Finding some text and replacing it with new text within a C string can be a little trickier than expected.
I am searching for an algorithm which is fast, and that has a small time complexity.
What should I use?
I couldn't find an implementation of search/replace in C that I liked so I present here my own. It does not use things like strstr(), snprintf(), arbitrary length temporary buffers, etc. It only requires that the haystack buffer is large enough to hold the resulting string after replacements are made.
// str_replace(haystack, haystacksize, oldneedle, newneedle) --
// Search haystack and replace all occurences of oldneedle with newneedle.
// Resulting haystack contains no more than haystacksize characters (including the '\0').
// If haystacksize is too small to make the replacements, do not modify haystack at all.
//
// RETURN VALUES
// str_replace() returns haystack on success and NULL on failure.
// Failure means there was not enough room to replace all occurences of oldneedle.
// Success is returned otherwise, even if no replacement is made.
char *str_replace(char *haystack, size_t haystacksize,
const char *oldneedle, const char *newneedle);
// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// Implementation of function
// ------------------------------------------------------------------
#define SUCCESS (char *)haystack
#define FAILURE (void *)NULL
static bool
locate_forward(char **needle_ptr, char *read_ptr,
const char *needle, const char *needle_last);
static bool
locate_backward(char **needle_ptr, char *read_ptr,
const char *needle, const char *needle_last);
char *str_replace(char *haystack, size_t haystacksize,
const char *oldneedle, const char *newneedle)
{
size_t oldneedle_len = strlen(oldneedle);
size_t newneedle_len = strlen(newneedle);
char *oldneedle_ptr; // locates occurences of oldneedle
char *read_ptr; // where to read in the haystack
char *write_ptr; // where to write in the haystack
const char *oldneedle_last = // the last character in oldneedle
oldneedle +
oldneedle_len - 1;
// Case 0: oldneedle is empty
if (oldneedle_len == 0)
return SUCCESS; // nothing to do; define as success
// Case 1: newneedle is not longer than oldneedle
if (newneedle_len <= oldneedle_len) {
// Pass 1: Perform copy/replace using read_ptr and write_ptr
for (oldneedle_ptr = (char *)oldneedle,
read_ptr = haystack, write_ptr = haystack;
*read_ptr != '\0';
read_ptr++, write_ptr++)
{
*write_ptr = *read_ptr;
bool found = locate_forward(&oldneedle_ptr, read_ptr,
oldneedle, oldneedle_last);
if (found) {
// then perform update
write_ptr -= oldneedle_len;
memcpy(write_ptr+1, newneedle, newneedle_len);
write_ptr += newneedle_len;
}
}
*write_ptr = '\0';
return SUCCESS;
}
// Case 2: newneedle is longer than oldneedle
else {
size_t diff_len = // the amount of extra space needed
newneedle_len - // to replace oldneedle with newneedle
oldneedle_len; // in the expanded haystack
// Pass 1: Perform forward scan, updating write_ptr along the way
for (oldneedle_ptr = (char *)oldneedle,
read_ptr = haystack, write_ptr = haystack;
*read_ptr != '\0';
read_ptr++, write_ptr++)
{
bool found = locate_forward(&oldneedle_ptr, read_ptr,
oldneedle, oldneedle_last);
if (found) {
// then advance write_ptr
write_ptr += diff_len;
}
if (write_ptr >= haystack+haystacksize)
return FAILURE; // no more room in haystack
}
// Pass 2: Walk backwards through haystack, performing copy/replace
for (oldneedle_ptr = (char *)oldneedle_last;
write_ptr >= haystack;
write_ptr--, read_ptr--)
{
*write_ptr = *read_ptr;
bool found = locate_backward(&oldneedle_ptr, read_ptr,
oldneedle, oldneedle_last);
if (found) {
// then perform replacement
write_ptr -= diff_len;
memcpy(write_ptr, newneedle, newneedle_len);
}
}
return SUCCESS;
}
}
// locate_forward: compare needle_ptr and read_ptr to see if a match occured
// needle_ptr is updated as appropriate for the next call
// return true if match occured, false otherwise
static inline bool
locate_forward(char **needle_ptr, char *read_ptr,
const char *needle, const char *needle_last)
