printf("Enter database file "); scanf(" %s", filename ); input_file = fopen( filename, "rt" ); if( input_file == NULL ) { printf("Unable to open datafile %s\n", filename ); myexit( 1 ); } processfile(); myexit( 0 ); } Please obtain the data file for this example from your tutor, or via ftp. File Handling Example The data file for this exercise looks like,