Is it possible to replace all of these "if, else if ..." with an array of function pointers in this example of code ?
if (strncmp(buff, "ls\n", 3) == 0)
my_ls();
else if (strncmp(buff, "cd\n", 3) == 0)
my_cd();
else if (strncmp(buff, "user\n", 5) == 0)
my_user();
else if (strncmp(buff, "pwd\n", 4) == 0)
my_pwd();
else if (strncmp(buff, "quit\n", 5) == 0)
my_quit();
I'm trying to get something like this :
void (*tab[5]) (void);
tab[0] = &my_ls;
tab[1] = &my_cd;
tab[2] = &my_user;
tab[3] = &my_pwd;
tab[4] = &my_quit;
I created a code to illustrate what you wanted to do, because I it's pretty entertaining.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
// your functions
void my_ls() { puts("fun:my_ls") ;}
void my_cd() { puts("fun:my_cd") ;}
void my_user(){ puts("fun:my_user");}
void my_pwd() { puts("fun:my_pwd") ;}
void my_quit(){ puts("fun:my_quit");}
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
char* buff="ls\n"; // the string you have to compare
void (*tab[5]) (void)={my_ls,my_cd,my_user,my_pwd,my_quit};
char *names[5]={"ls\n","cd\n","user\n","pwd\n","quit\n"};
int i;
for (i=0; i<5; i++)
{
if(strncmp(buff,names[i],strlen(names[i]) )==0){
tab[i]();
return 0;
}
}
return 0;
}
There are other ways to write it. Actually my_function is the same as &my_function since a function name alone is converted to the adress of the function.
Also tab[i]() is equivalent to (*tab[i])()... Those are weird behaviours but I think it's specified by C standard
There's no problem with an array of function pointers, but you'd need to convert the sequence of boolean strncmp() results to a single index.
If the list is long, the hash table idea might be a winner. For compact, simple code and easy maintenance, I've used an array of structs:
typedef struct cmdtable_t
{
void (*fptr)();
unsigned char length
char name[11];
} cmdtable_t, *pcmdtable_t;
cmd_table_t commands = {
{ my_ls, 2, "ls"},
{ my_cd, 2, "cd" },
{ my_user, 4, "user" },
...etc.
};
That could also be what a hash table entry looks like, could be sorted in advance to allow a binary search, or simply sequentially searched for a KISS version until you find out whether this needs optimizing at all.
I think you want a dictionary or hashtable:
Use buff as string key
Use function pointer as values
Related
This question is about how to solve my problem on the level of how I design my program. For a school project, I'm building a shell, which has several built-in functions. One of these function's purpose (cmd_type) is to check to see if the argument provided is in that list of functions. Here is a partial implementation of it:
int cmd_type(int argc, char *argv[]) {
if (argc == 2) {
for (int i = 0; i < BUILTIN_FUNC_COUNT; i++) {
if (strcmp(cmds_name[i], argv[1]) == 0) {
printf("%s is a shell builtin\n", argv[1]);
return 0; // found it
}
}
// still need to search path, call stat(path/cmd)
errmsg("not implemented! type", 1);
} else {
err_msg("type", 1);
}
}
Defining manual if statements for every function my shell supports sounds like a bad choice because the list might expand over time, and I need to store the list of function names anyway. So originally, I planned to define an array of function names and an array of their pointers, like so:
char cmds_name[BUILTIN_FUNC_COUNT-1][16];
char (*cmds_ptr)(int,*char[])[BUILTIN_FUNC_COUNT-1];
// make list of built-in funcs
strcpy(cmds_name[0], "exit");
strcpy(cmds_name[1], "cd");
// make list of func pointers
cmds_ptr[0] = &cmd_exit;
cmds_ptr[1] = &cmd_cd;
They're accessed like so:
// try builtin cmds
for (int i = 0; i < BUILTIN_FUNC_COUNT; i++) {
if (strcmp(cmds_name[i], argv[0]) == 0) {
last_cmd_err = (*cmds_ptr[i])(argc, argv);
continue; // we found it, so next loop
}
}
Then they'd each happily take (int argc, char *argv[]) as arguments. But the cmd_path() needs access to the list in addition to those arguments, so I'd have to define it as a global, or define a global pointer to it... In the process of researching this, I found this answer, saying a similar approach was really bad style: https://stackoverflow.com/a/41425477/5537652
So my questions are: Is this a good way to solve this problem, or should I just do if/else statements/is there a better way? Would you recommend a global pointer to the array of function names?
