Invalid Initializer in C - c

I'm a beginner in the C Programming language and I wanted to write a hashing program. I can write this program with a specified number of typedef ... Name elemenst (in an array) but, when I use dynamic allocation, an "invalid initializer" error appears.
typedef char Name[30];
Name hashTable[MAX];
int hash(Name name){
int long sum = 0;
int len=strlen(name);
int i = 0;
for (; i<len;i++)
sum += name[i];
sum = sum % MAX;
printf("\nhash of [%s] = %ld\n",name,sum);
return sum;
}
void main(){
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<MAX;i++)
strcpy(hashTable[i],"");
int pos, x, cont=1;
printf("number of names: ");
scanf("%d",&x);
while (x>=cont){
Name name = malloc(sizeof(Name)); // why this line have the error of "invalid initializer"?
printf("\ntype the %dº name: ",cont);
scanf("%s",name);
pos=hash(name);
strcpy(hashTable[pos],name);
cont++;
}

I know this answer is late, but I made a similar stupid mistake. variable Name name should be a pointer. i.e Name * name

Your declaration of name makes it statically (not dynamically) allocated. Therefore you do not need to use malloc() to allocate space.

Related

program returning garbage values even after declaring variables in c

how do i correct this
i didn't use structure intentionally
this is a program to input student's name, subject and marks.
in the last block, the array (subject+f) 's 1st subscript is returning garbage values while the rest subscript are returning desired result.
i have also posted the image of output as link.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
int main()
{
int size,i,k,sub,a=0,reference;
int temp,sorted;
char temp_s[10];
char temp_sb[10];
printf("enter the size of class\n");
scanf("%d",&size);
printf("how many subjects are there?\n");
scanf("%d",&sub);
reference = sub;
char name[size][20];
char subject[size*sub][20];
int marks[sub*size];
int total,subtotal,retotal;
for(k=0;k<sub;k++)
{
printf("so what's the no. %d subject\n",k+1);
scanf(" %s",(subject[k]));
}
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
{
int j,k=0;
printf("Enter a name of student %d\n",i+1);
scanf(" %s",(name+i));
for(j=a;j<reference;j++)
{
printf("enter marks of %s\n",(subject[k]));
scanf("%d",(marks+j));
k++;
}
a=j;
reference=sub+j;
}
reference=sub;
a=0;
printf("\n list of students and marks:\n");
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
{
int j,f=0;
printf("%s\n",(name+i));
for(j=a;j<reference;j++)
{
printf("%s %d\n",(subject[f]),(marks[j]));
f++;
}
a=j;
reference=sub+j;
}
}
Besides the problem with length of names and subjects, this here is a major problem:
(subject+k)
You are probably misunderstanding the subject[k] and *(subject + k) equivalent.
The variable subject is an array of arrays. That means subject[i] is an array (of char and can be used as a zero-terminated string).
The expression (subject + k) is a pointer to the array in subject[k]. It's equal to &subject[k] which have the type char (*)[10]. It's can not be used as a zero-terminated string without dereferencing. So either use *(subject + k) or the simple, less-to-write and easier-to-read subject[k].
I think you also need to change
int marks[sub];
to
int marks[size * sub];
one mark for each subject for each student, correct?