{
if (**needle_ptr == *read_ptr) {
(*needle_ptr)++;
if (*needle_ptr > needle_last) {
*needle_ptr = (char *)needle;
return true;
}
}
else
*needle_ptr = (char *)needle;
return false;
}
// locate_backward: compare needle_ptr and read_ptr to see if a match occured
// needle_ptr is updated as appropriate for the next call
// return true if match occured, false otherwise
static inline bool
locate_backward(char **needle_ptr, char *read_ptr,
const char *needle, const char *needle_last)
{
if (**needle_ptr == *read_ptr) {
(*needle_ptr)--;
if (*needle_ptr < needle) {
*needle_ptr = (char *)needle_last;
return true;
}
}
else
*needle_ptr = (char *)needle_last;
return false;
}
Example usage
#define BUF 30
char *retval1, *retval2;
char message[BUF] = "Your name is $USERNAME.";
char username[] = "admin";
char username_toolong[] = "System Administrator";
int main() {
retval1 = str_replace(message, BUF, "$USERNAME", username_toolong);
retval2 = str_replace(message, BUF, "$USERNAME", username);
if (!retval1)
printf("Not enough room to replace $USERNAME with `%s'\n", username_toolong);
if (!retval2)
printf("Not enough room to replace $USERNAME with `%s'\n", username);
printf("%s\n", message);
return 0;
}
Output
Not enough room to replace $USERNAME with `System Administrator'
Your name is admin.
Cheers.
Knuth-Morris-Pratt (which is classic) or Boyer-Moore (which is sometimes faster)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth-Morris-Pratt_algorithm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyer-Moore_string_search_algorithm
Try using a Google search for 'string searching algorithms'.
I can't help but wonder what algorithm strstr() implements. Given that these are fairly standard algorithms, it's entirely possible that a good implementation of strstr() uses one of them.
However there's no guarantee that strstr() implements an optimised algorithm or that the same algorithm is used from one platform to another.
Using std::string (from <string>) you can simply use find and replace.
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/string/string/find/ - Gets you an index.
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/string/string/replace/ - Takes an index.
Edit: Touché. This is for C++ only.
Is this any good to you?
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread51976.html
here is a nice code
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
char *replace_str(char *str, char *orig, char *rep)
{
static char buffer[4096];
char *p;
if(!(p = strstr(str, orig))) // Is 'orig' even in 'str'?
return str;
strncpy(buffer, str, p-str); // Copy characters from 'str' start to 'orig' st$
buffer[p-str] = '\0';
sprintf(buffer+(p-str), "%s%s", rep, p+strlen(orig));
return buffer;
}
int main(void)
{
puts(replace_str("Hello, world!", "world", "Miami"));
return 0;
}
My solution, based on the others, but a bit safer I believe:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define MAX_SOURCE_SIZE (0x100000)
char * searchReplace(char * string, char *toReplace[], char *replacements[], int numReplacements){
int i = 0;
char *locOfToRep;
char *toRep;
char *rep;
int lenToRep,lenStr,lenAfterLocRep;
static char buffer[MAX_SOURCE_SIZE];
for(i = 0; i < numReplacements; ++i){
toRep = toReplace[i];
rep = replacements[i];
//if str not in the string, exit.
if (!(locOfToRep = strstr(string,toRep))){
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
lenToRep = strlen(toRep);
lenStr = strlen(string);
lenAfterLocRep = strlen(locOfToRep);
//Print the string upto the pointer, then the val, and then the rest of the string.
sprintf(buffer, "%.*s%s%s", lenStr-lenAfterLocRep, string,rep,locOfToRep+lenToRep);
string = buffer;
}
return buffer;
}
int main(){
char * string = "Hello, world!";
int numVals;
char *names[2] = {"Hello", "world"};
char *vals[2] = {"Goodbye", "you"};
numVals = 2;
string = searchReplace(string, names, vals, numVals);
printf("%s\n",string);
}
I am trying to write a function to get a string from uart. Its for an embedded system so I don't want to use malloc.
