C Programming

10/24/13
C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
CProgramming/Printversion
CProgramming
Thecurrent,editableversionofthisbookisavailableinWikibooks,theopencontenttextbookscollection,at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming
Permissionisgrantedtocopy,distribute,and/ormodifythisdocumentunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlike3.0License.
WhylearnC?
Cisthemostcommonlyusedprogramminglanguageforwritingoperatingsystems.UnixwasthefirstoperatingsystemwritteninC.LaterMicrosoftWindows,MacOSX,andGNU/LinuxwereallwritteninC.NotonlyisCthelanguageofoperating systems,itistheprecursorandinspirationforalmostallofthemostpopularhighlevellanguagesavailabletoday.Infact,Perl,PHP,andPythonareallwritteninC. Bywayofanalogy,let'ssaythatyouweregoingtobelearningSpanish,Italian,French,orPortuguese.DoyouthinkknowingLatinwouldbehelpful?JustasLatinwasthebasisofallofthoselanguages,knowingCwillenableyoutounderstandand appreciateanentirefamilyofprogramminglanguagesbuiltuponthetraditionsofC.KnowledgeofCenablesfreedom.
WhyC,andnotassemblylanguage?
Whileassemblylanguagecanprovidespeedandmaximumcontroloftheprogram,Cprovidesportability. DifferentprocessorsareprogrammedusingdifferentAssemblylanguagesandhavingtochooseandlearnonlyoneofthemistooarbitrary.Infact,oneofthemainstrengthsofCisthatitcombinesuniversalityandportabilityacrossvariouscomputer architectureswhileretainingmostofthecontrolofthehardwareprovidedbyassemblylanguage. Forexample,CprogramscanbecompiledandrunontheHP50gcalculator(ARMprocessor),theTI89calculator(68000processor),PalmOSCobaltsmartphones(ARMprocessor),theoriginaliMac(PowerPC),theArduino(AtmelAVR),andtheIntel iMac(IntelCore2Duo).Eachofthesedeviceshasitsownassemblylanguagethatiscompletelyincompatiblewiththeassemblylanguageofanyother. Assembly,whileextremelypowerful,issimplytoodifficulttoprogramlargeapplicationsandhardtoreadorinterpretinalogicalway.Cisacompiledlanguage,whichcreatesfastandefficientexecutablefiles.Itisalsoasmall"whatyouseeisallyou get"language:aCstatementcorrespondstoatmostahandfulofassemblystatements,everythingelseisprovidedbylibraryfunctions. SoisitanywonderthatCissuchapopularlanguage? Liketopplingdominoes,thenextgenerationofprogramsfollowsthetrendofitsancestors.OperatingsystemsdesignedinCalwayshavesystemlibrariesdesignedinC.Thosesystemlibrariesareinturnusedtocreatehigherlevellibraries(likeOpenGL, orGTK),andthedesignersofthoselibrariesoftendecidetousethelanguagethesystemlibrariesused.Applicationdevelopersusethehigherlevellibrariestodesignwordprocessors,games,mediaplayersandthelike.Manyofthemwillchooseto programinthelanguagethatthehigherlevellibraryuses.Andthepatterncontinuesonandonandon......
WhyC,andnotanotherlanguage?
TheprimarydesignofCistoproduceportablecodewhilemaintainingperformanceandminimizingfootprint,asisthecaseforoperatingsystemsorotherprogramswherea"highlevel"interfacewouldaffectperformance.Itisastableandmature languagewhosefeaturesareunlikelytodisappearforalongtimeandhasbeenportedtomost,ifnotall,platforms. Forexample,CprogramscanbecompiledandrunontheHP50gcalculator(ARMprocessor),theTI89calculator(68000processor),PalmOSCobaltsmartphones(ARMprocessor),theoriginaliMac(PowerPC),theArduino(AtmelAVR),andtheIntel iMac(IntelCore2Duo).Whilenearlyallpopularprogramminglanguageswillrunonatleastoneofthesedevices,Cmaybetheonlyprogramminglanguagethatrunsonmorethan3ofthesedevices. Onepowerfulreasonismemoryallocation.Unlikemostcomputerlanguages,Callowstheprogrammertowritedirectlytomemory.KeyconstructsinCsuchasstructs,pointersandarraysaredesignedtostructure,andmanipulatememoryinanefficient, machineindependentfashion.Inparticular,Cgivescontroloverthememorylayoutofdatastructures.Moreoverdynamicmemoryallocationisunderthecontroloftheprogrammer,whichinevitablymeansthatmemorydeallocationistheburdenofthe programmer.LanguageslikeJavaandPerlshieldtheprogrammerfromhavingtoworryaboutmemoryallocationandpointers.Thisisusuallyagoodthing,sincedealingwithmemoryallocationwhenbuildingahighlevelprogramisahighlyerrorprone process.However,whendealingwithlowlevelcodesuchasthepartoftheOSthatcontrolsadevice,Cprovidesauniform,cleaninterface.ThesecapabilitiesjustdonotexistinotherlanguagessuchasJava. WhilePerl,PHP,PythonandRubymaybepowerfulandsupportmanyfeaturesnotprovidedbydefaultinC,theyarenotnormallyimplementedintheirownlanguage.Rather,mostsuchlanguagesinitiallyreliedonbeingwritteninC(oranotherhigh performanceprogramminglanguage),andwouldrequiretheirimplementationbeportedtoanewplatformbeforetheycanbeused. Aswithallprogramminglanguages,whetheryouwanttochooseCoveranotherhighlevellanguageisamatterofopinionandbothtechnicalandbusinessrequirements.
