Related
If I don't know how long the word is, I cannot write char m[6];,
The length of the word is maybe ten or twenty long.
How can I use scanf to get input from the keyboard?
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
char m[6];
printf("please input a string with length=5\n");
scanf("%s",&m);
printf("this is the string: %s\n", m);
return 0;
}
please input a string with length=5
input: hello
this is the string: hello
Enter while securing an area dynamically
E.G.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
char *inputString(FILE* fp, size_t size){
//The size is extended by the input with the value of the provisional
char *str;
int ch;
size_t len = 0;
str = realloc(NULL, sizeof(*str)*size);//size is start size
if(!str)return str;
while(EOF!=(ch=fgetc(fp)) && ch != '\n'){
str[len++]=ch;
if(len==size){
str = realloc(str, sizeof(*str)*(size+=16));
if(!str)return str;
}
}
str[len++]='\0';
return realloc(str, sizeof(*str)*len);
}
int main(void){
char *m;
printf("input string : ");
m = inputString(stdin, 10);
printf("%s\n", m);
free(m);
return 0;
}
With the computers of today, you can get away with allocating very large strings (hundreds of thousands of characters) while hardly making a dent in the computer's RAM usage. So I wouldn't worry too much.
However, in the old days, when memory was at a premium, the common practice was to read strings in chunks. fgets reads up to a maximum number of chars from the input, but leaves the rest of the input buffer intact, so you can read the rest from it however you like.
in this example, I read in chunks of 200 chars, but you can use whatever chunk size you want of course.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
char* readinput()
{
#define CHUNK 200
char* input = NULL;
char tempbuf[CHUNK];
size_t inputlen = 0, templen = 0;
do {
fgets(tempbuf, CHUNK, stdin);
templen = strlen(tempbuf);
input = realloc(input, inputlen+templen+1);
strcpy(input+inputlen, tempbuf);
inputlen += templen;
} while (templen==CHUNK-1 && tempbuf[CHUNK-2]!='\n');
return input;
}
int main()
{
char* result = readinput();
printf("And the result is [%s]\n", result);
free(result);
return 0;
}
Note that this is a simplified example with no error checking; in real life you will have to make sure the input is OK by verifying the return value of fgets.
Also note that at the end if the readinput routine, no bytes are wasted; the string has the exact memory size it needs to have.
I've seen only one simple way of reading an arbitrarily long string, but I've never used it. I think it goes like this:
char *m = NULL;
printf("please input a string\n");
scanf("%ms",&m);
if (m == NULL)
fprintf(stderr, "That string was too long!\n");
else
{
printf("this is the string %s\n",m);
/* ... any other use of m */
free(m);
}
The m between % and s tells scanf() to measure the string and allocate memory for it and copy the string into that, and to store the address of that allocated memory in the corresponding argument. Once you're done with it you have to free() it.
This isn't supported on every implementation of scanf(), though.
As others have pointed out, the easiest solution is to set a limit on the length of the input. If you still want to use scanf() then you can do so this way:
char m[100];
scanf("%99s",&m);
Note that the size of m[] must be at least one byte larger than the number between % and s.
If the string entered is longer than 99, then the remaining characters will wait to be read by another call or by the rest of the format string passed to scanf().
Generally scanf() is not recommended for handling user input. It's best applied to basic structured text files that were created by another application. Even then, you must be aware that the input might not be formatted as you expect, as somebody might have interfered with it to try to break your program.
There is a new function in C standard for getting a line without specifying its size. getline function allocates string with required size automatically so there is no need to guess about string's size. The following code demonstrate usage:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
char *line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, stdin)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu :\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
if (ferror(stdin)) {
/* handle error */
}
free(line);
return 0;
}
If I may suggest a safer approach:
Declare a buffer big enough to hold the string:
char user_input[255];
Get the user input in a safe way:
fgets(user_input, 255, stdin);
A safe way to get the input, the first argument being a pointer to a buffer where the input will be stored, the second the maximum input the function should read and the third is a pointer to the standard input - i.e. where the user input comes from.
Safety in particular comes from the second argument limiting how much will be read which prevents buffer overruns. Also, fgets takes care of null-terminating the processed string.
More info on that function here.
EDIT: If you need to do any formatting (e.g. convert a string to a number), you can use atoi once you have the input.
Safer and faster (doubling capacity) version:
char *readline(char *prompt) {
size_t size = 80;
char *str = malloc(sizeof(char) * size);
int c;
size_t len = 0;
printf("%s", prompt);
while (EOF != (c = getchar()) && c != '\r' && c != '\n') {
str[len++] = c;
if(len == size) str = realloc(str, sizeof(char) * (size *= 2));
}
str[len++]='\0';
return realloc(str, sizeof(char) * len);
}
Read directly into allocated space with fgets().
Special care is need to distinguish a successful read, end-of-file, input error and out-of memory. Proper memory management needed on EOF.
This method retains a line's '\n'.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define FGETS_ALLOC_N 128
char* fgets_alloc(FILE *istream) {
char* buf = NULL;
size_t size = 0;
size_t used = 0;
do {
size += FGETS_ALLOC_N;
char *buf_new = realloc(buf, size);
if (buf_new == NULL) {
// Out-of-memory
free(buf);
return NULL;
}
buf = buf_new;
if (fgets(&buf[used], (int) (size - used), istream) == NULL) {
// feof or ferror
if (used == 0 || ferror(istream)) {
free(buf);
buf = NULL;
}
return buf;
}
size_t length = strlen(&buf[used]);
if (length + 1 != size - used) break;
used += length;
} while (buf[used - 1] != '\n');
return buf;
}
Sample usage
int main(void) {
FILE *istream = stdin;
char *s;
while ((s = fgets_alloc(istream)) != NULL) {
printf("'%s'", s);
free(s);
fflush(stdout);
}
if (ferror(istream)) {
puts("Input error");
} else if (feof(istream)) {
puts("End of file");
} else {
puts("Out of memory");
}
return 0;
}
I know that I have arrived after 4 years and am too late but I think I have another way that someone can use. I had used getchar() Function like this:-
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
//I had putten the main Function Bellow this function.
