Reversing a string in C using pointers? - c

Language: C
I am trying to program a C function which uses the header char *strrev2(const char *string) as part of interview preparation, the closest (working) solution is below, however I would like an implementation which does not include malloc... Is this possible? As it returns a character meaning if I use malloc, a free would have to be used within another function.
char *strrev2(const char *string){
int l=strlen(string);
char *r=malloc(l+1);
for(int j=0;j<l;j++){
r[j] = string[l-j-1];
}
r[l] = '\0';
return r;
}
[EDIT] I have already written implementations using a buffer and without the char. Thanks tho!

No - you need a malloc.
Other options are:
Modify the string in-place, but since you have a const char * and you aren't allowed to change the function signature, this is not possible here.
Add a parameter so that the user provides a buffer into which the result is written, but again this is not possible without changing the signature (or using globals, which is a really bad idea).

You may do it this way and let the caller responsible for freeing the memory. Or you can allow the caller to pass in an allocated char buffer, thus the allocation and the free are all done by caller:
void strrev2(const char *string, char* output)
{
// place the reversed string onto 'output' here
}
For caller:
char buffer[100];
char *input = "Hello World";
strrev2(input, buffer);
// the reversed string now in buffer

You could use a static char[1024]; (1024 is an example size), store all strings used in this buffer and return the memory address which contains each string. The following code snippet may contain bugs but will probably give you the idea.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
char* strrev2(const char* str)
{
static char buffer[1024];
static int last_access; //Points to leftmost available byte;
//Check if buffer has enough place to store the new string
if( strlen(str) <= (1024 - last_access) )
{
char* return_address = &(buffer[last_access]);
int i;
//FixMe - Make me faster
for( i = 0; i < strlen(str) ; ++i )
{
buffer[last_access++] = str[strlen(str) - 1 - i];
}
buffer[last_access] = 0;
++last_access;
return return_address;
}else
{
return 0;
}
}
int main()
{
char* test1 = "This is a test String";
char* test2 = "George!";
puts(strrev2(test1));
puts(strrev2(test2));
return 0 ;
}

reverse string in place
char *reverse (char *str)
{
register char c, *begin, *end;
begin = end = str;
while (*end != '\0') end ++;
while (begin < --end)
{
c = *begin;
*begin++ = *end;
*end = c;
}
return str;
}

Related

copy a const char* into array of char (facing a bug)

I have following method
static void setName(const char* str, char buf[16])
{
int sz = MIN(strlen(str), 16);
for (int i = 0; i < sz; i++) buf[i] = str[i];
buf[sz] = 0;
}
int main()
{
const char* string1 = "I am getting bug for this long string greater than 16 lenght);
char mbuf[16];
setName(string,mybuf)
// if I use buf in my code it is leading to spurious characters since length is greater than 16 .
Please let me know what is the correct way to code above if the restriction for buf length is 16 in method static void setName(const char* str, char buf[16])
When passing an array as argument, array decays into the pointer of FIRST element of array. One must define a rule, to let the method know the number of elements.
You declare char mbuf[16], you pass it to setName(), setName() will not get char[], but will get char* instead.
So, the declaration should be
static void setName(const char* str, char* buf)
Next, char mbuf[16] can only store 15 chars, because the last char has to be 'null terminator', which is '\0'. Otherwise, the following situation will occur:
// if I use buf in my code it is leading to spurious characters since length is greater than 16 .
Perhaps this will help you understand:
char str[] = "foobar"; // = {'f','o','o','b','a','r','\0'};
So the code should be
static void setName(const char* str, char* buf)
{
int sz = MIN(strlen(str), 15); // not 16
for (int i = 0; i < sz; i++) buf[i] = str[i];
buf[sz] = '\0'; // assert that you're assigning 'null terminator'
}
Also, I would recommend you not to reinvent the wheel, why don't use strncpy instead?
char mbuf[16];
strncpy(mbuf, "12345678901234567890", 15);
The following code passes the size of the memory allocated to the buffer, to the setName function.
That way the setName function can ensure that it does not write outside the allocated memory.
Inside the function either a for loop or strncpy can be used. Both will be controlled by the size parameter sz and both will require that a null terminator character is placed after the copied characters. Again, sz will ensure that the null terminator is written within the memory allocated to the buffer.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static void setName(const char *str, char *buf, int sz);
int main()
{
const int a_sz = 16;
char* string = "This bit is OK!! but any more than 15 characters are dropped";
/* allocate memory for a buffer & test successful allocation*/
char *mbuf = malloc(a_sz);
if (mbuf == NULL) {
printf("Out of memory!\n");
return(1);
}
/* call function and pass size of buffer */
setName(string, mbuf, a_sz);
/* print resulting buffer contents */
printf("%s\n", mbuf); // printed: This bit is OK!
/* free the memory allocated to the buffer */
free(mbuf);
return(0);
}
static void setName(const char *str, char *buf, int sz)
{
int i;
/* size of string or max 15 */
if (strlen(str) > sz - 1) {
sz--;
} else {
sz = strlen(str);
}
/* copy a maximum of 15 characters into buffer (0 to 14) */
for (i = 0; i < sz; i++) buf[i] = str[i];
/* null terminate the string - won't be more than buf[15]) */
buf[i] = '\0';
}
Changing one value const int a_sz allows different numbers of characters to be copied. There is no 'hard coding' of the size in the function, so reducing the risk of errors if the code is modified later on.
I replaced MIN with a simple if ... else structure so that I could test the code.

