Strings

Programming Fundamentals using C

Objectives
After studying this section, you should be able to:

The way is used to store a string of characters in C.

How to declare/initialize a string in C?

How to access a character in a string?

What are operations on strings
• Input/output (stdio.h)
• Some common used functions in the library string.h

How to manage an array of strings?
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Contents

Null-String/C-String

Declare/Initialize a string

Data stored in a string

Output a String

Input a string

May Operators Applied to String?

Other String Functions

Array of Strings
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1. Null-String/ C-String

A string is a group of characters. It is similar to an array of characters.

A NULL byte (value of 0 - escape sequence ‘\0’) is inserted to the end of a
string. It is called NULL-string or C-string.

A string is similar to an array of characters. The difference between them is at
the end of a string, a NULL byte is inserted to locate the last meaningful
element in a string.

If a string with the length n is needed, declare it with the length n+1.

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2. Declare/ Initialize a String


Static strings: stored in data segment or stack segment. Compiler can determine
the location for storing strings.

Example:

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Static Strings: Example

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2. Declare/ Initialize a String (cont.)


Dynamic strings: Stored in the heap

Syntax:

char *str = (char *)malloc(length * sizeof(char));

or:
char *str = (char *)calloc(length, sizeof(char));


Note: Using malloc(…) and calloc(…) funtions in <stdlib.h>

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Dynamic Strings: Example

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3. Data Stored in a strings


Each character in a string is stored as it’s ASCII code.

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4. Output Strings
Formatted Output:

printf() library functions support the %s conversion specifier for character string
output

printf() displays all of the characters from the address provided up to but
excluding the null terminator byte. For example:

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Formatted Output (cont.)

Qualifiers

Qualifiers on the %s specifier add detail control:
• %20s displays a string right-justified in a field of 20
• %-20s displays a string left-justified in a field of 20
• %20.10s displays the first 10 characters of a string right-justified in a field of 20
• %-20.10s displays the first 10 characters of a string left-justified in a field of 20

For Example:

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4. Output Strings (cont.)

Unformatted Output:

puts() library function outputs a character string to the standard

Prototype:
int puts(const char *);

Example:

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5. Input Strings: Using scanf(…) function


The scanf() library function support conversion specifiers particularly
designed for character string input. These specifiers are:
• %s - whitespace delimited set.
• %[ ] - rule delimited set

The corresponding argument for these specifiers is the address of the string
to be populated from the input stream. For example:

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scanf(…): %s conversion specifier

%s conversion specifier:

Reads all characters until the first whitespace character

Stores the characters read in the char array identified by the corresponding
argument

Stores the null terminator in the char array after accepting the last character

Leaves the delimiting whitespace character and any subsequent characters in
the input buffer

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scanf(…): %s conversion specifier (cont.)


Example 1:


The scanf() function will stop accepting input after the character ‘y’ and stores:


The characters ' name is Arnold' remain in the input buffer.

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scanf(…): %s conversion specifier (cont.)


Example 2:


The scanf() function will stop accepting input after the character ‘n’ and stores:


The characters ' name is Arnold' remain in the input buffer.

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scanf(…): %[^\n] conversion specifier

How to accept blanks in a input string?


%[^\n] conversion specifier:
• Reads all characters until the newline ('\n’)

• Stores the characters read in memory locations starting with the address
passed to scanf
• Stores the null byte in the byte following that where scanf stored the last
character
• Leaves the delimiting character (here, '\n') in the input buffer

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%[^\n] conversion specifier: Example


Example 1:


Example 2:

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Exercise 1: Input Strings


Compile & Run program

Explain the results of two test cases

Replace and Re-run:
scanf(“%s”, S) scanf(“%10[^\n]”, S)

Why?

Test case 1 Test case 2

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scanf(…) - cont.

Some character specifiers used in the function scanf(): Set of character are
or not accepted.

Specifier Description

%[abcd] Searches the input field for any of the characters a, b, c, and d
%[^abcd] Searches the input field for any characters except a, b, c, and d
%[0-9] To catch all decimal digits
%[A-Z] Catches all uppercase letters
%[0-9A-Za-z] Catches all decimal digits and all letters
%[A-FT-Z] Catches all uppercase letters from A to F and from T to Z

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5. Input Strings: Using gets(…) function


gets is a standard library function (stdio.h) that:
• Accepts an empty string
• Uses the '\n' as the delimiter
• Throws away the delimiter after accepting the string
• Automatically appends the null byte to the end of the set stored.

The prototype for gets is:
char* gets(char [ ]);

Warning: gets is unsafe. Because it does not check the size of the buffer and
can lead to buffer overflows.

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gets(…) function: Example

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Exercise 2: Input Strings


Using the hints below, write a program that takes in a string of characters and
prints it out.