I am going to propose a structure of cmd_name and function pointer like this:
typedef struct{
char cmds_name[16];
char (*cmds_ptr)(int,*char[]);
} cmd_type;
Now define a static table of this type for all your cmds:
static const cmd_type cmd_table[] = {
{"exit", &cmd_exit},
{"cd", &cmd_cd},
.......
.......
};
Finally access it like this:
for (int i = 0; i < BUILTIN_FUNC_COUNT; i++) {
if (strcmp(cmd_table[i].cmds_name, argv[0]) == 0) {
last_cmd_err = (*cmd_table[i].cmds_ptr)(argc, argv);
continue; // we found it, so next loop
}
}
The decision to choose between if-else vs a global table is a matter of personal taste and coding style. I would prefer the above solution simply because it improves ** code readability** and reduces clutter. There may be other constraints in your environment that can influence your decision - like if the no of table entries is huge and there is a limitation on global memory space - the if-else route would be a better choice..
HTH!
I would not go with if-else statements. There is nothing wrong with solution (2) proposed in https://stackoverflow.com/a/41425477/5537652.
You could have a table with a string and a function to service an entry:
typedef struct cmd_desc
{
char cmd[80];
int builtin_cmd(int argc, char **argv, void *extra);
} CMD_DESC;
static CMD_DESC descTable[] =
{
{ "exit", cmd_exit },
{ "cd", cmd_cd },
{ "$ON_OPEN_CMD", OnOpenCmd },
{ "$OPEN_EXTRA_CMD", OpenExtraCmd },
{ "$AC", ActionCmd },
{ "$AD", ActionDataCmd },
{ "$EC", ExtraCmd },
{ "$TC", TextCmd },
{ "", NULL }
};
int cmd_exit (int argc, char **argv, void *extra)
{
//...
}
Access/execution:
for (int tokenIndex=0; strcmp(descTable[tokenIndex].cmd,""); tokenIndex++) //search table
{
if ( strcmp( (descTable[tokenIndex]).cmd, argv[0] ) == 0 )
{
int ret = (*(descTable[tokenIndex]).builtin_cmd( argc, argv, extra);
}
}
I used the above approach in a my applications and it worked well for me.
The table can be easily expanded and the readability of the table is better than if/else chain.
I'm trying to print an array of structs that contain two strings. However my print function does not print more than two indices of the array. I am not sure why because it seems to me that the logic is correct.
This is the main function
const int MAX_LENGTH = 1024;
typedef struct song
{
char songName[MAX_LENGTH];
char artist[MAX_LENGTH];
} Song;
void getStringFromUserInput(char s[], int maxStrLength);
void printMusicLibrary(Song library[], int librarySize);
void printMusicLibraryTitle(void);
void printMusicLibrary (Song library[], int librarySize);
void printMusicLibraryEmpty(void);
int main(void) {
// Announce the start of the program
printf("%s", "Personal Music Library.\n\n");
printf("%s", "Commands are I (insert), S (sort by artist),\n"
"P (print), Q (quit).\n");
char response;
char input[MAX_LENGTH + 1];
int index = 0;
do {
printf("\nCommand?: ");
getStringFromUserInput(input, MAX_LENGTH);
// Response is the first character entered by user.
