C- Function that compares two four digit number arrays - c

Question

I'm trying to create a function that compares two four digit numbers and
returns the number of similar digits between the two. For example, with a generated number of 4311 and the user entered 1488,
the score should return 2 (4 and 1).
If it was 4311 and the other is 1147,
the score should return three (1, 1 and 4). I don't know why it isn't giving me the right outputs, hope you can help.
int getSameDigitScore(int playerGuess, int generatedNum) {
int score = 0;
int i;
int j;
int k;
int generatedNumArray[4];
int playerGuessArray[4];
// turns playerGuess into an array
while (playerGuess > 0 ) {
i = 0;
playerGuessArray[i] = playerGuess % 10;
i++;
playerGuess /= 10;
}
// turns generatedNum into an array
while (generatedNum > 0) {
i = 0;
generatedNumArray[i] = generatedNum % 10;
i++;
generatedNum /= 10;
}
// compares the two arrays
for (k = 3; k >= 0; k--) {
for (j = 3; j >= 0; j--) {
if (generatedNumArray[k] == playerGuessArray[j]) {
score++;
playerGuessArray[j] = 0;
j = -5;
}
}
}
return score;
}

Answer 1

You are assigning i = 0 inside the while loop while generating the playerGuessArray and generatedNumArray. Due to which the playerGuess and generatedNumArray array will have elements as first digit of your number 0 0 0 .
Move the initialization out of the loop.

Answer 2

int getSameDigitScore(int playerGuess, int generatedNum) {
int score = 0;
int i, j, k, n;
int generatedNumArray[4];
int playerGuessArray[4];
// turns playerGuess into an array
i = 0; // This has been out of while loop
while (playerGuess > 0 ) {
playerGuessArray[i] = playerGuess % 10;
i++;
playerGuess /= 10;
}
// turns generatedNum into an array
int n = 0; // This has been out of the while loop
while (generatedNum > 0) {
generatedNumArray[n] = generatedNum % 10;
n++;
generatedNum /= 10;
}
// compares the two arrays
for (k = 3; k >= 0; k--) {
for (j = 3; j >= 0; j--) {
if (generatedNumArray[k] == playerGuessArray[j]) {
score++;
playerGuessArray[j] = 0;
j = -5;
}
}
}
return score;
}
int main() {
int m;
n = getSameDigitScore(1231, 2342);
printf("Score is: %d\n", m);
}
You're re-initializing increment variable i on every iteration which should be moved out of the while loop. With that moved out the above code works fine.

Answer 3

There are the following issues with the code.
You are initializing the integer i inside the while loop. This needs to be done before the loop for each loop.
You need a separate array to get the output of equal digits. See AnswerArray in code below. Also it is a good design practice to pass this array to the function and clear this array inside the function.
In the last for loop, you should break from the inner loop after getting a match. This is to take care of cases where playerGuess == 1222 and generatedNum = 1111 In the code shown this will result in a score of 1.
See the final code below with some test cases.
int getSameDigitScore(int playerGuess, int generatedNum, int *AnswerArray) {
int score = 0;
int i;
int j;
int k;
int generatedNumArray[4] = {0};
int playerGuessArray[4] = {0};
memset(AnswerArray,0,4*sizeof(int));
// turns playerGuess into an array
i = 0;
while (playerGuess > 0 ) {
playerGuessArray[i] = playerGuess % 10;
i++;
playerGuess /= 10;
}
// turns generatedNum into an array
i = 0;
while (generatedNum > 0) {
generatedNumArray[i] = generatedNum % 10;
i++;
generatedNum /= 10;
}
// compares the two arrays
score=0;
for (k = 3; k >= 0; k--) {
for (j = 3; j >= 0; j--) {
if (generatedNumArray[k] == playerGuessArray[j]) {
AnswerArray[score++] = generatedNumArray[k];
playerGuessArray[j] = -1;
break;
}
}
}
return score;
}
int main(void)
{
int AnswerArray[4],score;
score = getSameDigitScore(4311,1488,AnswerArray);
printf ("\nScore = %d \n Answer Array = ",score);
for (int i=0; i<score; i++)
{
printf ("%d ",AnswerArray[i]);
}
score = getSameDigitScore(4311,1147,AnswerArray);
printf ("\nScore = %d \n Answer Array = ",score);
for (int i=0; i<score; i++)
{
printf ("%d ",AnswerArray[i]);
}
score = getSameDigitScore(1222,1111,AnswerArray);
printf ("\nScore = %d \n Answer Array = ",score);
for (int i=0; i<score; i++)
{
printf ("%d ",AnswerArray[i]);
}
score = getSameDigitScore(1111,1222,AnswerArray);
printf ("\nScore = %d \n Answer Array = ",score);
for (int i=0; i<score; i++)
{
printf ("%d ",AnswerArray[i]);
}
}

Answer 4

The initializing i=0 which you made inside the loop should be outside the loop.
while (playerGuess > 0 ) {
i = 0;
playerGuessArray[i] = playerGuess % 10;
i++;
playerGuess /= 10;
}
If the initialization is inside the looop then,
Everytime playerGuessArray[0] value will be updated.
FYI:
If playerGuess can contain 0 aat the begin of four digit like 0123
For example, playerGuessValue is 0123, Then by using
while (playerGuess > 0 ) {
i = 0;
playerGuessArray[i] = playerGuess % 10;
i++;
playerGuess /= 10;
}
playerGuessArray will contain only [1,2,3] instead of [0,1,2,3].
So, the better solution would be taking two temporary variables and checking last digit one by one.
Like this:
int temp1=playerGuess, temp2=GeneratedNum;
int i=0;
bool flag = true;
while(flag && i < 4){
if(temp1%10 != temp2%10){
flag = false;
}
temp1 /= 10;
temp2 /= 10;
i++;
}
if(flag){
score++;
}
FYI:
Debugging will help you in finding out these little mistakes.So, try to debug your code with multiple inputs and verify your answer.
Here are few reference on how to debug:
https://blog.hartleybrody.com/debugging-code-beginner/
https://www.codementor.io/mattgoldspink/how-to-debug-code-efficiently-and-effectively-du107u9jh%60
Thanks.