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming/Print_version
1/118
10/24/13
History
Thefieldofcomputingasweknowittodaystartedin1947withthreescientistsatBellTelephoneLaboratoriesWilliamShockley,WalterBrattain,andJohnBardeenandtheirgroundbreakinginvention:thetransistor.In1956,thefirstfullytransistor basedcomputer,theTX0,wascompletedatMIT.Thefirstintegratedcircuitwascreatedin1958byJackKilbyatTexasInstruments,butthefirsthighlevelprogramminglanguageexistedevenbeforethen. "TheFortranproject"wasoriginallydevelopedin1954byIBM.Ashorteningof" TheIBMMathematical Formula TranslatingSystem",theprojecthadthepurposeofcreatingandfosteringdevelopmentofaprocedural,imperativeprogramminglanguage thatwasespeciallysuitedtonumericcomputationandscientificcomputing.Itwasabreakthroughintermsofproductivityandprogrammingease(comparedtoassemblylanguage)andspeed(Fortranprogramsrannearlyasfastas,andinsomecases, justasfastas,programswritteninassembly).Furthermore,Fortranwaswrittenatahighenoughlevel(andthuswasmachineindependentenough)tobecomethefirstwidelyadoptedprogramminglanguage.TheAlgorithmicLanguage(Algol58)was derivedfromFortranin1958andevolvedintoAlgol60in1960.TheCombinedProgrammingLanguage(CPL)wasthencreatedoutofAlgol60in1963.In1967,itevolvedintoBasicCPL,whichwasitself,thebaseforBin1969.Finally,Bwastheroot ofC,createdin1971. BwasthefirstlanguageinC'sdirectlineage.BwascreatedbyKenThompsonatBellLabsandwasaninterpretedlanguageusedinearlyinternalversionsoftheUNIXoperatingsystem.ThompsonandDennisRitchie,alsoworkingatBellLabs, improvedBandcalledtheresultNB.FurtherextensionstoNBcreateditslogicalsuccessor,C,acompiledlanguage.MostofUNIXwasrewritteninNB,andthenC,whichresultedinamoreportableoperatingsystem. TheportabilityofUNIXwasthemainreasonfortheinitialpopularityofbothUNIXandC.Ratherthancreatinganewoperatingsystemforeachnewmachine,systemprogrammerscouldsimplywritethefewsystemdependentpartsrequiredforthe machine,andthenwriteaCcompilerforthenewsystem.SincemostofthesystemutilitieswerethuswritteninC,itsimplymadesensetoalsowritenewutilitiesinC. TheAmericanNationalStandardsInstitutebeganworkonstandardizingtheClanguagein1983,andcompletedthestandardin1989.Thestandard,ANSIX3.1591989"ProgrammingLanguageC",servedasthebasisforallimplementationsofC compilers.Thestandardswerelaterupdatedin1990and1999,allowingforfeaturesthatwereeitherincommonuse,orwereappearinginC++.