//d for asking string,f is pointer to the string pointer
void GetStr(char *d,char **f)
{
printf("%s",d);
for(int i =0;1;i++)
{
if(i)//I.e if i!=0
*f = (char*)realloc((*f),i+1);
else
*f = (char*)malloc(i+1);
(*f)[i]=getchar();
if((*f)[i] == '\n')
{
(*f)[i]= '\0';
break;
}
}
}
int main()
{
char *s =NULL;
GetStr("Enter the String:- ",&s);
printf("Your String:- %s \nAnd It's length:- %lu\n",s,(strlen(s)));
free(s);
}
here is the sample run for this program:-
Enter the String:- I am Using Linux Mint XFCE 18.2 , eclispe CDT and GCC7.2 compiler!!
Your String:- I am Using Linux Mint XFCE 18.2 , eclispe CDT and GCC7.2 compiler!!
And It's length:- 67
Take a character pointer to store required string.If you have some idea about possible size of string then use function
char *fgets (char *str, int size, FILE* file);
else you can allocate memory on runtime too using malloc() function which dynamically provides requested memory.
i also have a solution with standard inputs and outputs
#include<stdio.h>
#include<malloc.h>
int main()
{
char *str,ch;
int size=10,len=0;
str=realloc(NULL,sizeof(char)*size);
if(!str)return str;
while(EOF!=scanf("%c",&ch) && ch!="\n")
{
str[len++]=ch;
if(len==size)
{
str = realloc(str,sizeof(char)*(size+=10));
if(!str)return str;
}
}
str[len++]='\0';
printf("%s\n",str);
free(str);
}
I have a solution using standard libraries of C and also creating a string type (alias of char*) like in C++
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef char* string;
typedef struct __strstr {
char ch;
struct __strstr *next;
}Strstr;
void get_str(char **str) {
char ch, *buffer, a;
Strstr *new = NULL;
Strstr *head = NULL, *tmp = NULL;
int c = 0, k = 0;
while ((ch = getchar()) != '\n') {
new = malloc(sizeof(Strstr));
if(new == NULL) {
printf("\nError!\n");
exit(1);
}
new->ch = ch;
new->next = NULL;
new->next = head;
head = new;
}
tmp = head;
while (tmp != NULL) {
c++;
tmp = tmp->next;
}
if(c == 0) {
*str = "";
} else {
buffer = malloc(sizeof(char) * (c + 1));
*str = malloc(sizeof(char) * (c + 1));
if(buffer == NULL || *str == NULL) {
printf("\nError!\n");
exit(1);
}
tmp = head;
while (tmp != NULL) {
buffer[k] = tmp->ch;
k++;
tmp = tmp->next;
}
buffer[k] = '\0';
for (int i = 0, j = strlen(buffer)-1; i < j; i++, j--) {
a = buffer[i];
buffer[i] = buffer[j];
buffer[j] = a;
}
strcpy(*str, buffer);
// Dealloc
free(buffer);
while (head != NULL) {
tmp = head;
head = head->next;
free(tmp);
}
}
}
int main() {
string str;
printf("Enter text: ");
get_str(&str);
printf("%s\n", str);
return 0;
}
I am really new to C, and the reading files thing drives me crazy...
I want read a file including name, born place and phone number, etc. All separated by tab
The format might be like this:
Bob Jason Los Angeles 33333333
Alice Wong Washington DC 111-333-222
So I create a struct to record it.
typedef struct Person{
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
I tried many ways to read this file into struct but it failed.
I tired fread:
read_file = fopen("read.txt", "r");
Person temp;
fread(&temp, sizeof(Person), 100, read_file);
printf("%s %s %s \n", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
But char string does not recorded into temp separated by tab, it read the whole file into temp.name and get weird output.
Then I tried fscanf and sscanf, those all not working for separating tab
fscanf(read_file, "%s %s %s", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
Or
fscanf(read_file, "%s\t%s\t%s", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
This separates the string by space, so I get Bob and Jason separately, while indeed, I need to get "Bob Jason" as one char string. And I did separate these format by tab when I created the text file.
Same for sscanf, I tried different ways many times...
Please help...
I suggest:
Use fgets to read the text line by line.
Use strtok to separate the contents of the line by using tab as the delimiter.
// Use an appropriate number for LINE_SIZE
#define LINE_SIZE 200
char line[LINE_SIZE];
if ( fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
Person temp;
char* token = strtok(line, "\t");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
// Copy token at most the number of characters
// temp.name can hold. Similar logic applies to address
// and phone number.
temp.name[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.name, token, sizeof(temp.name)-1);
}
token = strtok(NULL, "\t");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
temp.address[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.address, token, sizeof(temp.address)-1);
}
token = strtok(NULL, "\n");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
temp.phone[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.phone, token, sizeof(temp.phone)-1);
}
Update
Using a helper function, the code can be reduced in size. (Thanks #chux)
// The helper function.
void copyToken(char* destination,
char* source,
size_t maxLen;
char const* delimiter)
{
char* token = strtok(source, delimiter);
if ( token != NULL )
{
destination[0] = '\0';
strncat(destination, token, maxLen-1);
}
}
// Use an appropriate number for LINE_SIZE
#define LINE_SIZE 200
char line[LINE_SIZE];
if ( fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
Person temp;
copyToken(temp.name, line, sizeof(temp.name), "\t");
copyToken(temp.address, NULL, sizeof(temp.address), "\t");
copyToken(temp.phone, NULL, sizeof(temp.phone), "\n");
This is only for demonstration, there are better ways to initialize variables, but to illustrate your main question i.e. reading a file delimited by tabs, you can write a function something like this:
Assuming a strict field definition, and your struct definition you can get tokens using strtok().