loop to reverse string in C

So I've looked around on SO and can't find code that answers my question. I have written a function that is supposed to reverse a string as input in cmd-line. Here is the function:
void reverse (char string[]) {
int x;
int i = 0;
char line[strlen(string)];
for (x = strlen(string) - 1; x > 0; x--) {
char tmp = string[x];
line[i] = tmp;
i++;
}
string = line;
}
When I call my reverse() function, the string stays the same. i.e., 'abc' remains 'abc'
If more info is needed or question is inappropriate, let me know.
Thanks!!
You're declaring your line array one char shorter remember the null at the end.
Another point, it should be for (x = strlen(string) - 1; x >= 0; x--) since you need to copy the character at 0.
void reverse (char string[]) {
int x;
int i = 0;
char line[strlen(string) + 1];
for (x = strlen(string) - 1; x >= 0; x--) {
char tmp = string[x];
line[i] = tmp;
i++;
}
for(x = 0; x < strlen(string); x++)
{
string[x] = line[x];
}
}
Note that this function will cause an apocalypse when passed an empty string or a string literal (as Bobby Sacamano said).
Suggestion you can probably do: void reverse(char source[], char[] dest) and do checks if the source string is empty.
I think that your answer is almost correct. You don't actually need an extra slot for the null character in line. You just need two minor changes:
Change the assignment statement at the bottom of the procedure to a memcpy.
Change the loop condition to <-
So, your correct code is this:
void reverse (char string[]) {
int x;
int i = 0;
char line[strlen(string)];
for (x = strlen(string) - 1; x >= 0; x--) {
char tmp = string[x];
line[i] = tmp;
i++;
}
memcpy(string, line, sizeof(char) * strlen(line));
}
Since you want to reverse a string, you first must decide whether you want to reverse a copy of the string, or reverse the string in-situ (in place). Since you asked about this in 'C' context, assume you mean to change the existing string (reverse the existing string) and make a copy of the string in the calling function if you want to preserve the original.
You will need the string library
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
Array indexing works, and this version takes that approach,
/* this first version uses array indexing */
char*
streverse_a(char string[])
{
int len; /*how big is your string*/
int ndx; /*because 'i' is hard to search for*/
char tmp; /*hold character to swap*/
if(!string) return(string); /*avoid NULL*/
if( (len=strlen(string)) < 2 ) return(string); /*one and done*/
for( ndx=0; ndx<len/2; ndx++ ) {
tmp=string[ndx];
string[ndx]=string[len-1-ndx];
string[len-1-ndx]=tmp;
}
return(string);
}
But you can do the same with pointers,
/* this is how K&R would write the function with pointers */
char*
streverse(char* sp)
{
int len, ndx; /*how big is your string */
char tmp, *bp, *ep; /*pointers to begin/end, swap temporary*/
if(!sp) return(sp); /*avoid NULL*/
if( (len=strlen(bp=sp)) < 2 ) return(sp); /*one and done*/
for( ep=bp+len-1; bp<ep; bp++, ep-- ) {
tmp=*bp; *bp=*ep; *ep=tmp; /*swap*/
}
return(sp);
}
(No, really, the compiler does not charge less for returning void.)
And because you always test your code,
char s[][100] = {
"", "A", "AB", "ABC", "ABCD", "ABCDE",
"hello, world", "goodbye, cruel world", "pwnz0r3d", "enough"
};
int
main()
{
/* suppose your string is declared as 'a' */
char a[100];
strcpy(a,"reverse string");
/*make a copy of 'a', declared the same as a[]*/
char b[100];
strcpy(b,a);
streverse_a(b);
printf("a:%s, r:%s\n",a,b);
/*duplicate 'a'*/
char *rp = strdup(a);
streverse(rp);
printf("a:%s, r:%s\n",a,rp);
free(rp);
int ndx;
for( ndx=0; ndx<10; ++ndx ) {
/*make a copy of 's', declared the same as s[]*/
char b[100];
strcpy(b,s[ndx]);
streverse_a(b);
printf("s:%s, r:%s\n",s[ndx],b);
/*duplicate 's'*/
char *rp = strdup(s[ndx]);
streverse(rp);
printf("s:%s, r:%s\n",s[ndx],rp);
free(rp);
}
}
The last line in your code does nothing
string = line;
Parameters are passed by value, so if you change their value, that is only local to the function. Pointers are the value of the address of memory they are pointing to. If you want to modify the pointer that the function was passed, you need to take a pointer to that pointer.
Here is a short example of how you could do that.
void reverse (char **string) {
char line = malloc(strlen(*string) + 1);
//automatic arrays are deallocated once the function ends
//so line needs to be dynamically or statically allocated
// do something to line
*string = line;
}
The obvious issue with this is that you can initialize the string with static memory, then this method will replace the static memory with dynamic memory, and then you'll have to free the dynamic memory. There's nothing functionally wrong with that, it's just a bit dangerous, since accidentally freeing the string literal is illegal.
char *test = "hello";
reverse(test);
free(test); //this is pretty scary
Also, if test was allocated as dynamic memory, the pointer to it would be lost and then it would become a memory leak.

