print each letter after '.' for example if I enter a..bcde..fg..h the program will print bfh - c

Question

I'm new to C, I have been asked to make a program in C asking to print each letter after a '.' after a user has entered an input.
For example if the user enters a..bcd..e.f..gh the output should be befg
which is the exact example I have been given in class.
I assume this would need to use pointers but I am unsure how to deal with this question, here is what I have tried to do so far. I know it is not correct, please help me understand how to use pointers to deal with this question.
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
char *c, count =0;
printf("enter some characters");
scanf("%s", &c);
while( c != EOF ) {
if (c != '.') {
count ++;
}
else; {
printf("%s", c);
}
}
}

Answer 1

The program can look the following way
#include <stdio.h>
#define N 100
int main( void )
{
char s[N];
const char DOT = '.';
printf( "Enter some characters: " );
fgets( s, N, stdin );
for ( char *p = s; *p; ++p )
{
if ( p[0] == DOT && p[1] != DOT ) putchar( p[1] );
}
putchar( '\n' );
}
Its output might look like
Enter some characters: a..bcd..e.f..gh
befg
Take into account that here any symbol after a dot (except the dot itself) is printed. You can add a check that there is a letter after a dot.

Answer 2

You don't really need pointers for this, or even an array. Basically it's a simple state engine: read each character, if '.' is encountered, set a flag so the next character is printed.
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int c, flag = 0;
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) {
if (c == '.')
flag = 1;
else if (flag) {
putchar(c);
flag = 0;
}
}
return 0;
}

Answer 3

There are some errors in your code:
- char* c means a pointer to one or more characters.
But where does it point to?
- scanf reads a string up to an "white space". White space characters are the space itself, a newline, a tab character or an EOF. scanf expects a format string and a pointer to a place in memory where it places what it reads. In your case c points to an undefined place and will overwrite whatever there is in memory.
- why do you place a ";" after the else? The else clause will end with the ";". So your program will do the print every time.
It helps you a lot if you format your code in a more readable way and give the variable names that give hint what they are used for.
Another very important thing is to initialize every variable that you declare. Errors with uninitialized variables are sometimes very hard to find.
I would do it this way:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
// I read every single character. The getchar function returns an int!
int c = 0;
// This marks the program state whether we must print the next character or not
bool printNext = false;
printf("enter some characters");
// We read characters until the buffer is empty (EOF is an integer -1)
do
{
// Read a single character
c = getchar();
if ( c == '.')
{
// After a point we change our state flag, so we know we have to print the next character
printNext = true;
}
else if( c != EOF )
{
// When the character is neither a point nor the EOF we check the state
if( printNext )
{
// print the character
printf( "%c", c );
// reset the state flag
printNext = false;
}
}
// read until the EOF occurs.
}
while( c != EOF );
}

Answer 4

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main()
{
char letter;
char *c;
c = malloc(256);
printf("enter the string : ");
scanf("%s", c);
while( (letter=*(c)) != '\0' )
{
if (letter == '.')
{
c++;
letter=*c;
if(letter!='.')
printf("%c",letter);
else
{
while(letter=='.')
{
c++;
letter=*c;
}
printf("%c",letter);
}
}
c++;
}
printf("\n");
}