Proper use of structures and pointers

I have to declare a vector with the "struct" type which, for every n students, it creates a value for the group that student belongs to (which is like a counter), their names and their grades.
The program has to output the name of the students with the highest grade found in these groups. I have to allocate the vector on the heap (I only know the theoretical explanation for heap, but I have no idea how to apply it) and I have to go through the vector using pointers.
For example if I give n the value 4, there will be 4 students and the program will output the maximum grade together with their names as shown here.
This will output Ana 10 and Eva 10.
I gave it a try, but I have no idea how to expand it or fix it so I appreciate all the help I can get with explanations if possible on the practical application of heap and pointers in this type of problem.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
struct students {
int group;
char name[20];
int grade;
};
int main()
{
int v[100], n, i;
scanf("%d", n);
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
v[i].group = i;
scanf("%s", v[i].name);
scanf("%d", v[i].grade);
}
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
printf("%d", v[i].group);
printf("%s", v[i].name);
printf("%d", v[i].grade);
}
return 0;
}
Here I was just trying to create the vector, nothing works though..
It appears, int v[100]; is not quite what you want. Remove that.
You can follow either of two ways.
Use a VLA. After scanning the value of n from user, define the array like struct students v[n]; and carry on.
Define a fixed size array, like struct students v[100];, and use the size to limit the loop conditions.
That said,
scanf("%d", n); should be scanf("%d", &n);, as %d expects a pointer to integer type argument for scanf(). Same goes for other cases, too.
scanf("%s", v[i].name); should better be scanf("%19s", v[i].name); to avoid the possibility of buffer overflow by overly-long inputs.
Even though you are asking for the number of students (groups) using scanf, you hardcoded the upper bound of this value using v[100]. So, I passed your input variable n (the number of students) to malloc in order to allocate the space you need for creating an array of n students.
Also, I used qsort to sort the input array v where the last element would be the max value. Here qsort accepts an array of structs and deference the pointers passed to the comp function to calculate the difference of the comparison.
Finally, I printed the sorted array of structs in the last loop.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
struct students {
int group;
char name[20];
int grade;
};
int comp(const void *a, const void *b)
{
return ((((struct students *)a)->grade > ((struct students *)b)->grade) -
(((struct students *)a)->grade < ((struct students *)b)->grade));
}
int main()
{
int n;
printf("Enter number of groups: ");
scanf("%d", &n);
printf("\n");
struct students *v = malloc(n * sizeof(struct students));
int i;
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
v[i].group = i;
printf("\nName: ");
scanf("%s", v[i].name);
printf("Grade: ");
scanf("%d", &v[i].grade);
}
qsort(v, n, sizeof(*v), comp);
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
printf("Group %d, Name %s, grade %d\n", v[i].group, v[i].name, v[i].grade);
}
return (0);
}
You need to replace the standalone array v[100], with an array of structs referencing your structure:
struct students v[100];
However, if you want to use malloc to allocate memory on the heap, you will need to do something like this:
struct students *students = malloc(n * sizeof(struct students));
/* Check void* return pointer from malloc(), just to be safe */
if (students == NULL) {
/* Exit program */
}
and free the requested memory from malloc() at the end, like this:
free(students);
students = NULL;
Additionally, adding to #Sourav Ghosh's answer, it is also good to check the return value of scanf(), especially when dealing with integers.
Instead of simply:
scanf("%d", &n);
A more safe way is this:
if (scanf("%d", &n) != 1) {
/* Exit program */
}
With all this said, your program could look something like this:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define NAMESTRLEN 20
typedef struct { /* you can use typedef to avoid writing 'struct student' everywhere */
int group;
char name[NAMESTRLEN+1];
int grade;
} student_t;
int
main(void) {
int n, i;
printf("Enter number of students: ");
if (scanf("%d", &n) != 1) {
printf("Invalid input.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
student_t *students = malloc(n * sizeof(*students));
if (!students) {
printf("Cannot allocate memory for %d structs.\n", n);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
students[i].group = i;
printf("Enter student name: ");
scanf("%20s", students[i].name);
printf("Enter students grade: ");
if (scanf("%d", &(students[i].grade)) != 1) {
printf("Invalid grade entered.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
printf("\nStudent Information:\n");
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
printf("Group: %d Name: %s Grade: %d\n",
students[i].group,
students[i].name,
students[i].grade);
}
free(students);
students = NULL;
return 0;
}