Overwriting parts of a string with parts of another string

I'm trying to overwrite a part of a string with parts of another String.
Basically, I want to access a given index of a string, write a given number of chars from another given index of another string.
So a function like memcpy(stringa[indexa], stringb[indexb], length);, except that this does not work.
Using strncpy would also suffice.
More code, as requested:
void mymemset(char* memloc, char* cmd, int data_blocks[], int len)
{
int i = 0;
while(i < len)
{
//missing part. Where I want the "memcpy" operation to take place
i++;
}
return;
}
memloc is the string we want to overwrite, cmd is the string we are overwriting from, data_blocks contains information about where in memloc we are supposed to write, and len is the number of operations we are executing. So I want to overwrite at location data_blocks[i], from cmd 8 chars at a time.
EDIT: I think I just forgot an &, so sorry to have confused you and thanks for your time. This seems to work:
void mymemset(char* memloc, char* cmd, int data_blocks[], int len)
{
int i = 0;
while(i < len)
{
memcpy(&memloc[data_blocks[i]], &cmd[i*8], 8);
i++;
}
return;
}
Takes 8 bytes at a time from cmd, stores them in memloc at the index given by data_blocks[i]. As commented, data_blocks contains information about different indexes in memloc that is available, and segmentation of the string cmd can occur.
Supposing stringa and stringb are declared as follows
char stringa[] = "Hello" ;
char stringb[] = "World" ;
This should work:
memcpy(&stringa[1], &stringb[1], 2) ;
Your example should not compile, or if it compiles if is likely to crash or to cause undefined behaviour :
memcpy(stringa[1], stringb[1], 2) ;
Your naming is confusing : memset works on bytes. If you manipulate strings you have extra precaution to take: think of the \0.
I think you want something like that:
void my_str_overwrite(char* dest, const char* ref, int idx, size_t count)
{
size_t input_len = strlen(dest);
if(input_len <= idx+count)
{
// Error: not enough space
}
for(size_t i=0; i<count; i++)
{
dest[idx+i] = ref[i];
}
return;
}
You don't need to pass the whole data_block[] array, you just interested in one element of this array which contains an offset for your copy, if I understood correctly.
As you don't modify cmd it should be const
The code above does not handle the NULL terminating byte which should be appended to memloc if it is actually a string
So I want to overwrite at location data_blocks[i], from cmd 8 chars at a time.
This one is confusing. If you know that you only want 8 bytes to be copied each time you call the function then in the code above make count an local variable within the function and fix it size_t count = 8;
if strings are the same size the you can just use memcpy:
#include <strings.h>
char text[] = "Hello James!";
char name[] = "Jenny";
char* pos = strstr(text, "James");
memcpy(pos, name, strlen(name)-1); // for the '\0'
If they're not then you must reallocate the string as the length will change
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <assert.h>
#define STR "Hello James!"
void replace(char** src, char* find, char* rep) {
char* ret = NULL;
char* pos = strstr(*src, find);
if (!pos)
return; // no changes
int l = (1 + strlen(*src) + strlen(rep) - strlen(find));
ret = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * l);
ret[l-1] = 0;
int ind = (int)(pos - *src);
strncpy(ret, *src, ind);
printf("ind: %d; %s\n", ind, ret);
strncpy(&ret[ind], rep, strlen(rep));
strncpy(&ret[ind+strlen(rep)], &pos[strlen(find)], strlen(pos)-strlen(find));
printf("%s\n", ret);
free(*src);
*src = ret;
}
int main() {
char *str = NULL;
str = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * (strlen(STR)+1));
assert(str);
strcpy(str, STR);
printf("before: %s\n", str);
replace(&str, "James", "John");
printf("after: %s\n", str);
free(str);
return 0;
}
This code in not optimized.

