Strings

Outline

Strings
Representation in C
String Literals
String Variables
String Input/Output
printf, scanf, gets, fgets, puts, fputs
String Functions
strlen, strcpy, strncpy, strcmp, strncmp, strcat, strncat,
strchr, strrchr, strstr, strspn, strcspn, strtok
Reading from/Printing to Strings
sprintf, sscanf
 Strings in C

• No explicit type, instead

strings are maintained as
arrays of characters
• Representing strings in C
 stored in arrays of characters
 array can be of any length
 end of string is indicated by a
delimiter, the zero character
'\0'
 String Literals
• String literal values are represented by
sequences of characters between double
quotes )
• Examples
 "hello"
 "" - empty string
• "H" versus 'H'
 'H' is a single character value (stored in 1 byte)
as the ASCII value for H (72)
 "H" is an array with two characters, the first is
H, the second is the character value \0
String Literals
String Literals
String Literals
 Referring to String Literals
• String literal is an array, can refer to a
single character from the literal as a
character
• Example:
printf("%c","hello"[1]);
outputs the character 'e'
• During compilation, C creates space for
each string literal (# of characters in the
literal + 1)
 referring to the literal refers to that space (as if
it is an array)
 String Variables
• Allocate an array of a size large enough to
hold the string (plus 1 extra value for the
delimiter)
• Examples (with initialization):
char str1[6] = "Hello";
char str2[ ] = "Hello";
char str3[20] = "Hello";
char *str4 = "Hello";
char str5[6] = {'H','e','l','l','o','\0'};
• Note, each variable is considered a
constant in that the space it is connected
to cannot be changed (except str4)
str1 = str2; /* not allowed, but we can copy the
contents of str2 to str1 (more later) */
 Duplicate String Literals
• Each string literal in a C program is stored
at a different location
• So even if the string literals contain the
same string, they are not equal (in the ==
sense)
• Example:
 char str1[6] = "hello";
 char str2[6] = "hello";
 but str1 does not equal str2 (they are stored at
different locations)
 if(str1 == str2) … is FALSE
Changing content of String Variables
• Can change parts of a string variable
char str1[6] = "hello";
str1[0] = 'y';
/* str1 is now "yello" */
str1[4] = '\0';
/* str1 is now "yell" */
• Important to retain delimiter (replacing
str1[5] in the original string with something
other than '\0' makes a string that does not
end)
• Have to stay within limits of array
 String Input
• Use %s field specification in scanf to read
string
 ignores leading white space
 reads characters until next white space encountered
 C stores null (\0) char after last non-white space char
 Reads into array (no & before name, array is a pointer)
• Example:
char Name[11];
scanf("%s", Name);
• Problem: no limit on number of characters
read (need one for delimiter), if too many
characters for array, problems may occur
 String Input (cont)
• Can use the width value in the field
specification to limit the number of
characters read:
char Name[11];
scanf("%10s",Name);
• Remember, you need one space for the \0
 width should be one less than size of array
• Strings shorter than the field specification
are read normally, but C always stops after
reading 10 characters
 String Input (cont)
• scanf with %[^ListofNonAllowableChars]
 ListofNonAllowableChars specifies set of
characters that are not allowed (called non scan
set)
 Characters read as long as character does not
fall in set
 Stops when first non scan set character
encountered
 Any character may be specified except ]
• Examples:
scanf("%[^\n]",Line); /* read until newline char */
 String Input (cont)

• scanf with limit and read until enter

scanf("%10[^\n]",Line); /* read until newline char
or 10 characters if newline is not encountered
within 10 chars */
 If you want any other character input after the
string input then you have to flush the rest of
the input first like below:

scanf("%10[^\n]%*[^\n]",s);
scanf("%*c%c",&c);
 String Output
• Use %s field specification in printf:
characters in string printed until \0 encountered
char Name[10] = "Rich";
printf("%s",Name); /* outputs Rich */
• Can use width value to print string in
space:
printf("%10s",Name); /* outputs Rich */
• Use - flag to left justify:
printf("%-10s",Name); /* outputs Rich */

To print first 3 characters

printf("%.3s", Name); // output: Ric
 Input a String
• gets
 Get a string from user input
 reads until enter is pressed

main(){
char c[80];
gets(c);
printf("%s\n", c);
}
____________________________________
Input: TODAY IS MONDAY
Output: TODAY IS MONDAY
 Input a String
• fgets
 Get a string from user input
 reads until enter is pressed or limit is reached