The pointer that is passed to the getstring function seems to point to garbage after the gets_e_uart1() is called. I don't use pointers too often so I'm sure it is something really stupid and trivial that Im doing wrong.
int main()
{
char *ptr = 0;
while(1)
{
gets_e_uart1(ptr, 100);
puts_uart1(ptr);
}
return 0;
}*end main*/
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
//gets a string and echos it
//returns 0 if there is no error
char getstring_e_uart1(char *stringPtr_, const int SIZE_)
{
char buffer_[SIZE_];
stringPtr_ = buffer_;
int start_ = 0, end_ = SIZE_ - 1;
char errorflag = 0;
/*keep geting chars until newline char recieved*/
while((buffer_[start_++] = getchar_uart1())!= 0x0D)
{
putchar_uart1(buffer_[start_]);//echo it
/*check for end of buffer
wraparound if neccesary*/
if(start_ == end_)
{
start_ = 0;
errorflag = 1;
}
}
putchar_uart1('\n');
putchar_uart1('\r');
/*check for end of buffer
wraparound if neccesary*/
if(start_ == end_)
{
buffer_[0] = '\0';
errorflag = 1;
}
else
{
buffer_[start_++] = '\0';
}
return errorflag;
}
Update:
I decided to go with approach of passing a pointer an array to the function. This works nicely, thanks to everyone for the informative answers.
Updated Code:
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
//argument 1 should be a pointer to an array,
//and the second argument should be the size of the array
//gets a string and echos it
//returns 0 if there is no error
char getstring_e_uart1(char *stringPtr_, const int SIZE_)
{
char *startPtr_ = stringPtr_;
char *endPtr_ = startPtr_ + (SIZE_ - 1);
char errorflag = 0;
/*keep geting chars until newline char recieved*/
while((*stringPtr_ = getchar_uart1())!= 0x0D)
{
putchar_uart1(*stringPtr_);//echo it
stringPtr_++;
/*check for end of buffer
wraparound if neccesary*/
if(stringPtr_ == endPtr_)
{
stringPtr_ = startPtr_;
errorflag = 1;
}
}
putchar_uart1('\n');
putchar_uart1('\r');
/*check for end of buffer
wraparound if neccesary*/
if(stringPtr_ == endPtr_)
{
stringPtr_ = startPtr_;
*stringPtr_ = '\0';
errorflag = 1;
}
else
{
*stringPtr_ = '\0';
}
return errorflag;
}
Hint: ptr is pointing to garbage before gets_e_uart1() is called.
You need to pass a pointer to your pointer to gets_e_uart1()
EDIT: Except ... if you're trying to have ptr in main() point to the buffer_ in your function ... you've got another problem. buffer_ is on the stack and is out of scope as soon as the function returns. You would need to malloc() that memory in your function.
char getstring_e_uart1(char **stringPtr_, const int SIZE_)
{
char *buffer_ = (char*) malloc(SIZE_ * sizeof(char));
*stringPtr_ = buffer_;
(Editing again because I wasn't paying attention to your main loop, sorry)
Then you're going to have to free it after calling puts_uart1(ptr) which means you mallocing and freeing constantly in that loop. It seems you have a fixed size for that buffer, why not just create it in main() and pass it into both functions?
In addition to Brian's answer I think you also have a problem here:
char getstring_e_uart1(char *stringPtr_, const int SIZE_)
{
char buffer_[SIZE_];
stringPtr_ = buffer_;
after the function returns buffer is no longer valid but stringPtr_ would still point to it. You could make buffer_ static or allocate it globally
You need to construct the buffer prior to invoking getstring_e_uart1(). The code as written will cause the buffer_ variable to be destroyed when the function exits.