Compile time error C programming Arrays

I wrote a small C program which takes some user input and prints it,
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
char name[], char add[];
short int height;
unsigned char buffer[1024];
int i,j,n,m;
printf("enter your name_length num: n is:-\n");
scanf("%d",&n);
printf("enter your name\n");
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
scanf("%c",&name[i]);
}
printf("enter your address: m is :-\n");
scanf("%d",&m);
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
{
scanf("%c",&add[j]);
}
printf("enter your height\n");
scanf("%d",&height);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
printf("your entered name is:\t",name[i]);
}
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
{
printf("your entered address is:\t",add[i]);
}
printf("your entered height is:\n",height);
return;
}
but while running I am getting an error -
So I am at my wits end on why the array size missing is coming, is there anything that I have missed ???
There are few problems in declaration syntax.
Change this line
from
char name[], char add[];
to
char name[256], add[256];
After this you get run-time errors ( welcome to C programming )
As others have pointed out, the line char name[], char add[]; is invalid. This is because there is no way of knowing how much memory to assign to the array. There are two solutions, depending on your problem.
The best solution in this instance would be to move the declaration to below where you know the length of the user's name (assuming you're not using a strict format requiring declarations at the top):
printf("enter your name_length num: n is:-\n");
scanf("%d",&n);
char name[n];
This creates a fixed length array (of length n), and given a user's name isn't likely to change length over the course of this program this is more than acceptable.
The alternate solution is to use memory allocation, which allows you to increase or decrease the size of the array during runtime.
char *name = null;
...
printf("enter your name_length num: n is:-\n");
scanf("%d",&n);
name = malloc( n * sizeof(char));
This assigns n * sizeof(char) bytes to the array, which can later be extended, reassigned or freed. This is the more flexible option.
In C you must declare array with a constant integer like,
char name[1000], add[1000];
OR
char name[1000];
char add[1000];
OR
int size=1000;
char name[size];
char add[size];
And your main function should return integer at the end, use
return 0;

Endless loop in C; for loop seems valid

I am a student trying to learn c coming from c++. I wrote the following code and it compiles fine; however, when I execute it I get an endless loop when calling the print function. I looked over the code and it seems to be valid to me, so why is it printing an endless loop?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
struct student
{
int id;
int score;
};
void generate(struct student *students, int n)
{
int randomId = rand () % n + 1;
int randomTestScore = rand() % 100 + 1;
students->id = randomId;
students->score = randomTestScore;
}
void sort(struct student *students, int n)
{
/*using insertion sort*/
for (unsigned int i = 1; i < n; ++i)
{
int next = students[i].score;
int j = i;
while(j > 0 && students[j-1].score > next)
{
students[j].score = students[j-1].score;
j--;
}
students[j].score = next;
}
}
void print(struct student *students, int n)
{
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
printf("Student at position No: %d Test Score: %d\n", i+1, students[i].score);
}
}
int main()
{
/*user enters num of students to create scores for*/
int num_students;
printf("Enter Num of students\n");
scanf("%d", num_students);
/*allocate memory for the amount of students user wants*/
struct student *userStudents = malloc(num_students*sizeof(struct student));
printf("Randomly filling students IDs & Test Scores...\n");
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < num_students; ++i)
{
generate(&userStudents[i], num_students);
}
printf("Array of students before sorting:\n");
print(userStudents, num_students);
printf("\nNow, sorting students by test scores...\n\n");
sort(userStudents, num_students);
printf("Array of students after sorting:\n");
print(userStudents, num_students);
return 0;
}
To use scanf() correctly it needs to alter the passed variable in place, and since there is no pass by refrence in c, you need to pass the address of the variable, so scanf() is able to modify it though a pointer, hence you need to use the & operator, but that is not enough.
The scanf() family of functions, return a value that must be checked before you can access the scanned values, you should never ignore that value, under any circumstances you should check for it.
What your code is doing is called undefined behavior, it's interpreting the passed integer as if it was a pointer, which is undefined behavior.
To prevent that you can activate compiler warnings, many compilers know what kind of parameter the *f functions expect, i.e. the functions which take a string as a format to be parsed and to allow the function to correctly grab the rest of the parameters passed via variable arguments to it.
The correct way to call scanf() in your program is
if (scanf("%d", &num_students) != 1)
return 1;
that is, from main() and hence it's ending the program, because you can't continue after that condition was true, in that case what actually happens is that num_students is not initialized, that would once again cause undefined behavior.
Change the call to scanf to:
/*
* correct way of calling scanf, passing the address of the wanted variable
*/
scanf("%d", &num_students);
^
This elliminates segmentation faults and makes the code runs OK on my machine.
I had a previous hint that you'd need to change your declaration of userStudents to a pointer to pointers, however I was incorrect. You are clearly correctly allocating enough contiguous memory to hold all of your structs pointed by *userStudents.