//for a file with constant field definitions
void GetFileContents(char *file, PERSON *person)
{
char line[260];
FILE *fp;
char *buf=0;
char temp[80];
int i = -1;
fp = fopen(file, "r");
while(fgets(line, 260, fp))
{
i++;
buf = strtok(line, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].name, buf);
buf = strtok(NULL, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].address, buf);
buf = strtok(NULL, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].phone, buf);
//Note: if you have more fields, add more strtok/strcpy sections
//Note: This method will ONLY work for consistent number of fields.
//If variable number of fields, suggest 2 dimensional string array.
}
fclose(fp);
}
Call it in main() like this:
int main(void)
{
//...
PERSON person[NUM_LINES], *pPerson; //NUM_LINES defined elsewhere
//and there are better ways
//this is just for illustration
pPerson = &person[0];//initialize pointer to person
GetFileContents(filename, pPerson); //call function to populate person.
//...
return 0;
}
First thing,
fread(&temp, sizeof(temp), 100, read_file);
will not work because the fields are not fixed width, so it will always read 20 characters for name 30 for address and so on, which is not always the correct thing to do.
You need to read one line at a time, and then parse the line, you can use any method you like to read a like, a simple one is by using fgets() like this
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
index = 0;
while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL)
{
persons[i++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
Now we need a function to parse the line and store the data in you Person struct instance
char *extractToken(const char *const line, char *buffer, size_t bufferLength)
{
char *pointer;
size_t length;
if ((line == NULL) || (buffer == NULL))
return NULL;
pointer = strpbrk(line, "\t");
if (pointer == NULL)
length = strlen(line);
else
length = pointer - line;
if (length >= bufferLength) /* truncate the string if it was too long */
length = bufferLength - 1;
buffer[length] = '\0';
memcpy(buffer, line, length);
return pointer + 1;
}
Person parseLineAndExtractPerson(const char *line)
{
Person person;
person.name[0] = '\0';
person.address[0] = '\0';
person.phone[0] = '\0';
line = extractToken(line, person.name, sizeof(person.name));
line = extractToken(line, person.address, sizeof(person.address));
line = extractToken(line, person.phone, sizeof(person.phone));
return person;
}
Here is a sample implementation of a loop to read at most 100 records
int main(void)
{
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
FILE *read_file;
read_file = fopen("/path/to/the/file.type", "r");
if (read_file == NULL)
return -1;
index = 0;
while ((index < 100) && (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL))
{
size_t length;
/* remove the '\n' left by `fgets()'. */
length = strlen(line);
if ((length > 0) && (line[length - 1] == '\n'))
line[length - 1] = '\0';
persons[index++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
fclose(read_file);
while (--index >= 0)
printf("%s: %s, %s\n", persons[index].name, persons[index].address, persons[index].phone);
return 0;
}
Here is a complete program that does what I think you need
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct Person{
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
char *extractToken(const char *const line, char *buffer, size_t bufferLength)
{
char *pointer;
size_t length;
if ((line == NULL) || (buffer == NULL))
return NULL;
pointer = strpbrk(line, "\t");
if (pointer == NULL)
length = strlen(line);
else
length = pointer - line;
if (length >= bufferLength) /* truncate the string if it was too long */
length = bufferLength - 1;
buffer[length] = '\0';
memcpy(buffer, line, length);
return pointer + 1;
}
Person parseLineAndExtractPerson(const char *line)
{
Person person;
person.name[0] = '\0';
person.address[0] = '\0';
person.phone[0] = '\0';
line = extractToken(line, person.name, sizeof(person.name));
line = extractToken(line, person.address, sizeof(person.address));
line = extractToken(line, person.phone, sizeof(person.phone));
return person;
}
int main(void)
{
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
FILE *read_file;
read_file = fopen("/home/iharob/data.dat", "r");
if (read_file == NULL)
return -1;
index = 0;
while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL)
{
size_t length;
length = strlen(line);
if (line[length - 1] == '\n')
line[length - 1] = '\0';
persons[index++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
fclose(read_file);
while (--index >= 0)
printf("%s: %s, %s\n", persons[index].name, persons[index].address, persons[index].phone);
return 0;
}
Parsing strings returned by fgets can be very annoying, especially when input is truncated. In fact, fgets leaves a lot to be desired. Did you get the correct string or was there more? Is there a newline at the end? For that matter, is the end 20 bytes away or 32768 bytes away? It would be nice if you didn't need to count that many bytes twice -- once with fgets and once with strlen, just to remove a newline that you didn't want.
Things like fscanf don't necessarily work as intended in this situation unless you have C99's "scanset" feature available, and then that will automatically add a null terminator, if you have enough room. The return value of any of the scanf family is your friend in determining whether success or failure occurred.
You can avoid the null terminator by using %NNc, where NN is the width, but if there's a \t in those NN bytes, then you need to separate it and move it to the next field, except that means bytes in the next field must be moved to the field after that one, and the 90th field will need its bytes moved to the 91st field... And hopefully you only need to do that once... Obviously that isn't actually a solution either.