Whatyouneedbeforeyoucanlearn
GettingStarted
ThegoalofthisbookistointroduceyoutotheCprogramminglanguage.Basiccomputerliteracyisassumed,butnospecialknowledgeisneeded. BeforeyoucanstartprogramminginC,youwillneeda Ccompiler.AcompilerisaprogramthatconvertsCcodeintoexecutablemachinecode. [1] PopularCcompilersInclude: Name MicrosoftVisual StudioExpress TinyCCompiler (TCC) Clang GNUCCompiler Website VisualStudio(http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en us/products/2010editions/visualcppexpress) tinycc(http://www.tinycc.org) clang(http://clang.llvm.org) gcc(http://gcc.gnu.org) Platform Windows GNU/Linux,Windows GNU/Linux,Windows,Unix,OSX GNU/Linux,MinGW(Windows) (http://mingw.org),Unix,OSX. License FreeVersion LGPL UniversityofIllinois/NCSALicense (http://opensource.org/licenses/UoINCSA.php) GPL Details Powerfulandstudentfriendlyversionofan industrystandardcompiler. Small,fastandsimplecompiler. Afrontendwhichcompiles(Objective)C/C++ usingaLLVMbackend. TheDefactostandard.ShipswithmostUnix systems.
TheminimumsoftwarerequirementstoprograminCisatexteditor,asopposedtoawordprocessor.AplaintextNotepadEditorcanbeusedbutitdoesnotofferanyadvancedcapabilitiessuchascodecompletionordebugging.Therearemanytext editors(seeListofTextEditors),amongthemostpopularareNotepad++forWindows,SublimeText,VimandEmacsarealsoavailablecrossplatform.Thesetexteditorscomewithsyntaxhighlightingandlinenumbers,whichmakescodeeasiertoread ataglance,andtospotsyntaxerrors. Thoughnotabsolutelyneeded,manyprogrammerspreferandrecommendusinganIntegrateddevelopmentenvironment(IDE )insteadofatexteditor.AnIDEisasuiteofprogramsthatdevelopersneed,combinedintooneconvenientpackage,usually withagraphicaluserinterface.Theseprogramsincludeatexteditor,linker,projectmanagementandsometimesbundledwithacompiler.Theyalsotypicallyincludeadebugger,atoolthatwillpreserveyourCsourcecodeaftercompilationandenable youtodosuchthingsasstepthroughitmanually,oralterdataasanaidtofindingandcorrectingprogrammingerrors. ForbeginnersitisrecommendednottouseanIDE,sinceithidesmostofwhatisgoingon.Usingthecommandlinebuildsupfamiliaritywiththetoolchain.AnIDEmaybeusefultosomebodywithprogrammingexperiencebutknowshowtheIDEworks. Soasageneralguideline:DonotuseanIDEunlessyouknowwhattheIDEdoes! PopularIDEsInclude: Name EclipseCDT Netbeans Anjuta Geany LittleCCompiler(LCC) Website Platform License Opensource CDDLandGPL2.0 GPL GPL Details EclipseIDEforC/C++developement,apopularopensourceIDE. AGoodcomparablematuredIDEtoEclipse. AGTK+2IDEfortheGNOMEdesktopenvironment. AlightweightcrossplatformGTK+notepadbasedonScintilla,withbasicIDEfeatures.
Windows,MacOSX, Eclipse(http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipseideccdevelopers/junor) Linux Netbeans(http://netbeans.org) Anjuta(http://anjuta.org) geany(http://www.geany.org) lcc(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lccwin32) Crossplatform Linux Crossplatform Windows
Freefornoncommercial Smallopensourcecompiler. use
2/118
10/24/13
Xcode PellesC DevC++ MicrosoftVisualStudio Express CodeLite Code::Blocks Xcode(https://developer.apple.com/xcode) PellesC(http://smorgasbordet.com/pellesc) DevC++(http://sourceforge.net/projects/orwelldevcpp/)

MacOSX Windows,PocketPC Windows Windows Crossplatform Crossplatform Free Free GPL Free GPL2 GPL3.0 AvailableforfreeatMacAppStore (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835?ls=1&mt=12). AcompleteCdevelopmentkitforWindows. UpdatedversionoftheformerlypopularBloodshedDevC++. Apowerful,userfriendlyversionofanindustrystandardcompiler. FreeIDEforC/C++development. Builttomeetusers'mostdemandingneeds.Veryextensibleandfullyconfigurable.
