How to append a char at a defined position - c

Question

I'm trying to add a character at a defined position. I've created a new function, allocate a memory for one more char, save characters after the position then added my character at the defined position, and now I don't know how to erase characters after that position to concatenate the saved string. Any solution?
Here is the beginning of my function:
void appendCharact(char *source, char carac, int position) {
source = realloc(source, strlen(source) * sizeof(char) + 1); //Get enough memory
char *temp = source.substr(position); //Save characters after my position
source[position] = carac; //Add the character
}
EDIT :
I'm trying to implement another "barbarous" solution, in debug mode I can see that I've approximately my new string but it look like I can't erase the older pointer...
void appendCharact(char *source, char carac, int position) {
char *temp = (char *)malloc((strlen(source) + 2) * sizeof(char));
int i;
for(i = 0; i < position; i++) {
temp[i] = source[i];
}
temp[position] = carac;
for (i = position; i < strlen(source); i++) {
temp[i + 1] = source[i];
}
temp[strlen(temp) + 1] = '\0';
free(source);
source = temp;
}

Answer 1

I mentioned that I could see five problems with the code as shown (copied here for reference)
void appendCharact(char * source, char carac , int position)
{
source = realloc(source, strlen(source) * sizeof(char) + 1); //Get enough memory
char * temp = source.substr(position); //Save characters after my position
source[position] = carac; //Add the charactere
}
The problems are (in no specific order):
strlen(source) * sizeof(char) + 1 is equal to (strlen(source) * sizeof(char)) + 1. It should have been (strlen(source) + 1) * sizeof(char). However, this works fine since sizeof(char) is defined in the C++ specification to always be equal to 1.
Related to the above: Simple char strings are really called null-terminated byte strings. As such they must be terminated by a "null" character ('\0'). This null character of course needs space in the allocated string, and is not counted by strlen. Therefore to add a character you need allocate strlen(source) + 2 characters.
Never assign back to the pointer you pass to realloc. If realloc fails, it will return a null pointer, making you lose the original memory, and that is a memory leak.
The realloc function return type is void*. In C++ you need to cast it to the correct pointer type for assignment.
You pass source by value, meaning inside the function you have a local copy of the pointer. When you assign to source you only assign to the local copy, the original pointer used in the call will not be modified.
Here are some other problems with the code, or its possible use:
Regarding the null-terminator, once you allocate enough memory for it you also need to add it to the string.
If the function is called with source being a literal string or an array or anything that wasn't returned by a previous call to malloc, calloc or realloc, then you can't pass that pointer to realloc.
You use source.substr(position) which is not possible since source isn't an object and therefore doesn't have member functions.

Answer 2

Your new solution is much closer to a working function but it still has some problems:
you do not check for malloc() failure.
you should avoid computing the length of the source string multiple times.
temp[strlen(temp) + 1] = '\0'; is incorrect as temp is not yet a proper C string and strlen(temp) + 1 would point beyond the allocated block anyway, you should just write temp[i + 1] = '\0';
the newly allocated string should be returned to the caller, either as the return value or via a char ** argument.
Here is a corrected version:
char *insertCharact(char *source, char carac, size_t position) {
size_t i, len;
char *temp;
len = source ? strlen(source) : 0;
temp = (char *)malloc(len + 2);
if (temp != NULL) {
/* sanitize position */
if (position > len)
position = len;
/* copy initial portion */
for (i = 0; i < position; i++) {
temp[i] = source[i];
}
/* insert new character */
temp[i] = carac;
/* copy remainder of the source string if any */
for (; i < len; i++) {
temp[i + 1] = source[i];
}
/* set the null terminator */
temp[i + 1] = '\0';
free(source);
}
return temp;
}

Answer 3

int pos = 1;
char toInsert = '-';
std::string text = "hallo";
std::stringstream buffer;
buffer << text.substr(0,pos);
buffer << toInsert;
buffer << text.substr(pos);
text = buffer.str();

Answer 4

Try using something like:
#include <string>
void appendCharAt(std::string& src, char c , int pos)
{
std::string front(src.begin(), src.begin() + pos - 1 ); // use iterators
std::string back(src.begin() + pos, src.end() );
src = front + c + back; // concat together +-operator is overloaded for strings
}
Not 100% sure weather the positions are right. Maybe front hast to be src.begin() + pos and back src.begin() + pos + 1. Just try it out.

Answer 5

The C version of this will have to take care of the situation where realloc fails, in which case the original string is preserved. You should only overwrite the old pointer with the one returned from realloc upon success.
It might look something like this:
bool append_ch (char** str, char ch, size_t pos)
{
size_t prev_size = strlen(*str) + 1;
char* tmp = realloc(*str, prev_size+1);
if(tmp == NULL)
{
return false;
}
memmove(&tmp[pos+1], &tmp[pos], prev_size-pos);
tmp[pos] = ch;
*str = tmp;
return true;
}
Usage:
const char test[] = "hello word";
char* str = malloc(sizeof test);
memcpy(str, test, sizeof test);
puts(str);
bool ok = append_ch(&str, 'l', 9);
if(!ok)
asm ("HCF"); // error handling here
puts(str);
free(str);