Given those reasons, I feel it's easier just to read until you encounter one of the expected delimiters and let you decide the behavior of the function when the size specified is too small for a null terminator, yet large enough to fill your buffer. Anyway, here's the code. I think it's pretty straightforward:
/*
* Read a token.
*
* tok: The buffer used to store the token.
* max: The maximum number of characters to store in the buffer.
* delims: A string containing the individual delimiter bytes.
* fileptr: The file pointer to read the token from.
*
* Return value:
* - max: The buffer is full. In this case, the string _IS NOT_ null terminated.
* This may or may not be a problem: it's your choice.
* - (size_t)-1: An I/O error occurred before the last delimiter
* (just like with `fgets`, use `feof`).
* - any other value: The length of the token as `strlen` would return.
* In this case, the string _IS_ null terminated.
*/
size_t
read_token(char *restrict tok, size_t max, const char *restrict delims,
FILE *restrict fileptr)
{
int c;
size_t n;
for (n = 0; n < max && (c = getchar()) != EOF &&
strchr(delims, c) == NULL; ++n)
*tok++ = c;
if (c == EOF)
return (size_t)-1;
if (n == max)
return max;
*tok = 0;
return n;
}
Usage is pretty straightforward as well:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
typedef struct person {
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
int
main(void)
{
FILE *read_file;
Person temp;
size_t line_num;
size_t len;
int c;
int exit_status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
read_file = fopen("read.txt", "r");
if (read_file == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "Error opening read.txt\n");
return 1;
}
for (line_num = 0;; ++line_num) {
/*
* Used for detecting early EOF
* (e.g. the last line contains only a name).
*/
temp.name[0] = temp.phone[0] = 0;
len = read_token(temp.name, sizeof(temp.name), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
len = read_token(temp.address, sizeof(temp.address), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
len = read_token(temp.phone, sizeof(temp.phone), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
// Do something with the input here. Example:
printf("Entry %zu:\n"
"\tName: %.*s\n"
"\tAddress: %.*s\n"
"\tPhone: %.*s\n\n",
line_num + 1,
(int)sizeof(temp.name), temp.name,
(int)sizeof(temp.address), temp.address,
(int)sizeof(temp.phone), temp.phone);
}
if (ferror(read_file)) {
fprintf(stderr, "error reading from file\n");
exit_status = EXIT_FAILURE;
}
else if (feof(read_file) && temp.phone[0] == 0 && temp.name[0] != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "Unexpected end of file while reading entry %zu\n",
line_num + 1);
exit_status = EXIT_FAILURE;
}
//else feof(read_file) is still true, but we parsed a full entry/record
fclose(read_file);
return exit_status;
}
Notice how the exact same 8 lines of code appear in the read loop to handle the return value of read_token? Because of that, I think there's probably room for another function to call read_token and handle its return value, allowing main to simply call this "read_token handler", but I think the code above gives you the basic idea about how to work with read_token and how it can apply in your situation. You might change the behavior in some way, if you like, but the read_token function above would suit me rather well when working with delimited input like this (things would be a bit more complex when you add quoted fields into the mix, but not much more complex as far as I can tell). You can decide what happens with max being returned. I opted for it being considered an error, but you might think otherwise. You might even add an extra getchar when n == max and consider max being a successful return value and something like (size_t)-2 being the "token too large" error indicator instead.
I am really new to C, and the reading files thing drives me crazy...
I want read a file including name, born place and phone number, etc. All separated by tab
The format might be like this:
Bob Jason Los Angeles 33333333
Alice Wong Washington DC 111-333-222
So I create a struct to record it.
typedef struct Person{
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
I tried many ways to read this file into struct but it failed.
I tired fread:
read_file = fopen("read.txt", "r");
Person temp;
fread(&temp, sizeof(Person), 100, read_file);
printf("%s %s %s \n", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
But char string does not recorded into temp separated by tab, it read the whole file into temp.name and get weird output.
Then I tried fscanf and sscanf, those all not working for separating tab
fscanf(read_file, "%s %s %s", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
Or
fscanf(read_file, "%s\t%s\t%s", temp.name, temp.address, temp.phone);
This separates the string by space, so I get Bob and Jason separately, while indeed, I need to get "Bob Jason" as one char string. And I did separate these format by tab when I created the text file.
Same for sscanf, I tried different ways many times...
Please help...
I suggest:
Use fgets to read the text line by line.
Use strtok to separate the contents of the line by using tab as the delimiter.
// Use an appropriate number for LINE_SIZE
#define LINE_SIZE 200
char line[LINE_SIZE];
if ( fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
Person temp;
char* token = strtok(line, "\t");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
// Copy token at most the number of characters
// temp.name can hold. Similar logic applies to address
// and phone number.
temp.name[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.name, token, sizeof(temp.name)-1);
}
token = strtok(NULL, "\t");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
temp.address[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.address, token, sizeof(temp.address)-1);
}
token = strtok(NULL, "\n");
if ( token == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
else
{
temp.phone[0] = '\0';
strncat(temp.phone, token, sizeof(temp.phone)-1);
}
Update
Using a helper function, the code can be reduced in size. (Thanks #chux)
// The helper function.
void copyToken(char* destination,
char* source,
size_t maxLen;
char const* delimiter)
{
char* token = strtok(source, delimiter);
if ( token != NULL )
{
destination[0] = '\0';
strncat(destination, token, maxLen-1);
}
}
// Use an appropriate number for LINE_SIZE
#define LINE_SIZE 200
char line[LINE_SIZE];
if ( fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) == NULL )
{
// Deal with error.