// Convert to uppercase to simplify later comparisons.
response = toupper(input[0]);
const int MAX_LIBRARY_SIZE = 100;
Song Library[MAX_LIBRARY_SIZE];
if (response == 'I') {
printf("Song name: ");
getStringFromUserInput(Library[index].songName, MAX_LENGTH);
printf("Artist: ");
getStringFromUserInput(Library[index].artist, MAX_LENGTH);
index++;
}
else if (response == 'P') {
// Print the music library.
int firstIndex = 0;
if (Library[firstIndex].songName[firstIndex] == '\0') {
printMusicLibraryEmpty();
} else {
printMusicLibraryTitle();
printMusicLibrary(Library, MAX_LIBRARY_SIZE);
}
This is my printing the library function
// This function will print the music library
void printMusicLibrary (Song library[], int librarySize) {
printf("\n");
bool empty = true;
for (int i = 0; (i < librarySize) && (!empty); i ++) {
empty = false;
if (library[i].songName[i] != '\0') {
printf("%s\n", library[i].songName);
printf("%s\n", library[i].artist);
printf("\n");
} else {
empty = true;
}
}
}
I think the problem is caused due to setting : empty = true outside the for loop and then checking (!empty) which will evaluate to false. What I am surprised by is how is it printing even two indices. You should set empty = false as you are already checking for the first index before the function call.
The logic has two ways to terminate the listing: 1) if the number of entries is reached, or 2) if any entry is empty.
I expect the second condition is stopping the listing before you expect. Probably the array wasn't built as expected (I didn't look at that part), or something is overwriting an early or middle entry.
you gave the definition as:
typedef struct song
{
char songName[MAX_LENGTH];
char artist[MAX_LENGTH];
}Song;
the later, you write if (library[i].songName[i] != '\0') which really seems strange: why would you index the songname string with the same index that the lib?
so I would naturally expect your print function to be:
// This function will print the music library
void printMusicLibrary (Song library[], int librarySize) {
for (int i = 0; i < librarySize; i ++) {
printf("%s\n%s\n\n", library[i].songName,
library[i].artist);
}
}
note that you may skip empty song names by testing library[i].songName[0] != '\0' (pay attention to the 0), but I think it would be better not to add them in the list (does an empty song name make sens?)
(If you decide to fix that, note that you have an other fishy place: if (Library[firstIndex].songName[firstIndex] == '\0') with the same pattern)
#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
char name[20];
printf("enter a name ");
scanf("%s",name);
switch(name[20]){
case "kevin" :
printf("hello");
break;
}
printf("%s",name);
getch();
}
It seems it will not work. Is this possible? I mean is there any way we can make a switch statement of a string. How to solve the problem, actually?
Switch statements in C aren't smart like one's found in other languages (such as Java 7 or Go) you cannot switch on a string (Nor can you compare strings with ==). Switch can only operate on integral types (int, char, etc).
In your code you call switch with: switch(name[20]). That means switch(*(name + 20)). In other words switch on the 21st char in name (because name[0] is the first). As name only has 20 chars you are accessing whatever memory is after name. (which could do unpredictable things)
Also the string "kevin" is compiled to a char[N] (where N is strlen("kevin") + 1) which contains the string. When you do case "kevin". It will only work if name is in the exact same piece of memory storing the string. So even if I copied kevin into name. It still would not match as it is stored in a different piece of memory.
To do what you seem to be trying you would do this:
#include <string.h>
...
if (strcmp(name, "kevin") == 0) {
...
}
String compare (strcmp) returns different values based on the difference in the strings. Eg:
int ord = strcmp(str1, str2);
if (ord < 0)
printf("str1 is before str2 alphabetically\n");
else if (ord == 0)
printf("str1 is the same as str2\n");
else if (ord > 0)
printf("str1 is after str2 alphabetically\n");
Side note: Dont use scanf("%s", name) in that form. It creates a common security problem use fgets like this: (there is a safe way to use scanf too)
#define MAX_LEN 20
int main() {
char name[MAX_LEN];
fgets(name, MAX_LEN, stdin);
...
