Error validating the contents of a file using regex in C - c

Question

I am having a problem with the below code validating a file using regex. My file must only contain letters or numbers. My regular expression is:
#define to_find "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$"
which is located in my main.h file. The below code is in my main.c
#include <ctype.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <regex.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include "main.h"
int main(int argc, char * argv[])
{
int ret_val;
regex_t regex;
FILE *fp;
char line[1024];
if (regcomp(&regex, to_find, REG_EXTENDED) != 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to compile regex '%s'\n", to_find);
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
if (argc > 2)
{
printf("Usage: tree OR tree [filename]\n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
else if (argc == 2)
{
fp = fopen(strcat(argv[1],".dat"), "r");
printf("file opened\n");
while ((fgets(line, 1024, fp)) != NULL)
{
line[strlen(line) - 1] = '\0';
if ((ret_val = regexec(&regex, line, 0, NULL, 0)) != 0);
{
printf("Error: %s\n", line);
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
}
fclose(fp);
printf("File closed\n");
}
return 0;
}
My file I am reading is called names.dat and contains:
int
char
[
double
What is happening is it is kicking out at the very first line which it should kick out at the 3rd line. I am sure this is pretty simple to solve but it seems I have not figured it out. I would appreciate any help. Also, how do I deal with the
\n
character in the file? this file will have several lines. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You have some small errors but the one that cause the error is:
// Do you see this sweet little semicolon :P ----------------+
if ((ret_val = regexec(&regex, line, 0, NULL, 0)) != 0); // <+
{
printf("Error: %s\n", line);
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
beside this line:
fp = fopen(strcat(argv[1],".dat"), "r");
You cannot add to argv, you need to create a new buffer to hold the data, create a buffer with PATH_MAX size add append the path to it. Here an improved version:
#include <ctype.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <regex.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <limits.h>
#define to_find "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$"
int main(int argc, char * argv[])
{
int ret_val;
regex_t regex;
FILE *fp;
char file[PATH_MAX];
char line[1024];
if (regcomp(&regex, to_find, REG_EXTENDED) != 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to compile regex '%s'\n", to_find);
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
if (argc > 2)
{
printf("Usage: tree OR tree [filename]\n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
else if (argc == 2)
{
sprintf(file, "%s.dat", argv[1]);
fp = fopen(file, "r");
if( fp == NULL ) {
perror("Error");
return -1;
}
printf("file opened\n");
while (fscanf(fp, "%1023s", line) > 0)
{
if ((ret_val = regexec(&regex, line, 0, NULL, 0)) != 0)
{
printf("Not match: %s\n", line);
//return EXIT_FAILURE;
} else {
printf("Match: %s\n", line);
}
}
regfree(&regex);
fclose(fp);
printf("File closed\n");
}
return 0;
}
See the diff: http://www.diffchecker.com/8itbz5dy
test:
$ gcc -Wall sample.c
$
$ cat name.dat
int
char
[
double
$ ./a.out name
file opened
Match: int
Match: char
Not match: [
Match: double
File closed
$