}
Person temp;
copyToken(temp.name, line, sizeof(temp.name), "\t");
copyToken(temp.address, NULL, sizeof(temp.address), "\t");
copyToken(temp.phone, NULL, sizeof(temp.phone), "\n");
This is only for demonstration, there are better ways to initialize variables, but to illustrate your main question i.e. reading a file delimited by tabs, you can write a function something like this:
Assuming a strict field definition, and your struct definition you can get tokens using strtok().
//for a file with constant field definitions
void GetFileContents(char *file, PERSON *person)
{
char line[260];
FILE *fp;
char *buf=0;
char temp[80];
int i = -1;
fp = fopen(file, "r");
while(fgets(line, 260, fp))
{
i++;
buf = strtok(line, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].name, buf);
buf = strtok(NULL, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].address, buf);
buf = strtok(NULL, "\t\n");
if(buf) strcpy(person[i].phone, buf);
//Note: if you have more fields, add more strtok/strcpy sections
//Note: This method will ONLY work for consistent number of fields.
//If variable number of fields, suggest 2 dimensional string array.
}
fclose(fp);
}
Call it in main() like this:
int main(void)
{
//...
PERSON person[NUM_LINES], *pPerson; //NUM_LINES defined elsewhere
//and there are better ways
//this is just for illustration
pPerson = &person[0];//initialize pointer to person
GetFileContents(filename, pPerson); //call function to populate person.
//...
return 0;
}
First thing,
fread(&temp, sizeof(temp), 100, read_file);
will not work because the fields are not fixed width, so it will always read 20 characters for name 30 for address and so on, which is not always the correct thing to do.
You need to read one line at a time, and then parse the line, you can use any method you like to read a like, a simple one is by using fgets() like this
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
index = 0;
while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL)
{
persons[i++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
Now we need a function to parse the line and store the data in you Person struct instance
char *extractToken(const char *const line, char *buffer, size_t bufferLength)
{
char *pointer;
size_t length;
if ((line == NULL) || (buffer == NULL))
return NULL;
pointer = strpbrk(line, "\t");
if (pointer == NULL)
length = strlen(line);
else
length = pointer - line;
if (length >= bufferLength) /* truncate the string if it was too long */
length = bufferLength - 1;
buffer[length] = '\0';
memcpy(buffer, line, length);
return pointer + 1;
}
Person parseLineAndExtractPerson(const char *line)
{
Person person;
person.name[0] = '\0';
person.address[0] = '\0';
person.phone[0] = '\0';
line = extractToken(line, person.name, sizeof(person.name));
line = extractToken(line, person.address, sizeof(person.address));
line = extractToken(line, person.phone, sizeof(person.phone));
return person;
}
Here is a sample implementation of a loop to read at most 100 records
int main(void)
{
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
FILE *read_file;
read_file = fopen("/path/to/the/file.type", "r");
if (read_file == NULL)
return -1;
index = 0;
while ((index < 100) && (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL))
{
size_t length;
/* remove the '\n' left by `fgets()'. */
length = strlen(line);
if ((length > 0) && (line[length - 1] == '\n'))
line[length - 1] = '\0';
persons[index++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
fclose(read_file);
while (--index >= 0)
printf("%s: %s, %s\n", persons[index].name, persons[index].address, persons[index].phone);
return 0;
}
Here is a complete program that does what I think you need
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct Person{
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
char *extractToken(const char *const line, char *buffer, size_t bufferLength)
{
char *pointer;
size_t length;
if ((line == NULL) || (buffer == NULL))
return NULL;
pointer = strpbrk(line, "\t");
if (pointer == NULL)
length = strlen(line);
else
length = pointer - line;
if (length >= bufferLength) /* truncate the string if it was too long */
length = bufferLength - 1;
buffer[length] = '\0';
memcpy(buffer, line, length);
return pointer + 1;
}
Person parseLineAndExtractPerson(const char *line)
{
Person person;
person.name[0] = '\0';
person.address[0] = '\0';
person.phone[0] = '\0';
line = extractToken(line, person.name, sizeof(person.name));
line = extractToken(line, person.address, sizeof(person.address));
line = extractToken(line, person.phone, sizeof(person.phone));
return person;
}
int main(void)
{
char line[100];
Person persons[100];
int index;
FILE *read_file;
read_file = fopen("/home/iharob/data.dat", "r");
if (read_file == NULL)
return -1;
index = 0;
while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), read_file) != NULL)
{
size_t length;
length = strlen(line);
if (line[length - 1] == '\n')
line[length - 1] = '\0';
persons[index++] = parseLineAndExtractPerson(line);
}
fclose(read_file);
while (--index >= 0)
printf("%s: %s, %s\n", persons[index].name, persons[index].address, persons[index].phone);
return 0;
}
Parsing strings returned by fgets can be very annoying, especially when input is truncated. In fact, fgets leaves a lot to be desired. Did you get the correct string or was there more? Is there a newline at the end? For that matter, is the end 20 bytes away or 32768 bytes away? It would be nice if you didn't need to count that many bytes twice -- once with fgets and once with strlen, just to remove a newline that you didn't want.
Things like fscanf don't necessarily work as intended in this situation unless you have C99's "scanset" feature available, and then that will automatically add a null terminator, if you have enough room. The return value of any of the scanf family is your friend in determining whether success or failure occurred.