VisualC++(http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/enus/products/2010 editions/visualcppexpress) CodeLite(http://codelite.org/) Code::Blocks(http://codeblocks.org/)
On GNU/Linux,GCCisalmostalwaysincludedautomatically. On MicrosoftWindows,DevC++isrecommendedforbeginnersbecauseitiseasytouse,free,andsimpletoinstall.However,theofficialreleaseofDevC++hasn'tbeenupdatedsince22February2005. [2]Anunofficial (http://sourceforge.net/projects/orwelldevcpp/)versionofDevC++isbeingactivelydevelopedhowever. [3]AnalternateoptionforthoseworkingonlyintheWindowsenvironmentistheofficialMicrosoftVisualStudioExpresswhichisfreeandhasan excellentdebugger. On MacOSX ,theXcodeIDEprovidesthecompilersneededtocompilevarioussourcefiles.Thenewerversionsdonotnotincludethecommandlinetools.TheyneedtobedownloadedviaXcode>Preferences>Downloads.
Footnotes
1. Actually,GCC's(GNUCCompiler) cc(CCompiler)translatestheinput.cfiletothetargetcpu'sassembly,outputiswrittentoan.sfile.Then as(assembler)generatesamachinecodefilefromthe.sfile.Preprocessingisdonebyanothersub program cpp(CPreProcessor),whichisnottobeconfusedwith c++thecompiler. 2. http://sourceforge.net/news/?group_id=10639 3. http://orwelldevcpp.blogspot.com/
UsingaCompiler
DevC++
DevC++isanIntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment(IDE)fortheC++programminglanguage,availablefromBloodshedSoftware(http://www.bloodshed.net/).AnupdatedversionisavailableatOrwellDevC++(http://orwelldevcpp.blogspot.com/). C++isaprogramminglanguagewhichcontainswithinitself,mostoftheClanguage,plusextensions.MostC++compilerswillcompileCprograms,sometimeswithafewadjustments(likeinvokingthemwithadifferentnameorcommandlineswitch). Therefore,youcanuseDevC++forCdevelopment. However,DevC++isnotthecompiler.ItisdesignedtousetheMinGWorCygwinversionsofGCCbothofwhichcanbeobtainedaspartoftheDevC++package,althoughtheyarecompletelydifferentprojects. DevC++simplyprovidesaneditor,syntaxhighlighting,somefacilitiesforthevisualisationofcode(likeclassandpackagebrowsing)andagraphicalinterfacetothechosencompiler.BecauseDevC++analysestheerrormessagesproducedbythe compilerandattemptstodistinguishthelinenumbersfromtheerrorsthemselves,theuseofothercompilersoftwareisdiscouragedsincetheformatoftheirerrormessagesislikelytobedifferent. ThelatestversionofDevC++isabetaforversion5.However,itstillhasasignificantnumberofbugs.Allthefeaturesarethere,anditisquiteusable.ItisconsideredoneofthebestfreesoftwareCIDEsavailableforWindows. AversionofDevC++forLinuxisinthepipeline.Itisnotquiteusableyet,however.LinuxusersalreadyhaveawealthofIDEsavailable.(e.g.KDevelopandAnjuta.)Mostofthegraphicaltexteditors,andothercommoneditorssuchas emacsand vi(m), supportsyntaxhighlighting.
GCC
TheGNUCompilerCollection(GCC)isafreesetofcompilersdevelopedbytheFreeSoftwareFoundation.
StepsforObtainingtheGCCCompilerifYou'reonGNU/Linux On GNU/Linux, InstallingtheGNUCCompilercanvaryinmethodfromdistributiontodistribution.(Typein ccvtoseeifitisinstalledalready.) ForRedhat,getaGCCRPM,e.g.usingRpmfindandtheninstall(asroot)using r p mi v hg c c v e r s i o n r e l e a s e . a r c h . r p m ForFedoraCore,installtheGCCcompiler(asroot)byusing y u mi n s t a l lg c c . ForMandrake,installtheGCCcompiler(asroot)byusing u r p m ig c c ForDebian,installtheGCCcompiler(asroot)byusing a p t g e ti n s t a l lg c c . ForUbuntu,installtheGCCcompiler(alongwithothernecessarytools)byusing s u d oa p t g e ti n s t a l lb u i l d e s s e n t i a l ,orbyusingSynaptic.YoudonotneedUniverseenabled. ForSlackware,thepackageisavailableontheirwebsite(http://www.slackware.com/pb/)simplydownload,andtype i n s t a l l p k gg c c x x x x x . t g z ForGentoo,youshouldalreadyhaveGCCinstalledasitwillhavebeenusedwhenyoufirstinstalled.Toupdateitrun(asroot) e m e r g eu a vg c c . ForArchLinux,installtheGCCcompiler(asroot)byusing p a c m a nSg c c . Ifyoucannotbecomeroot,gettheGCCtarballfromftp://ftp.gnu.org/andfollowtheinstructionsinittocompileandinstallinyourhomedirectory.Bewarnedthough,youneedaCcompilertodothatyes,GCCitselfiswritteninC. YoucanusesomecommercialCcompiler/IDE.