I think you want something more like:
char buffer_[SIZE_];
while(1) {
char* ptr = buffer_;
gets_e_uart1(ptr, sizeof(buffer_));
puts_uart1(ptr);
}
Note: I've done no verification regarding the reuse of the variable buffer_.
You don't need to make the buffer static or global - you just have to have the caller allocate it. The changes are trivial:
int main()
{
while(1)
{
char buffer[100] = { 0 };
gets_e_uart1(buffer, sizeof buffer);
puts_uart1(buffer);
}
return 0;
}
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
//gets a string and echos it
//returns 0 if there is no error
char getstring_e_uart1(char *buffer_, const int SIZE_)
{
int start_ = 0, end_ = SIZE_ - 1;
char errorflag = 0;
/* ... */
Given a (char *) string, I want to find all occurrences of a substring and replace them with an alternate string. I do not see any simple function that achieves this in <string.h>.
The optimizer should eliminate most of the local variables. The tmp pointer is there to make sure strcpy doesn't have to walk the string to find the null. tmp points to the end of result after each call. (See Shlemiel the painter's algorithm for why strcpy can be annoying.)
// You must free the result if result is non-NULL.
char *str_replace(char *orig, char *rep, char *with) {
char *result; // the return string
char *ins; // the next insert point
char *tmp; // varies
int len_rep; // length of rep (the string to remove)
int len_with; // length of with (the string to replace rep with)
int len_front; // distance between rep and end of last rep
int count; // number of replacements
// sanity checks and initialization
if (!orig || !rep)
return NULL;
len_rep = strlen(rep);
if (len_rep == 0)
return NULL; // empty rep causes infinite loop during count
if (!with)
with = "";
len_with = strlen(with);
// count the number of replacements needed
ins = orig;
for (count = 0; tmp = strstr(ins, rep); ++count) {
ins = tmp + len_rep;
}
tmp = result = malloc(strlen(orig) + (len_with - len_rep) * count + 1);
if (!result)
return NULL;
// first time through the loop, all the variable are set correctly
// from here on,
// tmp points to the end of the result string
// ins points to the next occurrence of rep in orig
// orig points to the remainder of orig after "end of rep"
while (count--) {
ins = strstr(orig, rep);
len_front = ins - orig;
tmp = strncpy(tmp, orig, len_front) + len_front;
tmp = strcpy(tmp, with) + len_with;
orig += len_front + len_rep; // move to next "end of rep"
}
strcpy(tmp, orig);
return result;
}
This is not provided in the standard C library because, given only a char* you can't increase the memory allocated to the string if the replacement string is longer than the string being replaced.
You can do this using std::string more easily, but even there, no single function will do it for you.
There isn't one.
You'd need to roll your own using something like strstr and strcat or strcpy.
You could build your own replace function using strstr to find the substrings and strncpy to copy in parts to a new buffer.
Unless what you want to replace_with is the same length as what you you want to replace, then it's probably best to use a new buffer to copy the new string to.
Here's some sample code that does it.
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
char * replace(
char const * const original,
char const * const pattern,
char const * const replacement
) {
size_t const replen = strlen(replacement);
size_t const patlen = strlen(pattern);
size_t const orilen = strlen(original);
size_t patcnt = 0;
const char * oriptr;
const char * patloc;
// find how many times the pattern occurs in the original string
for (oriptr = original; patloc = strstr(oriptr, pattern); oriptr = patloc + patlen)
{
patcnt++;
}
{
// allocate memory for the new string
size_t const retlen = orilen + patcnt * (replen - patlen);
char * const returned = (char *) malloc( sizeof(char) * (retlen + 1) );
if (returned != NULL)
{
// copy the original string,
// replacing all the instances of the pattern
char * retptr = returned;
for (oriptr = original; patloc = strstr(oriptr, pattern); oriptr = patloc + patlen)
{
size_t const skplen = patloc - oriptr;
// copy the section until the occurence of the pattern
strncpy(retptr, oriptr, skplen);
retptr += skplen;
// copy the replacement
strncpy(retptr, replacement, replen);
retptr += replen;
}
// copy the rest of the string.