You can avoid the null terminator by using %NNc, where NN is the width, but if there's a \t in those NN bytes, then you need to separate it and move it to the next field, except that means bytes in the next field must be moved to the field after that one, and the 90th field will need its bytes moved to the 91st field... And hopefully you only need to do that once... Obviously that isn't actually a solution either.
Given those reasons, I feel it's easier just to read until you encounter one of the expected delimiters and let you decide the behavior of the function when the size specified is too small for a null terminator, yet large enough to fill your buffer. Anyway, here's the code. I think it's pretty straightforward:
/*
* Read a token.
*
* tok: The buffer used to store the token.
* max: The maximum number of characters to store in the buffer.
* delims: A string containing the individual delimiter bytes.
* fileptr: The file pointer to read the token from.
*
* Return value:
* - max: The buffer is full. In this case, the string _IS NOT_ null terminated.
* This may or may not be a problem: it's your choice.
* - (size_t)-1: An I/O error occurred before the last delimiter
* (just like with `fgets`, use `feof`).
* - any other value: The length of the token as `strlen` would return.
* In this case, the string _IS_ null terminated.
*/
size_t
read_token(char *restrict tok, size_t max, const char *restrict delims,
FILE *restrict fileptr)
{
int c;
size_t n;
for (n = 0; n < max && (c = getchar()) != EOF &&
strchr(delims, c) == NULL; ++n)
*tok++ = c;
if (c == EOF)
return (size_t)-1;
if (n == max)
return max;
*tok = 0;
return n;
}
Usage is pretty straightforward as well:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
typedef struct person {
char name[20];
char address[30];
char phone[20];
} Person;
int
main(void)
{
FILE *read_file;
Person temp;
size_t line_num;
size_t len;
int c;
int exit_status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
read_file = fopen("read.txt", "r");
if (read_file == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "Error opening read.txt\n");
return 1;
}
for (line_num = 0;; ++line_num) {
/*
* Used for detecting early EOF
* (e.g. the last line contains only a name).
*/
temp.name[0] = temp.phone[0] = 0;
len = read_token(temp.name, sizeof(temp.name), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
len = read_token(temp.address, sizeof(temp.address), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
len = read_token(temp.phone, sizeof(temp.phone), "\t",
read_file);
if (len == (size_t)-1)
break;
if (len == max) {
fprintf(stderr, "Skipping bad line %zu\n", line_num + 1);
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n')
; /* nothing */
continue;
}
// Do something with the input here. Example:
printf("Entry %zu:\n"
"\tName: %.*s\n"
"\tAddress: %.*s\n"
"\tPhone: %.*s\n\n",
line_num + 1,
(int)sizeof(temp.name), temp.name,
(int)sizeof(temp.address), temp.address,
(int)sizeof(temp.phone), temp.phone);
}
if (ferror(read_file)) {
fprintf(stderr, "error reading from file\n");
exit_status = EXIT_FAILURE;
}
else if (feof(read_file) && temp.phone[0] == 0 && temp.name[0] != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "Unexpected end of file while reading entry %zu\n",
line_num + 1);
exit_status = EXIT_FAILURE;
}
//else feof(read_file) is still true, but we parsed a full entry/record
fclose(read_file);
return exit_status;
}
Notice how the exact same 8 lines of code appear in the read loop to handle the return value of read_token? Because of that, I think there's probably room for another function to call read_token and handle its return value, allowing main to simply call this "read_token handler", but I think the code above gives you the basic idea about how to work with read_token and how it can apply in your situation. You might change the behavior in some way, if you like, but the read_token function above would suit me rather well when working with delimited input like this (things would be a bit more complex when you add quoted fields into the mix, but not much more complex as far as I can tell). You can decide what happens with max being returned. I opted for it being considered an error, but you might think otherwise. You might even add an extra getchar when n == max and consider max being a successful return value and something like (size_t)-2 being the "token too large" error indicator instead.
If I don't know how long the word is, I cannot write char m[6];,
The length of the word is maybe ten or twenty long.
How can I use scanf to get input from the keyboard?
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
char m[6];
printf("please input a string with length=5\n");
scanf("%s",&m);
printf("this is the string: %s\n", m);
return 0;
}
please input a string with length=5
input: hello
this is the string: hello
Enter while securing an area dynamically
E.G.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
char *inputString(FILE* fp, size_t size){
//The size is extended by the input with the value of the provisional
char *str;
int ch;
size_t len = 0;
str = realloc(NULL, sizeof(*str)*size);//size is start size
if(!str)return str;
while(EOF!=(ch=fgetc(fp)) && ch != '\n'){
str[len++]=ch;
if(len==size){
str = realloc(str, sizeof(*str)*(size+=16));
if(!str)return str;
}
}
str[len++]='\0';
return realloc(str, sizeof(*str)*len);
}
int main(void){
char *m;
printf("input string : ");
m = inputString(stdin, 10);
printf("%s\n", m);
free(m);
return 0;
}
With the computers of today, you can get away with allocating very large strings (hundreds of thousands of characters) while hardly making a dent in the computer's RAM usage. So I wouldn't worry too much.
However, in the old days, when memory was at a premium, the common practice was to read strings in chunks. fgets reads up to a maximum number of chars from the input, but leaves the rest of the input buffer intact, so you can read the rest from it however you like.
in this example, I read in chunks of 200 chars, but you can use whatever chunk size you want of course.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
char* readinput()
{
#define CHUNK 200
char* input = NULL;
char tempbuf[CHUNK];
size_t inputlen = 0, templen = 0;
do {
fgets(tempbuf, CHUNK, stdin);
templen = strlen(tempbuf);
input = realloc(input, inputlen+templen+1);
strcpy(input+inputlen, tempbuf);
inputlen += templen;
} while (templen==CHUNK-1 && tempbuf[CHUNK-2]!='\n');
return input;
}
int main()
{
char* result = readinput();
printf("And the result is [%s]\n", result);
free(result);
return 0;
}
Note that this is a simplified example with no error checking; in real life you will have to make sure the input is OK by verifying the return value of fgets.