#include <stdio.h>
main(){
char c[80];
fgets(c,79,stdin);
printf("%s\n", c);
}
____________________________________
Input: TODAY IS MONDAY
Output: TODAY IS MONDAY
Determining length of a string
• strlen
 Returns the number of characters in "Saturday"
int length = strlen("Saturday");

//answer is 8
Write down a program that
will print n-th letter in a
sentence entered by a user.
n will be input to your
program
 Solution
main()
{
char s[80];
int n, length;
printf("Enter a Sentence:");
gets(s); // or fgets(s,79,stdin);
length = strlen(s);
printf("Total char in sentence is:%d\n", length);
printf("Which position?");
scanf("%d",&n);
if(n < length)
printf("The letter is: %c", s[n]);
else
printf("No letter at such position");
}
Write down a program that
will print letters of a
sentence in a vertical line.
Add delay as needed.
 Solution
#include <windows.h>
main()
{
char s[80];
int n,length,i;
printf("Enter a Sentence:");
gets(s);
length = strlen(s);
for(i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
printf(" %c\n",s[i]);
Sleep(500);
}

}
• Example:
 char str1[6] = "hello";
 char str2[6] = "hello";
 if(str1 == str2) … does not evaluate to be TRUE

Write down a function that

compares two strings and
returns 1 if they are same and
returns 0 otherwise
 #include<string.h>

int main()
{ int flag=0;
Solution char str1[20];
char str2[20] ;
scanf("%[^\n]",str1);
getchar();
scanf("%[^\n]",str2);
int size1,size2;
int samestring(char s1[ ], char s2[ ]) {
size1=strlen(str1);
size2=strlen(str2);
int i; if (size1!=size2){printf("not equal\n");
return 0 ;
}
/* Not same if not of same length */else {for (int i=0;i<size1;i++)
if (str1[i]!=str2[i]) {printf("not equal\n");
if (strlen(s1) != strlen(s2)) flag=1;
return 0; break;
}
/* look at each character in turn */
}
for (i = 0; i < strlen(s1); i++) if (flag==0) {printf("equal");}
return 0;
/* if a character differs, string
} not same */
if (s1[i] != s2[i]) return 0;
return 1;
}
Write down a program that
searches for a letter in a
sentence. Both letter and
sentence will be input to
your program. Print last
position of the letter found
in the sentence.
 #include <stdio.h>
Solution #include<string.h>

int main()
main() { int flag=0;
int pos;
{ char ch;
char str[1000] ;
char s[80],t; scanf("%[^\n]", str);
getchar();
int n,l,i,p; scanf("%c", & ch);
int size;
printf("Enter a Sentence:"); size =strlen(str);
gets(s); for (int i=0;i<size;i++)
{if (str[i]==ch) {pos=i;
printf("Which letter? "); }}
flag=1;

scanf("%c",&t); if (flag==0) {printf("not found");

return 0;
length = strlen(s); }
printf("position is %d", pos);
p = -1; }

for(i = 0; i < length; i++)

if(s[i] == t)
p = i;
if(p == -1) printf("Sorry not found");
else printf("Found at position: %d", p);
}
Write down a program that
prints how many times a
letter appeared in a
sentence. Both letter and
sentence will be input to
your program.
 Solution
main()
{
char s[80],t;
int n,l,i,count;
printf("Enter a Sentence:");
gets(s);
printf("Which letter? ");
scanf("%c",&t);
length = strlen(s);
count = 0;
for(i = 0; i < length; i++)
if(s[i] == t)
count++;
if(count == 0) printf("Sorry not found");
else printf("Found %d times", count);
}
Write down a program that
searches for a word in a
sentence. Both word and
sentence will be input to
your program. Print first
position of the word found
in the sentence.
 Solution
main()
{ char s[80],t[80];
int i,p;
printf("Enter a Sentence:"); #include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
gets(s); int main() {
printf("Which word? "); char str[200];
gets(t); char w[200] ;
gets(str);
p = -1; gets(w);
for(i = 0; i < strlen(s); i++) int p=-1;
if(s[i] == t[0]){ int i,j ;
for(j = 1; j < strlen(t); j++) for ( i=0;i<strlen(str);i++)
{
if(s[i+j] != t[j]) if (str[i]==w[0]) {
break; for ( j=1;j<strlen(w);j++)
if(j == strlen(t)){ {
if (str[i+j]!=w[j]){break;}
p = i; }
break; if (j==strlen(w)){p=i;
} break; }
} }
}
if(p == -1) printf("Sorry not found"); if (p==-1){printf("not found");}
else printf("Found at position: %d", p); else printf("position is %d", p);
} }
Write down a program that
prints how many words,
letters, vowels and
consonants exist in a
sentence. The sentence will
be input to your program.
main(){
Solution
char s[80],t;
#include <stdio.h>
int w, v, c, l, i,length; #include<string.h>
printf("Enter a Sentence:"); #include<ctype.h>
int main()
gets(s); { char str[1000];
length = strlen(s); fgets(str,1000,stdin);