strcpy(retptr, oriptr);
}
return returned;
}
}
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char * argv[])
{
if (argc != 4)
{
fprintf(stderr,"usage: %s <original text> <pattern> <replacement>\n", argv[0]);
exit(-1);
}
else
{
char * const newstr = replace(argv[1], argv[2], argv[3]);
if (newstr)
{
printf("%s\n", newstr);
free(newstr);
}
else
{
fprintf(stderr,"allocation error\n");
exit(-2);
}
}
return 0;
}
As strings in C can not dynamically grow inplace substitution will generally not work. Therefore you need to allocate space for a new string that has enough room for your substitution and then copy the parts from the original plus the substitution into the new string. To copy the parts you would use strncpy.
// Here is the code for unicode strings!
int mystrstr(wchar_t *txt1,wchar_t *txt2)
{
wchar_t *posstr=wcsstr(txt1,txt2);
if(posstr!=NULL)
{
return (posstr-txt1);
}else
{
return -1;
}
}
// assume: supplied buff is enough to hold generated text
void StringReplace(wchar_t *buff,wchar_t *txt1,wchar_t *txt2)
{
wchar_t *tmp;
wchar_t *nextStr;
int pos;
tmp=wcsdup(buff);
pos=mystrstr(tmp,txt1);
if(pos!=-1)
{
buff[0]=0;
wcsncpy(buff,tmp,pos);
buff[pos]=0;
wcscat(buff,txt2);
nextStr=tmp+pos+wcslen(txt1);
while(wcslen(nextStr)!=0)
{
pos=mystrstr(nextStr,txt1);
if(pos==-1)
{
wcscat(buff,nextStr);
break;
}
wcsncat(buff,nextStr,pos);
wcscat(buff,txt2);
nextStr=nextStr+pos+wcslen(txt1);
}
}
free(tmp);
}
The repl_str() function on creativeandcritical.net is fast and reliable. Also included on that page is a wide string variant, repl_wcs(), which can be used with Unicode strings including those encoded in UTF-8, through helper functions - demo code is linked from the page. Belated full disclosure: I am the author of that page and the functions on it.
Here is the one that I created based on these requirements:
Replace the pattern regardless of whether is was long or shorter.
Not use any malloc (explicit or implicit) to intrinsically avoid memory leaks.
Replace any number of occurrences of pattern.
Tolerate the replace string having a substring equal to the search string.
Does not have to check that the Line array is sufficient in size to hold the replacement. e.g. This does not work unless the caller knows that line is of sufficient size to hold the new string.
avoid use of strcat() to avoid overhead of scanning the entire string to append another string.
/* returns number of strings replaced.
*/
int replacestr(char *line, const char *search, const char *replace)
{
int count;
char *sp; // start of pattern
//printf("replacestr(%s, %s, %s)\n", line, search, replace);
if ((sp = strstr(line, search)) == NULL) {
return(0);
}
count = 1;
int sLen = strlen(search);
int rLen = strlen(replace);
if (sLen > rLen) {
// move from right to left
char *src = sp + sLen;
char *dst = sp + rLen;
while((*dst = *src) != '\0') { dst++; src++; }
} else if (sLen < rLen) {
// move from left to right
int tLen = strlen(sp) - sLen;
char *stop = sp + rLen;
char *src = sp + sLen + tLen;
char *dst = sp + rLen + tLen;
while(dst >= stop) { *dst = *src; dst--; src--; }
}
memcpy(sp, replace, rLen);
count += replacestr(sp + rLen, search, replace);
return(count);
}
Any suggestions for improving this code are cheerfully accepted. Just post the comment and I will test it.
