How to add/delete element in Flat array in C - arrays

Question

I have a structure inside which char array and int value is maintained. I want to treat this char array as a flat array to store the list of strings and the offset will track the starting position where the string is added in the array.
Structure is shown below:
struct A
{
char element[256];
int offset;
}
Also, I want to delete the strings after performing some operation if found.
Please let me know if this feasible. If yes then how?

Answer 1

Yes, append to a.element[a.offset].
To delete, set a.element[0] to the null byte. C strings end at a null byte.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct
{
char element[256];
int offset;
} A;
void A_append(A* a, const char *str) {
// Concatenate on the end of element.
strcat(&a->element[a->offset], str);
// Increment the offset to the new end.
a->offset += strlen(str);
}
void A_delete(A* a) {
a->element[0] = '\0';
a->offset = 0;
}
int main() {
A a = { .element = "" };
a.offset = 0;
char string1[] = "one";
A_append(&a, string1);
char string2[] = "two";
A_append(&a, string2);
puts(a.element);
A_delete(&a);
puts(a.element);
}
You can also store a pointer to the end of element. It's the same thing, just more direct.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct
{
char element[256];
char *end;
} A;
void A_append(A* a, const char *str) {
// Concatenate nto the end of element.
strcat(a->end, str);
// Increment the pointer to the new end.
a->end += strlen(str);
}
void A_delete(A* a) {
a->element[0] = '\0';
a->end = a->element;
}
int main() {
A a = { .element = "" };
a.end = a.element;
char string1[] = "one";
A_append(&a, string1);
char string2[] = "two";
A_append(&a, string2);
puts(a.element);
A_delete(&a);
puts(a.element);
}
Finally, if you want to store a list of strings, not concatenate them, consider storing them as pointers.

Answer 2

Since all we have to go on is the question if it's feasible - and the answer is yes. Here's a way showing that it is:
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct A A;
struct A {
char element[256];
int offset;
};
A *A_create() {
A *a = malloc(sizeof *a);
a->offset = 0;
return a;
}
void A_destroy(A *a) {
free(a);
}
// return false if the string doesn't fit
// true if it's successfully added
bool A_add_string(A *a, const char *str) {
size_t len = strlen(str);
if(a->offset + len >= sizeof a->element) return false;
memcpy(a->element + a->offset, str, len + 1);
a->offset += len + 1;
return true;
}
You can now create an A, add \0 terminated strings to it and finally destroy it:
A *a = A_create();
A_add_string(a, "Hello");
A_add_string(a, "world");
A_destroy(a);