Expression must have class type error

I'm working on a homework assignment and I've hit a brick wall. I think I have all of the code that I need, I just need to get the program to compile. The object of the assignment is
Create a structure to hold student names and averages. The structure should contain a first name, last name and an integer grade average.
Then:
Write a program that will do the following:
1.) Create an array of pointers to these student structures.
2.) Prompt the user for names and averages.
3.) After you get the student’s information use malloc to provide the memory to store the information.
4.) Place the address of the student, returned by malloc, into the pointer array.
5.) AFTER the user indicates there are no more students:
Search the data entered and find the highest and lowest grade
average.
a)Print the name and grade for the highest grade
b)Print the name and grade for the lowest grade
c)Print the average of all grades entered
Here is my code:
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define SIZE 25
int enterStudents (int ePointArray[SIZE]);
void searchData (int *sPointArray, int *sHigh, int *sLow);
int calculateAvg (int, int *avgPointArray);
void printData (int, int *pHigh, int *pLow);
struct student
{
char firstName[20];
char lastName[20];
int average;
};
int main()
{
int pointArray[SIZE], high[3], low[3];
int i = 0, studentCounter, avgGrade;
for (i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
pointArray[i] = 0;
studentCounter = enterStudents(pointArray);
searchData(pointArray, high, low);
avgGrade = calculateAvg(studentCounter, pointArray);
printData(avgGrade, high, low);
return 0;
}
int enterStudents (int ePointArray[SIZE])
{
char tempFname[20], tempLname[20], yesNo[2] = "y";
int tempAvg, counter = 0;
int *studPtr;
struct student aStud={"\0", "\0", 0};
while( counter < SIZE && strcmp(yesNo, "y")==0)
{
printf(" Enter first name: ");
scanf("%s", tempFname);
printf(" Enter last name: ");
scanf("%s", tempLname);
printf(" Enter grade average:");
scanf("%d", tempAvg);
strcpy(aStud.firstName, tempFname);
strcpy(aStud.lastName, tempLname);
aStud.average = tempAvg;
studPtr = malloc(sizeof(struct student));
ePointArray[counter] = *studPtr;
counter++;
printf("/n");
printf(" Do you have more students? yes or no:");
scanf("%s", yesNo);
}
return counter;
}
void searchData (int sPointArray[SIZE], int sHigh[3], int sLow[3])
{
int searchCounter = 0;
while( searchCounter = 0)
{
if( *sPointArray[searchCounter].average > *sPointArray[searchCounter+1].average)
{
sHigh[0] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].firstName;
sHigh[1] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].lastName;
sHigh[2] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].average;
}
if( *sPointArray[searchCounter].average < *sPointArray[searchCounter+1].average)
{
sLow[0] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].firstName;
sLow[1] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].lastName;
sLow[3] = &sPointArray[searchCounter].average;
}
searchCounter++;
}
}
int calculateAvg( int totalStudents, int avgPointArray[SIZE])
{
int sum = 0;
int avgCounter;
double overallAvg;
for( avgCounter = 0; avgCounter < totalStudents; avgCounter++)
sum = sum + *avgPointArray[avgCounter].average;
overallAvg = sum/totalStudents;
return overallAvg;
}
void printData (int pAverage, int pHigh[3], int pLow[3])
{
printf(" Highest Grade: %s %s %d", pHigh[0], pHigh[1], pHigh[3]);
printf("/n");
printf(" Lowest Grade: %s %s %d", pLow[0], pLow[2], pLow[3]);
printf("/n");
printf(" Average Grade: %d",pAverage);
}
The main chunk of problems come from the searchData function. In the if statements, every occurrence of *sPointArray and &sPointArray is underlined in red and the error reads
"Error: expression must have class type"
The same thing also happens in the calculateAvg function with *avgPointArray in the for loop. I know that the error is a fairly common problem for noobie C programmers (i.e myself) and that it generally has to do with writing the code as a function instead of a statement or something like that, but I can't for the life of me find where I have went wrong. Any help would be highly appreciated. I've been working at this for so long my vision is blurring.
Also, for anyone who solves this in like two seconds and wants proof that I'm a true idiot, there is an error in the enterStudents function where it says StudPtr = malloc(sizeof...). The error shows under the assignment symbol and says
"Error: a value of type "void*" cannot be assigned to an entity of type "int*".
I understand this concept in theory, but some advice for how to fix it would be highly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for any help.
You declare the sPointArray as an array of integers, but use it as an array of structures.

Resources