i find most of the proposed functions hard to understand - so i came up with this:
static char *dull_replace(const char *in, const char *pattern, const char *by)
{
size_t outsize = strlen(in) + 1;
// TODO maybe avoid reallocing by counting the non-overlapping occurences of pattern
char *res = malloc(outsize);
// use this to iterate over the output
size_t resoffset = 0;
char *needle;
while (needle = strstr(in, pattern)) {
// copy everything up to the pattern
memcpy(res + resoffset, in, needle - in);
resoffset += needle - in;
// skip the pattern in the input-string
in = needle + strlen(pattern);
// adjust space for replacement
outsize = outsize - strlen(pattern) + strlen(by);
res = realloc(res, outsize);
// copy the pattern
memcpy(res + resoffset, by, strlen(by));
resoffset += strlen(by);
}
// copy the remaining input
strcpy(res + resoffset, in);
return res;
}
output must be free'd
a fix to fann95's response, using in-place modification of the string, and assuming the buffer pointed to by line is large enough to hold the resulting string.
static void replacestr(char *line, const char *search, const char *replace)
{
char *sp;
if ((sp = strstr(line, search)) == NULL) {
return;
}
int search_len = strlen(search);
int replace_len = strlen(replace);
int tail_len = strlen(sp+search_len);
memmove(sp+replace_len,sp+search_len,tail_len+1);
memcpy(sp, replace, replace_len);
}
/*замена символа в строке*/
char* replace_char(char* str, char in, char out) {
char * p = str;
while(p != '\0') {
if(*p == in)
*p == out;
++p;
}
return str;
}
This function only works if ur string has extra space for new length
void replace_str(char *str,char *org,char *rep)
{
char *ToRep = strstr(str,org);
char *Rest = (char*)malloc(strlen(ToRep));
strcpy(Rest,((ToRep)+strlen(org)));
strcpy(ToRep,rep);
strcat(ToRep,Rest);
free(Rest);
}
This only replaces First occurrence
Here goes mine, make them all char*, which makes calling easier...
char *strrpc(char *str,char *oldstr,char *newstr){
char bstr[strlen(str)];
memset(bstr,0,sizeof(bstr));
int i;
for(i = 0;i < strlen(str);i++){
if(!strncmp(str+i,oldstr,strlen(oldstr))){
strcat(bstr,newstr);
i += strlen(oldstr) - 1;
}else{
strncat(bstr,str + i,1);
}
}
strcpy(str,bstr);
return str;
}
There is a function in string.h but it works with char [] not char* but again it outputs a char* and not a char []
It is simple and beautiful
Supposing we want to replace 'and' in 'TheandQuickandBrownandFox'.
We first split with strtok and then join with snprintf defined in the stdio.h
char sometext[] = "TheandQuickandBrownandFox";
char* replaced = malloc(1024);
// split on the substring, here I am using (and)
char* token = strtok(sometext, "and");
snprintf(replaced, 1, "%s", ""); // initialise so we can compare
while(token) {
if (strcmp(replaced, "") < 1) {
// if it is the first one
snprintf(replaced, 1024, "%s", token);
token = NULL;
} else {
// put the space between the existing and new
snprintf(replaced, 1024, "%s %s", replaced, token);
token = NULL;
}
}
free(replaced);
This should give us:
The Quick Brown Fox
You can use this function (the comments explain how it works):
void strreplace(char *string, const char *find, const char *replaceWith){
if(strstr(string, find) != NULL){
char *temporaryString = malloc(strlen(strstr(string, find) + strlen(find)) + 1);
strcpy(temporaryString, strstr(string, find) + strlen(find)); //Create a string with what's after the replaced part
*strstr(string, find) = '\0'; //Take away the part to replace and the part after it in the initial string
strcat(string, replaceWith); //Concat the first part of the string with the part to replace with
strcat(string, temporaryString); //Concat the first part of the string with the part after the replaced part