w = v = c = 0; int v=0 ;
char t;
for(i = 0; i < length; i++){ int w=0 ;
t = tolower(s[i]); int c=0 ;
int l=0 ;
if(t == ' ') w++; int size;
size=strlen(str);
else if ((t == 'a') || (t == 'e') ||
for (int i=0;i<size;i++)
(t == 'i') || (t == 'o') || (t == 'u'))
{ t=tolower(str[i]);
if (t==' '){w++; }
v++; else if (t>='a' && t<='z'){
else c++; if (t=='a' ||t=='e' ||t=='i' ||t=='o' ||t=='u') {v++; }
else {c++; }
} }
}
printf("Number of words: %d \n",w+1);
printf("Words are %d\n",w+1);
printf("Number of letters: %d \n",v+c);
printf("Vowels are %d\n",v);
printf("Consonants are %d\n",c);
printf("Number of vowels: %d \n",v);
printf("Letters are %d\n",v+c);
printf("Number of consonants: %d} \n",c);
}
 Write down a program that
will take a word as input and
will determine whether the
word is palindrome or not. A
palindrome is a word that
reads the same backward as
forward
 Solution
main(){

char s[80],t[80];
int length, i, j;
gets(s);
length = strlen(s);
j = 0;
for(i = length-1; i >= 0; i--){
t[j] = s[i];
j++;
}
for(i = 0; i < length; i++){
if(s[i] != t[i]){
break;
}
}
if(i == length)
printf("Palindrome");
else
printf("No");
}
 Solution (in-place check i.e. without
using any extra array)

main(){ #include <stdio.h>

#include<string.h>
char s[80]; #include<ctype.h>
int length, i, j; int main()
gets(s); { int flag=0;
length = strlen(s); char str[1000] ;
j = length-1;
for(i = 0; i < j; i++,j--){ scanf("%[^\n]",str);
if(s[i] != s[j]){ getchar();
break;
int size;
}
size=strlen(str);
}
if(i == j)
for (int i=0;i<size/2;i++)
printf("Palindrome"); {if (str[i]!=str[size-1-i]){flag=1;
else break;
printf("No"); }}
} if (flag==1) {printf("not a palindrome");}
if (flag==0) {printf("palindrome");}
}
 Strings input output

• gets(s) – take a string as input and place it in array s

• puts(s) – show the content of the string s

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s[30];
printf("Please enter a sentence: ");
gets(s);
puts("You have entered: ");
puts(s);
return 0;
}
Strings initialization at the time of
declartion

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s[80]="To be or not to be that is the question";
puts(s);
return 0;
}
 C offers following major library
functions on strings
• strlen(s) – return the length of a string s
• strlwr(s)– convert the string s in lower case
• strupr(s) – convert the string s in upper case
• strrev(s) – reverse the content of the string s
• strcpy(s, t) – copy string t into another string s
• strncpy(s, t, n) - copy n characters of string t into another
string s
• strcat(s, t) – append string t into the right side of the
string s
• strncat(s, t, n) - append n characters of the string t onto
the right side of the string s
• strcmp(s, t) – compare alphabetic order of two strings s
and t
For detailed implementation see:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming
/String_manipulation
strlen(s) – returns the length of a string s
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main( ) {
char str[20] = "BeginnersBook";
int length;
length = strlen(str);
printf("Length of the string is : %d", length);
return 0;
}