Also note that at the end if the readinput routine, no bytes are wasted; the string has the exact memory size it needs to have.
I've seen only one simple way of reading an arbitrarily long string, but I've never used it. I think it goes like this:
char *m = NULL;
printf("please input a string\n");
scanf("%ms",&m);
if (m == NULL)
fprintf(stderr, "That string was too long!\n");
else
{
printf("this is the string %s\n",m);
/* ... any other use of m */
free(m);
}
The m between % and s tells scanf() to measure the string and allocate memory for it and copy the string into that, and to store the address of that allocated memory in the corresponding argument. Once you're done with it you have to free() it.
This isn't supported on every implementation of scanf(), though.
As others have pointed out, the easiest solution is to set a limit on the length of the input. If you still want to use scanf() then you can do so this way:
char m[100];
scanf("%99s",&m);
Note that the size of m[] must be at least one byte larger than the number between % and s.
If the string entered is longer than 99, then the remaining characters will wait to be read by another call or by the rest of the format string passed to scanf().
Generally scanf() is not recommended for handling user input. It's best applied to basic structured text files that were created by another application. Even then, you must be aware that the input might not be formatted as you expect, as somebody might have interfered with it to try to break your program.
There is a new function in C standard for getting a line without specifying its size. getline function allocates string with required size automatically so there is no need to guess about string's size. The following code demonstrate usage:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
char *line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, stdin)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu :\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
if (ferror(stdin)) {
/* handle error */
}
free(line);
return 0;
}
If I may suggest a safer approach:
Declare a buffer big enough to hold the string:
char user_input[255];
Get the user input in a safe way:
fgets(user_input, 255, stdin);
A safe way to get the input, the first argument being a pointer to a buffer where the input will be stored, the second the maximum input the function should read and the third is a pointer to the standard input - i.e. where the user input comes from.
Safety in particular comes from the second argument limiting how much will be read which prevents buffer overruns. Also, fgets takes care of null-terminating the processed string.
More info on that function here.
EDIT: If you need to do any formatting (e.g. convert a string to a number), you can use atoi once you have the input.
Safer and faster (doubling capacity) version:
char *readline(char *prompt) {
size_t size = 80;
char *str = malloc(sizeof(char) * size);
int c;
size_t len = 0;
printf("%s", prompt);
while (EOF != (c = getchar()) && c != '\r' && c != '\n') {
str[len++] = c;
if(len == size) str = realloc(str, sizeof(char) * (size *= 2));
}
str[len++]='\0';
return realloc(str, sizeof(char) * len);
}
Read directly into allocated space with fgets().
Special care is need to distinguish a successful read, end-of-file, input error and out-of memory. Proper memory management needed on EOF.
This method retains a line's '\n'.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define FGETS_ALLOC_N 128
char* fgets_alloc(FILE *istream) {
char* buf = NULL;
size_t size = 0;
size_t used = 0;
do {
size += FGETS_ALLOC_N;
char *buf_new = realloc(buf, size);
if (buf_new == NULL) {
// Out-of-memory
free(buf);
return NULL;
}
buf = buf_new;
if (fgets(&buf[used], (int) (size - used), istream) == NULL) {
// feof or ferror
if (used == 0 || ferror(istream)) {
free(buf);
buf = NULL;
}
return buf;
}
size_t length = strlen(&buf[used]);
if (length + 1 != size - used) break;
used += length;
} while (buf[used - 1] != '\n');
return buf;
}
Sample usage
int main(void) {
FILE *istream = stdin;
char *s;
while ((s = fgets_alloc(istream)) != NULL) {
printf("'%s'", s);
free(s);
fflush(stdout);
}
if (ferror(istream)) {
puts("Input error");
} else if (feof(istream)) {
puts("End of file");
} else {
puts("Out of memory");
}
return 0;
}
I know that I have arrived after 4 years and am too late but I think I have another way that someone can use. I had used getchar() Function like this:-
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
//I had putten the main Function Bellow this function.
//d for asking string,f is pointer to the string pointer
void GetStr(char *d,char **f)
{
printf("%s",d);
for(int i =0;1;i++)
{
if(i)//I.e if i!=0
*f = (char*)realloc((*f),i+1);
else
*f = (char*)malloc(i+1);
(*f)[i]=getchar();
if((*f)[i] == '\n')
{
(*f)[i]= '\0';
break;
}
}
}
int main()
{
char *s =NULL;
GetStr("Enter the String:- ",&s);
printf("Your String:- %s \nAnd It's length:- %lu\n",s,(strlen(s)));
free(s);
}
here is the sample run for this program:-
Enter the String:- I am Using Linux Mint XFCE 18.2 , eclispe CDT and GCC7.2 compiler!!
Your String:- I am Using Linux Mint XFCE 18.2 , eclispe CDT and GCC7.2 compiler!!