free(temporaryString); //Free the memory to avoid memory leaks
}
}
DWORD ReplaceString(__inout PCHAR source, __in DWORD dwSourceLen, __in const char* pszTextToReplace, __in const char* pszReplaceWith)
{
DWORD dwRC = NO_ERROR;
PCHAR foundSeq = NULL;
PCHAR restOfString = NULL;
PCHAR searchStart = source;
size_t szReplStrcLen = strlen(pszReplaceWith), szRestOfStringLen = 0, sztextToReplaceLen = strlen(pszTextToReplace), remainingSpace = 0, dwSpaceRequired = 0;
if (strcmp(pszTextToReplace, "") == 0)
dwRC = ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER;
else if (strcmp(pszTextToReplace, pszReplaceWith) != 0)
{
do
{
foundSeq = strstr(searchStart, pszTextToReplace);
if (foundSeq)
{
szRestOfStringLen = (strlen(foundSeq) - sztextToReplaceLen) + 1;
remainingSpace = dwSourceLen - (foundSeq - source);
dwSpaceRequired = szReplStrcLen + (szRestOfStringLen);
if (dwSpaceRequired > remainingSpace)
{
dwRC = ERROR_MORE_DATA;
}
else
{
restOfString = CMNUTIL_calloc(szRestOfStringLen, sizeof(CHAR));
strcpy_s(restOfString, szRestOfStringLen, foundSeq + sztextToReplaceLen);
strcpy_s(foundSeq, remainingSpace, pszReplaceWith);
strcat_s(foundSeq, remainingSpace, restOfString);
}
CMNUTIL_free(restOfString);
searchStart = foundSeq + szReplStrcLen; //search in the remaining str. (avoid loops when replWith contains textToRepl
}
} while (foundSeq && dwRC == NO_ERROR);
}
return dwRC;
}
char *replace(const char*instring, const char *old_part, const char *new_part)
{
#ifndef EXPECTED_REPLACEMENTS
#define EXPECTED_REPLACEMENTS 100
#endif
if(!instring || !old_part || !new_part)
{
return (char*)NULL;
}
size_t instring_len=strlen(instring);
size_t new_len=strlen(new_part);
size_t old_len=strlen(old_part);
if(instring_len<old_len || old_len==0)
{
return (char*)NULL;
}
const char *in=instring;
const char *found=NULL;
size_t count=0;
size_t out=0;
size_t ax=0;
char *outstring=NULL;
if(new_len> old_len )
{
size_t Diff=EXPECTED_REPLACEMENTS*(new_len-old_len);
size_t outstring_len=instring_len + Diff;
outstring =(char*) malloc(outstring_len);
if(!outstring){
return (char*)NULL;
}
while((found = strstr(in, old_part))!=NULL)
{
if(count==EXPECTED_REPLACEMENTS)
{
outstring_len+=Diff;
if((outstring=realloc(outstring,outstring_len))==NULL)
{
return (char*)NULL;
}
count=0;
}
ax=found-in;
strncpy(outstring+out,in,ax);
out+=ax;
strncpy(outstring+out,new_part,new_len);
out+=new_len;
in=found+old_len;
count++;
}
}
else
{
outstring =(char*) malloc(instring_len);
if(!outstring){
return (char*)NULL;
}
while((found = strstr(in, old_part))!=NULL)
{
ax=found-in;
strncpy(outstring+out,in,ax);
out+=ax;
strncpy(outstring+out,new_part,new_len);
out+=new_len;
in=found+old_len;
}
}
ax=(instring+instring_len)-in;
strncpy(outstring+out,in,ax);
out+=ax;
outstring[out]='\0';
return outstring;
}
Using only strlen from string.h
sorry for my English
char * str_replace(char * text,char * rep, char * repw){//text -> to replace in it | rep -> replace | repw -> replace with
int replen = strlen(rep),repwlen = strlen(repw),count;//some constant variables
for(int i=0;i<strlen(text);i++){//search for the first character from rep in text
if(text[i] == rep[0]){//if it found it
count = 1;//start searching from the next character to avoid repetition
for(int j=1;j<replen;j++){
if(text[i+j] == rep[j]){//see if the next character in text is the same as the next in the rep if not break
count++;
}else{
break;
}
}
if(count == replen){//if count equals to the lenght of the rep then we found the word that we want to replace in the text
if(replen < repwlen){
for(int l = strlen(text);l>i;l--){//cuz repwlen greater than replen we need to shift characters to the right to make space for the replacement to fit