Output:

Length of the string is: 13

strlwr(s)– convert the string s in lower case
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main( ) {
char str[20] = "BeginnersBook";
strlwr(str);
printf("%s",str);
return 0;
}

Output:

beginnersbook
strupr(s)– convert the string s in upper case
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main( ) {
char str[20] = "BeginnersBook";
strupr(str);
printf("%s",str);
return 0;
}

Output:

BEGINNERSBOOK
strrev(s) – reverse the content of the string s
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main( ) {
char str[20] = "DRAWER";
strrev(str);
printf("%s",str);
return 0;
}

Output:

REWARD
strcpy(s, t) – copy string t into another string s
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Bad";
char s2[30] = "Good";
strcpy(s1, s2);
printf("%s",s1);
return 0;
}

Output:

Good
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Bad";
char s2[30] = "Good";
strcpy(s2, s1);
printf("%s",s2);
return 0;
}

Output:

Bad
strncpy(s, t, n) - copy n characters of
string t into another string s.
Fills with null character if t
doesn’t have n characters
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Coastal";
char s2[30] = "Cry";
strncpy(s1, s2,3);
printf("%s",s1);
return 0;
}

Output:

Crystal
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Coastal";
char s2[30] = "Cry";
strncpy(s1, s2,4);
printf("%s",s1);
return 0;
}

Output:

Cry
strcat(s, t) – append string t into the right side of
the string s
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Hello ";
char s2[30] = "World";
strcat(s1, s2);
printf("%s",s1);
return 0;
}

Output:

Hello World
strncat(s, t, n) - append n characters of the
string t onto the right side of the string s
 Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "";
char s2[30] ="Happy ";
strncat(s1, s2, 6);
printf("%s",s1);
return 0;
}

Output:

Happy
LITTLE QUIZ FOR YOU
 Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[30] = "Happy ";
char s2[30] = "New Year!";
char s3[30] = "";
strcat(s1, s2); s1 = "Happy New Year!"
strncat(s3, s1,6); s3 = "Happy "
strcat(s3, s1); s3 = "Happy Happy New Year!"
printf("%s",s3);
return 0;
}
Output:

Happy Happy New Year!

strcmp(s, t) – compare alphabetic order of two strings s and t
 strcmp
• strcmp(s, t)

• Compares s and t alphabetically

• Returns a negative value if s precedes t
alphabetically
• Returns a positive value if t precedes s
alphabetically
• Returns 0 if they are same
• Note lowercase characters are greater than
Uppercase
 Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[ ] = "cat";
char s2[] = "cat";
char s3[] = "dog";
int x = strcmp(s1, s2);
if(x == 0)
printf("They are same") ;
else if (x < 0)
printf("s1 comes before s2") ;
else if (x > 0)
printf("s1 comes after s2") ;
return 0;
}

Output:

They are same

 Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[ ] = "cat";
char s2[] = "cat";
char s3[] = "dog";
int x = strcmp(s1, s3);
if(x == 0)
printf("They are same") ;
else if (x < 0)
printf("s1 comes before s3") ;
else if (x > 0)
printf("s1 comes after s3") ;
return 0;
}
Output:

s1 comes before s3
strcmpi(s, t) – compare alphabetic order of two strings s and t
ignoring case
 Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[ ] = "cat";
char s2[] = “Cat";
char s3[] = "dog";
int x = strcmp(s1, s2) ;
if(x == 0)
printf("They are same") ;
else if (x< 0)
printf("s1 comes before s2") ;
else if (x > 0)
printf("s1 comes after s2") ;
return 0;
}
Output:

s1 comes after s2
 Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s1[ ] = "cat";
char s2[] = “Cat";
char s3[] = "dog";
int x = strcmpi(s1, s2);
if(x == 0)
printf("They are same") ;
else if (x < 0)
printf("s1 comes before s2") ;
else if (x > 0)
printf("s1 comes after s2") ;
return 0;
}
Output:

They are same

Program: Palindrome testing
 Example: Palindrome testing
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main() {
char s[80]="madam";
char t[80];

gets(s);
strcpy(t,s);
strrev(t);
if(strcmpi(s,t) == 0)
printf("\"%s\" is a palindrom", s);
else
printf("\"%s\" is NOT a palindrom", s);
return 0;
}
Questions?