Switch statements work on int values (or enum), but not on char arrays.
You could do
if (strcmp(name, "kevin")==0) {
printf("hello");
}
else if (strcmp(name, "Laura")==0) {
printf("Allo");
}
else if (strcmp(name, "Mike")==0) {
printf("Good day");
}
else {
printf("Help!");
}
There are plenty of ways to go about this! For example, use a...
3-letter hash
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
char name[20];
printf("enter a name ");
scanf("%s",name);
switch((int)*name * (int)*(name+1) * (int)*(name+2)){
case (1275226) : // "kevin"
printf("hello %s.\n", name);
break;
case (1293980) : // "astro"
printf("welcome %s.\n", name);
break;
}
printf("%d",(int)*name * (int)*(name+1) * (int)*(name+2));
}
No, you cannot use the switch statement in C with the value of a string or character array. The closest alternative is to use some sort of data structure mapping strings to function pointers. The function pointer could be called after a string is used to look it up.
since the name is declared as a char type ,it would be better if you use "%c" instead of using "%s" inside the scanf() method.
You can use "hash-string.h" library that converts strings into hash code integer.
Create a header file and paste this code:
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/gcc/gcc-5484/intl/hash-string.h
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "hash-string.h"
int main(){
char name[20];
printf("Enter a name: ");
scanf("%s",name);
unsigned long nameInt = hash_string(name);
switch(nameInt){
case 7458046 /* "kevin" */: { printf("Hello %s", name); break; }
default: { printf("You are not kevin"); }
}
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
Remember the rules while using switch statements.
Switch constraints
1. The controlling expression of a switch statement must have "integer type".
2. The expression of each case label shall be an integer constant expression and no two of
the case constant expressions in the same switch statement shall have the same value
after conversion. There may be at most one default label in a switch statement.
3. Any enclosed switch statement may have a default label or case constant expressions with values that duplicate case constant expressions in the enclosing switch statement.
If you are after performing specific actions for specific strings this implies you know the strings in advance. This in turn implies their number is limited, is countable, like for example a set of N commands:
const char * commands[] = {
"command-1",
"command-2",
...
"command-N"
}
To address those commands inside the array above from your code using a swtich you need to know their index, which is error prone. So number them, give them an ID:
enum Command_id {
NO_COMMAND,
COMMAND_1,
COMMAND_2,
//...
COMMAND_N,
};
Now put the two above together using a struct:
struct Command_info {
const char * command;
enum Command_id id;
} command_infos[] = {
{"", NO_COMMAND},
{"command-1", COMMAND_1},
{"command-2", COMMAND_2},
// ...
{"command-N", COMMAND_N},
};
Now you have nice mapping of strings and their related IDs. To be able to map from string to ID during runtime the mapping above needs to be searched. To do this in a efficient manner you want to us binary search. The C library proveids bsearch() for this. The only prerequsite is that the array to be searched need to sorted.
To sort use qsort() also proveid by the C library. For qsort() to work we you need a comparsion function:
int cmp_command_infos(const void * pvCI1, const void* pvCI2)
{
const struct Command_info * pCI1 = pvCI1;
const struct Command_info * pCI2 = pvCI2;
return strcmp(pCI1->command, pCI2->command);
}
Call qsort() like this
qsort(command_infos, sizeof command_infos / sizeof *command_infos, sizeof *command_infos, cmp_command_infos);
Now as the array is sorted one can look it up using bsearch(). For "COMMAND-2" this would look like this:
... = bsearch(&(struct Command_info){"COMMAND-2", NO_COMMAND}, command_infos, sizeof command_infos / sizeof *command_infos, sizeof *command_infos, cmp_command_infos);
Putting all this together could result in:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
enum Command_id {
NO_COMMAND,
COMMAND_1,
COMMAND_2,
//...