Hint:

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6. May Operators Applied to String?


C operators act on primitive data type only (char, int, float, …)

Can not be applied to static arrays and static strings.


Example:
We need functions for processing
arrays and string

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String Functions: string.h

Common Funtions Description
strlen() Get the length of a string
strcpy() Copy source string to destination string
strcmp() Compare two strings
strcat() Concatenate string src to the end of dest
strupr() Convert a string to uppercase
strlwr() Convert a string to lowercase
strstr() Find the address of a substring
strtok() Breaks string str into a series of tokens separated by delim

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strlen() function

The strlen() function calculates the length of a given string. It doesn’t count
the null character ‘\0’.

Syntax: int strlen(const char *str);


Example:

Output:

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strcpy() function

The strcpy() is a function used to copy one string to another

Syntax: char* strcpy(char* dest, const char* src);

Example:

Output:

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strcmp() function

This function lexicographically compares the first n characters from the two
null-terminated strings and returns an integer based on the outcome.

Syntax: int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2);


Example:
Output:

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strcat() function

The strcat() function is used for string concatenation. It will append a copy of
the source string to the end of the destination string.

Syntax: char* strcat(char* dest, const char* src);


Example: Output:

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strupr() function

The strupr() function is used to converts a given string to uppercase.

Syntax: char *strupr(char *str);

Example:
Output:

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strlwr() function

The strlwr() function is used to converts a given string to lowercase.

Syntax: char *strlwr(char *str);

Example:
Output:

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strstr() function

The strstr() function is used to search the first occurrence of a substring in
another string.

Syntax: char *strstr (const char *s1, const char *s2);

Example:

Output:

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strtok() function

The strtok() function is used to split the string into small tokens based on a
set of delimiter characters.

Syntax: char * strtok(char* str, const char *delims);

Example:
Output:

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Exercise 3: Using built-in function (string.h)

Write a program that:

Prompts the user to input two strings.

Compares the two strings and displays whether they are equal or which one
is lexicographically greater.

Concatenates the two strings and displays the result.

Calculates and displays the length of the concatenated string.

Searches for a specific character (input by the user) in the concatenated
string and displays its position (or indicates if it’s not found).

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7. Some User-Defined String Functions

Purpose Prototype

Trim blanks at the beginning of a string:

char* lTrim(char s[])
“ Hello” “Hello”

Trim blanks at the end of a string:

char* rTrim(char s[])
“Hello ” “Hello”

Trim extra blanks ins a string:

char* trim (char s[])
“ I am student ” “I am a student”

Convert a string to a name:

char* nameStr( char s[])
“ hoang thi hoa ” “Hoang Thi Hoa”

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lTrim() user-defined string function

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rTrim() user-defined string function

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trim() user-defined string function

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nameStr() user-defined string function

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Exercise 4:
Suppose that only the blank character is used to separate words in a sentence.
Implement a function for counting number of words in a sentence.

T n u n a n u n o n g t

i 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

count 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Counting words in a Criteria for increasing count:

string - s[i] is not a blank and (i==0 or s[i-1] is a
blank)
Do Yourself

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Exercise 5:

Counting integers in a string

1 2 n u a 7 n a 9 d f 1 2 3 4 5 9 P 7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
i 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

count 0 1 2 3 4 5

Criteria for increasing count:

- s[i] is a digit and (i==0 or s[i-1] is not a
Do Yourself digit)

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Exercise 6: Do Yourself

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8. Array of Strings

A string array declaration takes the form

char identifier [numberOfString][number_byte_per_string];


For example, to declare an array of 5 names, where each name holds up to
30 characters, we write:
char names[5][31];
or:
char names[5][31] = { "Harry", "Jean", "Jessica", "Irene", "Jim" };

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Array of Strings (cont.)


Example:
Output:

Initialization

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Array of Strings: Parameter in a function


Example: Parameter is a Array of
String

Output:

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Exercise 7:

Write a C program that will accept 10 names, print out the list, sort the list
using ascending order, print out the result.

Students complete this exercise based
on the code design prototype below.

Hint:

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Exercise 7: Sample output

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Summary

String in C is terminated by the NULL character (‘\0’)

A string is similar to an array of characters.

All input functions for string will automatically add the NULL character after
the content of the string.

Using the functions on arrays, strings are implemented to operate on arrays
and strings.

If dynamic arrays or strings (using pointers), the assignment can be used on
these pointers.
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Summary

String Input
• scanf; gets

• Do yourself using getchar()


String Functions and Arrays of Strings
• Functions: strlen(), strcpy(), strcmp(), strcat(), strupr(), strlwr(), strstr(), strtok()


Arrays of Strings
• Input and Output

• Passing to Functions

• Sorting an Array of Names

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