And It's length:- 67
Take a character pointer to store required string.If you have some idea about possible size of string then use function
char *fgets (char *str, int size, FILE* file);
else you can allocate memory on runtime too using malloc() function which dynamically provides requested memory.
i also have a solution with standard inputs and outputs
#include<stdio.h>
#include<malloc.h>
int main()
{
char *str,ch;
int size=10,len=0;
str=realloc(NULL,sizeof(char)*size);
if(!str)return str;
while(EOF!=scanf("%c",&ch) && ch!="\n")
{
str[len++]=ch;
if(len==size)
{
str = realloc(str,sizeof(char)*(size+=10));
if(!str)return str;
}
}
str[len++]='\0';
printf("%s\n",str);
free(str);
}
I have a solution using standard libraries of C and also creating a string type (alias of char*) like in C++
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef char* string;
typedef struct __strstr {
char ch;
struct __strstr *next;
}Strstr;
void get_str(char **str) {
char ch, *buffer, a;
Strstr *new = NULL;
Strstr *head = NULL, *tmp = NULL;
int c = 0, k = 0;
while ((ch = getchar()) != '\n') {
new = malloc(sizeof(Strstr));
if(new == NULL) {
printf("\nError!\n");
exit(1);
}
new->ch = ch;
new->next = NULL;
new->next = head;
head = new;
}
tmp = head;
while (tmp != NULL) {
c++;
tmp = tmp->next;
}
if(c == 0) {
*str = "";
} else {
buffer = malloc(sizeof(char) * (c + 1));
*str = malloc(sizeof(char) * (c + 1));
if(buffer == NULL || *str == NULL) {
printf("\nError!\n");
exit(1);
}
tmp = head;
while (tmp != NULL) {
buffer[k] = tmp->ch;
k++;
tmp = tmp->next;
}
buffer[k] = '\0';
for (int i = 0, j = strlen(buffer)-1; i < j; i++, j--) {
a = buffer[i];
buffer[i] = buffer[j];
buffer[j] = a;
}
strcpy(*str, buffer);
// Dealloc
free(buffer);
while (head != NULL) {
tmp = head;
head = head->next;
free(tmp);
}
}
}
int main() {
string str;
printf("Enter text: ");
get_str(&str);
printf("%s\n", str);
return 0;
}
I am trying to pass strings (lines of text file) into arrays (array for f1 and array2 for f2). When I just print the buffer buffer2, the lines come up just fine. When I try to pass them using strcpy the program crashes with no apparent reason. I have tried the following:
Using a two dimensional array with no avail
Working with methods and tried to return char and THEN pass it to the array, so I can avoid this sloppy code, but this will do for now.
I am using windows 7 x64, with DEV-C++.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
char *arrayF1[20] ;
char *arrayF2[20] ;
int i = 0;
int size = 1024, pos;
int c;
int lineCount = 0;
char *buffer = (char *)malloc(size);
char *buffer2 = (char *)malloc(size);
char *array[100];
char *array2[100];
if (argc!=3)
{
printf("\nCommand Usage %s filename.txt filename.txt\n", argv[0]);
}
else
{
FILE *f1 = fopen(argv[1], "r");
FILE *f2 = fopen(argv[2], "r");
if(f1)
{
do { // read all lines in file
pos = 0;
do{ // read one line
c = fgetc(f1);
if(c != EOF) buffer[pos++] = (char)c;
if(pos >= size - 1) { // increase buffer length - leave room for 0
size *=2;
buffer = (char*)realloc(buffer, size);
}
}while(c != EOF && c != '\n');
lineCount++;
buffer[pos] = 0;
// line is now in buffer
strcpy(array[i], buffer);
printf("%s", array[i]);
//printf("%s", buffer);
i++;
} while(c != EOF);
printf("\n");
fclose(f1);
}
printf("%d\n",lineCount);
free(buffer);
lineCount=0;
i=0;
if (f2)
{
do { // read all lines in file
pos = 0;
do{ // read one line
c = fgetc(f2);
if(c != EOF) buffer2[pos++] = (char)c;
if(pos >= size - 1) { // increase buffer length - leave room for 0
size *=2;
buffer2 = (char*)realloc(buffer, size);
}
}while(c != EOF && c != '\n');
lineCount++;
buffer2[pos] = 0;
// line is now in buffer
strcpy(array2[i], buffer);
//printf("%s", buffer2);
printf("%s", array2[i]);
i++;
} while(c != EOF);
printf("\n");
fclose(f2);
}
printf("%d\n",lineCount);
free(buffer2);
}//end first else
return 0;
}
You haven't allocated any memory for the arrays in array. You'll need to do that before you can copy the strings there.
array[i] = malloc(pos + 1);
if (array[i] == NULL) {
// handle error
}
strcpy(array[i], buffer);
printf("%s", array[i]);
To strcpy() to a char*, you need to have already allocated memory for it. You can do this by making static char arrays:
char array[100][50]; //Strings can hold up to 50 chars
or you can use pointers and dynamically allocate them instead.
char *array[100];
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
array[i] = malloc(sizeof(char) * 50); //Up to 50 chars
...
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
free(array[i]); //Delete when you're finished
After allocating it with one of those methods, it's safe to write to it with strcpy().
Looks to me like you allocated the arrays on the stack but failed to ensure that they'd be big enough, since each has size exactly 100. Since you don't know how big they'll be, you can either allocate them dynamically (using #JohnKugelman's solution) or wait to declare them until after you know what their sizes need to be (i.e., how long the strings are that they need to hold).
the program crashes with no apparent reason
There is always a reason :)
This line:
char *array[100];
Creates an array of 100 pointers to characters.
Then this line:
strcpy(array[i], buffer);
Tries to copy your buffer to the ith pointer. The problem is that you never allocated any memory to those pointers, so strcpy() crashes. Just this:
array[i] = malloc(strlen(buffer)+1);
strcpy(array[i], buffer);
will resolve that error.