COMMAND_N,
};
struct Command_info {
const char * command;
enum Command_id id;
} command_infos[] = {
{"", NO_COMMAND},
{"command-1", COMMAND_1},
{"command-2", COMMAND_2},
// ...
{"command-N", COMMAND_N},
};
int cmp_command_infos(const void * pvCI1, const void* pvCI2)
{
const struct Command_info * pCI1 = pvCI1;
const struct Command_info * pCI2 = pvCI2;
return strcmp(pCI1->command, pCI2->command);
}
int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
qsort(command_infos, sizeof command_infos / sizeof *command_infos, sizeof *command_infos, cmp_command_infos);
{
enum Command_id command_id = NO_COMMAND;
struct Command_info * pCI = bsearch(&(struct Command_info){argv[1], NO_COMMAND}, command_infos, sizeof command_infos / sizeof *command_infos, sizeof *command_infos, cmp_command_infos);
if (NULL == pCI)
{
printf("Command = '%s' is unknown\n", argv[1]);
}
else
{
printf("Command = '%s' --> ID = %d\n", pCI->command, pCI->id);
switch(command_id)
{
case COMMAND_1:
/* perform action on COMMAND 1 here */
break;
case COMMAND_2:
/* perform action on COMMAND 1 here */
break;
default:
/* unknow command, do nothing */
break;
}
}
}
}
Call it like:
./a.out command-1
giving:
Command = 'command-1' --> ID = 1
or:
./a.out command-bla
giving:
Command = 'command-bla' is unknown
or even
./a.out ""
giving:
Command = '' --> ID = 0
Guys so I'm working on the web service assignment and I have the server dishing out random stuff and reading the uri but now i want to have the server run a different function depending on what it reads in the uri. I understand that we can do this with function pointers but i'm not exactly sure how to read char* and assign it to a function pointer and have it invoke that function.
Example of what I'm trying to do: http://pastebin.com/FadCVH0h
I could use a switch statement i believe but wondering if there's a better way.
For such a thing, you will need a table that maps char * strings to function pointers. The program segfaults when you assign a function pointer to string because technically, a function pointer is not a string.
Note: the following program is for demonstration purpose only. No bounds checking is involved, and it contains hard-coded values and magic numbers
Now:
void print1()
{
printf("here");
}
void print2()
{
printf("Hello world");
}
struct Table {
char ptr[100];
void (*funcptr)(void)
}table[100] = {
{"here", print1},
{"hw", helloWorld}
};
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int i = 0;
for(i = 0; i < 2; i++){
if(!strcmp(argv[1],table[i].ptr) { table[i].funcptr(); return 0;}
}
return 0;
}
I'm gonna give you a quite simple example, that I think, is useful to understand how good can be functions pointers in C. (If for example you would like to make a shell)
For example if you had a struct like this:
typedef struct s_function_pointer
{
char* cmp_string;
int (*function)(char* line);
} t_function_pointer;
Then, you could set up a t_function_pointer array which you'll browse:
int ls_function(char* line)
{
// do whatever you want with your ls function to parse line
return 0;
}
int echo_function(char* line)
{
// do whatever you want with your echo function to parse line
return 0;
}
void treat_input(t_function_pointer* functions, char* line)
{
int counter;
int builtin_size;
builtin_size = 0;
counter = 0;
while (functions[counter].cmp_string != NULL)
{
builtin_size = strlen(functions[counter].cmp_string);
if (strncmp(functions[counter].cmp_string, line, builtin_size) == 0)
{
if (functions[counter].function(line + builtin_size) < 0)
printf("An error has occured\n");
}
counter = counter + 1;
}
}
int main(void)
{
t_function_pointer functions[] = {{"ls", &ls_function},
{"echo", &echo_function},
{NULL, NULL}};
// Of course i'm not gonna do the input treatment part, but just guess it was here, and you'd call treat_input with each line you receive.
treat_input(functions, "ls -laR");
treat_input(functions, "echo helloworld");
return 0;
}
Hope this helps !