text[l+repwlen-replen] = text[l];//shift by repwlen-replen
}
}
if(replen > repwlen){
for(int l=i+replen-repwlen;l<strlen(text);l++){//cuz replen greater than repwlen we need to shift the characters to the left
text[l-(replen-repwlen)] = text[l];//shift by replen-repwlen
}
text[strlen(text)-(replen-repwlen)] = '\0';//get rid of the last unwanted characters
}
for(int l=0;l<repwlen;l++){//replace rep with repwlen
text[i+l] = repw[l];
}
if(replen != repwlen){
i+=repwlen-1;//pass to the next character | try text "y" ,rep "y",repw "yy" without this line to understand
}
}
}
}
return text;
}
if you want strlen code to avoid calling string.h
int strlen(char * string){//use this code to avoid calling string.h
int lenght = 0;
while(string[lenght] != '\0'){
lenght++;
}
return lenght;
}
There you go....this is the function to replace every occurance of char x with char y within character string str
char *zStrrep(char *str, char x, char y){
char *tmp=str;
while(*tmp)
if(*tmp == x)
*tmp++ = y; /* assign first, then incement */
else
*tmp++;
// *tmp='\0'; -> we do not need this
return str;
}
An example usage could be
Exmaple Usage
char s[]="this is a trial string to test the function.";
char x=' ', y='_';
printf("%s\n",zStrrep(s,x,y));
Example Output
this_is_a_trial_string_to_test_the_function.
The function is from a string library I maintain on Github, you are more than welcome to have a look at other available functions or even contribute to the code :)
https://github.com/fnoyanisi/zString
EDIT:
#siride is right, the function above replaces chars only. Just wrote this one, which replaces character strings.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
/* replace every occurance of string x with string y */
char *zstring_replace_str(char *str, const char *x, const char *y){
char *tmp_str = str, *tmp_x = x, *dummy_ptr = tmp_x, *tmp_y = y;
int len_str=0, len_y=0, len_x=0;
/* string length */
for(; *tmp_y; ++len_y, ++tmp_y)
;
for(; *tmp_str; ++len_str, ++tmp_str)
;
for(; *tmp_x; ++len_x, ++tmp_x)
;
/* Bounds check */
if (len_y >= len_str)
return str;
/* reset tmp pointers */
tmp_y = y;
tmp_x = x;
for (tmp_str = str ; *tmp_str; ++tmp_str)
if(*tmp_str == *tmp_x) {
/* save tmp_str */
for (dummy_ptr=tmp_str; *dummy_ptr == *tmp_x; ++tmp_x, ++dummy_ptr)
if (*(tmp_x+1) == '\0' && ((dummy_ptr-str+len_y) < len_str)){
/* Reached end of x, we got something to replace then!
* Copy y only if there is enough room for it
*/
for(tmp_y=y; *tmp_y; ++tmp_y, ++tmp_str)
*tmp_str = *tmp_y;
}
/* reset tmp_x */
tmp_x = x;
}
return str;
}
int main()
{
char s[]="Free software is a matter of liberty, not price.\n"
"To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' \n"
"as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'";
printf("%s\n\n",s);
printf("%s\n",zstring_replace_str(s,"ree","XYZ"));
return 0;
}
And below is the output
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price.
To understand the concept, you should think of 'free'
as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'
FXYZ software is a matter of liberty, not price.
To understand the concept, you should think of 'fXYZ'
as in 'fXYZ speech', not as in 'fXYZ beer'
You can use strrep()
char* strrep ( const char * cadena,
const char * strf,
const char * strr
)
strrep (String Replace). Replaces strf with strr in cadena and returns the new string. You need to free the returned string in your code after using strrep.
Parameters:
cadena: The string with the text.
strf: The text to find.
strr: The replacement text.
Returns
The text updated wit the replacement.
Project can be found at https://github.com/ipserc/strrep