simple strcat implementation with pointers

so I was practicing writing c code with pointers using the K&R. For one problem with strcat function, I couldn't find out what was wrong with my code, which according to Visual Studio, returned the destination string unchanged after the strcat function. Any suggestion is appreciated!
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
int strcat(char* s, char* t);
int main(void)
{
char *s="hello ", *t="world";
strcat(s,t);
printf("%s",s);
return 0;
}
int strcat(char* s,char* t)
{
int i;
i=strlen(s)+strlen(t);
s=(char*) malloc(i);
while(*s!='\0')
s++;
while('\0'!=(*s++=*t++))
;
return 0;
}
I'm pretty sure that strcat returns a char* in the real implementation (holding the original value of the first string).
strcat is not supposed to alter the first parameter's address, so you shouldn't call malloc.
Point #2 means that you need to declare char *s as char s[20] in main (where 20 is some arbitrary number big enough to hold the whole string).
If you really want to alter the value of the an input parameter you will need to pass the address of the value - so it would need to be strcat(char **s, ...) in the function declaration/definition, and called with strcat(&s, ...) in main.
1) defining string in this way
char *s="hello "
means that you are defined a literal string. a literal string is saved into read only memory so you can not edit it
you have to define your string as a char array in order to be able to edit it
char s[100] = "hello ";
2) when you define your function in this way
int strcat(char* s,char* t)
you can not change the address of s into the function strcat(). So assigning memory with malloc() into the function will not change the s address when leaving the function
3) change your function strcat to
int strcat(char** s,char* t)
{
int i;
char *u, *v;
i=strlen(*s)+strlen(t);
v = *s;
u=(char*) malloc(i+1);
while(*v!='\0')
*u++ = *v++;
while('\0'!=(*u++=*t++));
*s = u;
return 0;
}
and you call it in the main with:
char *s="hello ", *t="world";
strcat(&s,t);
In
strcat(char* s, char* t)
the 's' is send by value. The value of 's' at call time is copied into the stack then strcat() is call. At the return of strcat the modified version is discard from the stack. So the calling value of 's' is never changed (and you create a memory leak).
Beward, in C every memory cell can be change, even parameters or instructions sections; some changes can be very hard to understand.
Since you are trying to do like the real strcat it's said that the first parameter
The string s1 must have sufficient space to hold the result.
so you don't need to use malloc
char *strcat(char* s, const char* t);
int main(void)
{
char s[15] = {0}; //
char *t = "world"; //const char * so you can't change it
strcpy(s, "Hello ");
strcat(s,t);
printf("%s\n",s);
return (0);
}
char *strcat(char* s, const char* t)
{
int i = 0;
while (s[i] != '\0')
i++;
while (*t != '\0')
s[i++] = *t++;
s[i] = '\0'; //useless because already initialized with 0
return (s);
}
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#define LIMIT 100
void strcatt(char*,char*);
main()
{
int i=0;
char s[LIMIT];
char t[LIMIT];
strcpy(s,"hello");
strcpy(t,"world");
strcatt(s,t);
printf("%s",s);
getch();
}
void strcatt(char *s,char *t)
{
while(*s!='\0')
{
s++;
}
*s=' ';
++s;
while(*t!='\0')
{
*s=*t;
s++;
t++;
}
*s=*t;
}
Dear user,
you don't have to complicate things that much. The simpliest code for strcat, using pointers:
void strcat(char *s, char *t) {
while(*s++); /*This will point after the '\0' */
--s; /*So we decrement the pointer to point to '\0' */
while(*s++ = *t++); /*This will copy the '\0' from *t also */
}
Although, this won't give you report about the concatenation's success.
Look at this main() part for the rest of the answer:
int main() {
char s[60] = "Hello ";
char *t = "world!";
strcat(s, t);
printf("%s\n", s);
return 0;
}
The s[60] part is very important, because you can't concatenate an another string to it's end if it doesn't have enough space for that.