I have a definite set of strings and its corresponding numbers:
kill -> 1
live -> 2
half_kill -> 3
dont_live -> 4
List is of 30 such strings and their number mapping.
If user enters "kill", I need to return 1 and if he enters "dont_live" I need to return 4.
How should I achieve this in c program? I am looking for an efficient solution because this operation needs to be done 100s of times.
should I put them in #define in my .h file?
Thanks in advance.
Sort your table, and use the standard library function bsearch to perform a binary search.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
struct entry {
char *str;
int n;
};
/* sorted according to str */
struct entry dict[] = {
"dont_live", 4,
"half_kill", 3,
"kill", 1,
"live", 2,
};
int compare(const void *s1, const void *s2)
{
const struct entry *e1 = s1;
const struct entry *e2 = s2;
return strcmp(e1->str, e2->str);
}
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
struct entry *result, key = {argv[1]};
result = bsearch(&key, dict, sizeof(dict)/sizeof(dict[0]),
sizeof dict[0], compare);
if (result)
printf("%d\n", result->n);
return 0;
}
Here's what you get when you run the program.
$ ./a.out kill
1
$ ./a.out half_kill
3
$ ./a.out foo
<no output>
PS: I reused portions of sidyll's program. My answer should now be CC BY-SA compliant :p
A possible solution:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
struct entry {
char *str;
int n;
};
struct entry dict[] = {
"kill", 1,
"live", 2,
"half_kill", 3,
"dont_live", 4,
0,0
};
int
number_for_key(char *key)
{
int i = 0;
char *name = dict[i].str;
while (name) {
if (strcmp(name, key) == 0)
return dict[i].n;
name = dict[++i].str;
}
return 0;
}
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
printf("enter your keyword: ");
char s[100]; scanf("%s", s);
printf("the number is: %d\n", number_for_key(s));
return 0;
}
Here's one approach:
int get_index(char *s)
{
static const char mapping[] = "\1.kill\2.live\3.half_kill\4.dont_live";
char buf[sizeof mapping];
const char *p;
snprintf(buf, sizeof buf, ".%s", s);
p = strstr(mapping, buf);
return p ? p[-1] : 0;
}
The . mess is to work around kill being a substring of half_kill. Without that issue you could simply search for the string directly.
If it is a very short list of strings then a simple block of ifs will be more than sufficient
if (0 == strcmp(value, "kill")) {
return 1;
}
if (0 == strcmp(value, "live")) {
return 2;
}
...
If the number approach 10 I would begin to profile my application though and consider a map style structure.
if you have a fixed set of strimgs, you have two options: generate a perfect hashing function (check gperf or cmph) or create a trie so that you never have to check charcters more than once.
Compilers usually use perfect hashes to recognize a language keyword, in your case I would probably go with the trie, it should be the fastest way (but nothing beats direct measurement!)
Is it really a bottleneck? You should worry about efficiency only if the simple solution proves to be too slow.
Having said that, possible speed improvements are checking the lengths first:
If it's 4 characters then it could be "kill" or "live"
If it's 9 characters then it could be "half_kill" or "dont_live"
or checking the first character in a switch statement:
switch (string[0]) {
case 'k':
if (strcmp(string, "kill") == 0)
return 1;
return 0;
case 'l':
...
default:
return 0;
}
Use hashmap/ hashtable i think this would be the best solution.
Can you use an Enumunerator?
int main(void) {
enum outcome { kill=1, live, half_kill, dont_live };
printf("%i\n", kill); //1
printf("%i\n", dont_live); //4
printf("%i\n", half_kill); //3
printf("%i\n", live); //2
return 0;
}
Create a list of const values:
const int kill = 1;
const int live = 2;
const int half_kill = 3;
etc