Array element disappears - c

Question

I'm trying to track a player's location with x marking their spot. When the player enters a string I increment the coordinates accordingly. However when the player is located one space from the perimeter, then attempts to move to the edge of the map, the player disappears.
Example:
.....
...x.
.....
.....
.....
Player located at 'x'
If player enters string "right" and I move player_loc, array simply returns:
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
I attempted to add a sort of buffer by increasing the size of the array. No luck. I've been stuck on this for almost a week now. Any help would be appreciated. I apologize for messy code. I'm a total newbie at this and I'm really just futzing around in the dark with all this stuff. I've researched this across the forums here and haven't found a solution. If you know of something that I possibly (probably) missed feel free to point me in that direction.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
char map[6][6];
char player_loc = 'x';
int row;
int col;
void init_map()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
map[i][j] = '.';
}
}
}
void print_map()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
printf("%c", map[i][j]);
}
printf("\n");
}
}
int get_player_loc()
{
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
for (int k = 0; k < 5; k++) {
if(map[j][k] == player_loc)
{
row = k;
col = j;
}
}
}
return row;
return col;
}
void init_player_loc()
{
int check = 1;
for (int g = 0; g < 5; g++) {
for (int h = 0; h < 5; h++) {
if (map[g][h] == 'x') {
check = 0;
}
}
}
if(check == 1) {
map[0][0] = player_loc;
} else {
get_player_loc();
}
}
void move_left()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
if (map[i][j] == player_loc) {
map[i][j-1] = player_loc;
map[i][j] = '.';
}
}
}
}
void move_right()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
if (map[i][j] == player_loc) {
map[i][j+1] = player_loc;
map[i][j] = '.';
}
}
}
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
char input[15];
printf("You enter a room...you can go left, right, or straight. Which way do you go?\n");
int done = 0;
init_map();
map[3][3] = player_loc;
//init_player_loc();
print_map();
while (!done) {
scanf("%s", input);
if (strcmp("left", input) == 0) {
move_left();
printf("You go left...\n");
print_map();
get_player_loc();
printf("%d %d\n", row, col);
done = 1;
}
else if (strcmp("right", input) == 0) {
move_right();
printf("You go right...\n");
print_map();
get_player_loc();
printf("%d %d\n", row, col);
done = 1;
}
else if (strcmp("straight", input) == 0) {
printf("You go straight...");
done = 1;
}
else {
printf("Sorry, can't do that.\n");
}
}
}

Answer 1

You must break the loop if you find the player location, e.g
void move_right()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
if (map[i][j] == player_loc) {
map[i][j+1] = player_loc;
map[i][j] = '.';
return;
}
}
}
}
In your code you move right the player, and the next loop will find the player in the new location and do the right move again, forever.
Moreover in your code you are not taking care of boundaries of your 2d matrix: j+1 is valid only if j<5.
Then a better code should be
void move_right()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 4; j++) {
if (map[i][j] == player_loc) {
map[i][j+1] = player_loc;
map[i][j] = '.';
return;
}
}
}
}

Answer 2

The problem is that your move_right function picks up the player and moves them completely off of the map. Let's say your player is at [0, 2] and step through the code.
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
if (map[i][j] == player_loc) {
map[i][j+1] = player_loc;
map[i][j] = '.';
}
}
[0, 0] No player here, move along
[0, 1] No player here, move along
[0, 2] Found a player! Move them right to [0, 3]
[0, 3] Found a player! Move them right to [0, 4]
[0, 4] Found a player! Move them right to [0, 5]
At 5, the loop ends. Because of the buffer you added, your array is 6x6, so the player is stashed in the wings without crashing the program. There are a few things you should do:
Once you've found and moved the player, break or return so they'll only move once.
Make your array 5x5 (or print all 6x6) so you can see everything.
Do some bounds checking so the player isn't allowed to move right from j = 5.
Watch out for this same bug in move_up, where it would happen as you increment i.

Answer 3

Your loops allow for checking the position twice, once at i,j, and again at i,(j+1) (or some other variant). This probably isn't what you intend. After you find the player you should make the updates and then break out of the loops.
Also, the code as is allows for indexing passed the bounds of the array, in theory. Also not what is desired. You may consider bounds checking. I don't know what is supposed to happen when the player moves right and there is a wall to the right. Does he not move? Wrap around? LR corner could cause seg fault as it is now.

Answer 4

You appear to have row and column indeces transposed in the get_player_loc function, as well as having two return statements (the compiler should warn you about unreachable code), neither of which is required or used by the calling code.
At the start, initialise the row and col variables. (Values taken from your main.)
int row = 3;
int col = 3;
Change the get_player_loc function so that it just updates the globals row and col. It sets row and col to 0 if the player is not found, as per the original.
void get_player_loc(void)
{
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
for (int k = 0; k < 5; k++) {
if(map[j][k] == player_loc)
{
// The meaning of row and col is set by how they are used
// to index the array in the move and print functions. Keep
// the same order and meaning here.
row = j;
col = k;
return;
}
}
}
// Set row and col to 0 if the location is not found.
row = 0;
col = 0;
map[0][0] = player_loc;
}
You'll still have problems when they reach an edge, due to the index into the array going out of bounds in the move functions, but that's a different problem.