C replace char in char array

Folks, need to search through a character array and replace any occurrence of '+','/',or'=' with '%2B','%2F', and '%2F' respectively
base64output variable looks like
FtCPpza+Z0FASDFvfgtoCZg5zRI=
code
char *signature = replace_char(base64output, "+", "%2B");
signature = replace_char(signature, "/", "%2F");
signature = replace_char(signature, "=", "%3B");
char replace_char (char *s, char find, char replace) {
while (*s != 0) {
if (*s == find)
*s = replace;
s++;
}
return s;
}
(Errors out with)
s.c:266: warning: initialization makes pointer from integer without a cast
What am i doing wrong? Thanks!
If the issue is that you have garbage in your signature variable:
void replace_char(...) is incompatible with signature = replace_char(...)
Edit:
Oh I didn't see... This is not going to work since you're trying to replace a char by an array of chars with no memory allocation whatsoever.
You need to allocate a new memory chunk (malloc) big enough to hold the new string, then copy the source 's' to the destination, replacing 'c' by 'replace' when needed.
The prototype should be:
char *replace_char(char *s, char c, char *replace);
1.
for char use '' single quotes
for char* use "" double quotes
2.
The function does include the return keyword, therefore it does not return what you'd expect
3.
These webpages have examples on string replacement
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstring/strstr/
What is the function to replace string in C?
You could go for some length discussing various ways to do this.
Replacing a single char is simple - loop through, if match, replace old with new, etc.
The problem here is that the length of the "new" part is longer than the length of the old one.
One way would be to determine the length of the new string (by counting chars), and either (1) try to do it in place, or (2) allocate a new string.
Here's an idea for #1:
int replace(char *buffer, size_t size, char old, const char *newstring)
{
size_t newlen = strlen(newstring);
char *p, *q;
size_t targetlen = 0;
// First get the final length
//
p = buffer;
while (*p)
{
if (*p == old)
targetlen += newlen;
else
targetlen++;
++p;
}
// Account for null terminator
//
targetlen++;
// Make sure there's enough space
//
if (targetlen > size)
return -1;
// Now we copy characters. We'll start at the end and
// work our way backwards.
//
p = buffer + strlen(buffer);
q = buffer + targetlen;
while (targetlen)
{
if (*p == old)
{
q -= newlen;
memcpy(q, newstring, newlen);
targetlen -= newlen;
--p;
}
else
{
*--q = *p--;
--targetlen;
}
}
return 0;
}
Then you could use it this way (here's a quick test I did):
char buf[4096] = "hello world";
if (replace(buf, sizeof(buf), 'o', "oooo"))
{
fprintf(stderr, "Not enough space\n");
}
else
{
puts(buf);
}
your replace_char signature returns void
void replace_char (char *s, char find, char replace)
But, when the linker tries to resolve the following
signature = replace_char(signature, "=", '%3B');
It doesn't find any function that's called replace_char and returns int (int is the default if there's no prototype).
Change the replace_char function prototype to match the statement.
EDIT:
The warning states that your function returns char, but you use it as a char *
also, your function doesn't return anything, do you need to return something ?
It looks like you don't really understand the code that you're working with.
Fixing errors and warnings without understanding exactly what you need to do is worthless..
fix like this
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
char *replace_char (char *str, char find, char *replace) {
char *ret=str;
char *wk, *s;
wk = s = strdup(str);
while (*s != 0) {
if (*s == find){
while(*replace)
*str++ = *replace++;
++s;
} else
*str++ = *s++;
}
*str = '\0';
free(wk);
return ret;
}
int main(void){
char base64output[4096] = "FtCPpza+Z0FASDFvfgtoCZg5zRI=";
char *signature = replace_char(base64output, '+', "%2B");
signature = replace_char(signature, '/', "%2F");
signature = replace_char(signature, '=', "%3B");
printf("%s\n", base64output);
return 0;
}
below is a code that ACTUALLY WORKS !!!!
Ammar Hourani
char * replace_char(char * input, char find, char replace)
{
char * output = (char*)malloc(strlen(input));
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(input); i++)
{
if (input[i] == find) output[i] = replace;
else output[i] = input[i];
}
output[strlen(input)] = '\0';
return output;
}

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