3/118
10/24/13
StepsforObtainingtheGCCCompilerifYou'reonBSDFamilySystems ForMacOSX,FreeBSD,NetBSD,OpenBSD,DragonFlyBSD,DarwintheportofGNUgccisavailableinthebasesystem,oritcouldbeobtainedusingtheportscollectionorpkgsrc.
StepsforObtainingtheGCCCompilerifYou'reonWindows TherearetwowaystouseGCConWindows:CygwinandMinGW.ApplicationscompiledwithCygwinwillnotrunonanycomputerwithoutCygwin,soMinGWisrecommended.MinGWissimplertoinstall,andtakeslessdiskspace. TogetMinGW,dothis: 1. Gotohttp://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/downloadandsavethistoyourharddrive. 2. Oncethedownloadisfinished,openitandfollowtheinstructions.Youcanalsochoosetoinstalladditionalcompilers,orthetoolMake,butthesearen'tnecessary. 3. NowyouneedtosetyourPATH.Rightclickon"Mycomputer"andclick"Properties".Gotothe"Advanced"tabandclickon"Environmentvariables".Gotothe"Systemvariables"sectionandscrolldownuntilyousee"Path".Clickonit,thenclick "edit".Add"C:\mingw\bin\"(withoutthequotes)totheend. 4. TotestifGCCworks,openacommandpromptandtype"gcc".Youshouldgetthemessage"gcc:noinputfiles".Ifyougetthismessage,GCCisinstalledcorrectly. TogetCygwin,dothis: 1. 2. 3. 4. Gotohttp://www.cygwin.comandclickonthe"InstallCygwinNow"buttonintheupperrightcornerofthepage. Click"run"inthewindowthatpopsup,andclick"next"severaltimes,acceptingallthedefaultsettings. ChooseanyoftheDownloadsites("ftp.easynet.be",etc.)whenthatwindowcomesuppress"next"andtheCygwininstallershouldstartdownloading. Whenthe"SelectPackages"windowappears,scrolldowntotheheading"Devel"andclickonthe"+"byit.Inthelistofpackagesthatnowdisplays,scrolldownandfindthe"gcccore"packagethisisthecompiler.Clickonceontheword"Skip", anditshouldchangetosomenumberlike"3.4"etc.(theversionnumber),andan"X"willappearnextto"gcccore"andseveralotherrelatedpackagesthatwillnowbedownloaded. 5. Click"next"andthecompileraswellastheCygwintoolsshouldstartdownloadingthiscouldtakeawhile.Whileyou'rewaitingfortheinstallationtofinish,downloadanytexteditordesignedforprogramming.WhileCygwindoesincludesome,you maypreferdoingawebsearchtofindotheralternatives.Whileusingastocktexteditorispossible,itisnotideal. 6. OncetheCygwindownloadsarefinishedandyouhaveclicked"next",etc.tofinishtheinstallation,doubleclicktheCygwinicononyourdesktoptobegintheCygwin"commandprompt".Yourhomedirectorywillautomaticallybesetupinthe Cygwinfolder,whichnowshouldbeat"C:\cygwin"(theCygwinfolderisinsomewayslikeasmallunix/linuxcomputeronyourWindowsmachinenottechnicallyofcourse,butitmaybehelpfultothinkofitthatway). 7. Type"gcc"attheCygwinpromptandpress"enter"if"gcc:noinputfiles"orsomethinglikeitappearsyouhavesucceededandnowhavethegcccompileronyourcomputer(andcongratulationsyouhavealsojustreceivedyourfirsterror message!). Thecurrentstable(usable)versionofGCCis5.1.6publishedon20091002,whichsupportsseveralplatforms.Infact,GCCisnotonlyaCcompiler,butafamilyofcompilersforseverallanguages,suchasC++,Ada,Java,andFortran. Oncegccisinstalled,itcanbecalledwithalistofcsourcefilesthathavebeenwrittenbutnotyetcompiled.eg.thereisamain.cfilethatincludesasomefunctionsdescribedinmyfun.handimplementedinmyfun_a.candmyfun_b.c,thenitisenough towrite
g c c m a i n . cm y f u n _ a . cm y f u n _ b . c
myfun.hisincludedinmain.c,butifisinaseparateheaderfilesdirectory,thenthatdirectorycanbelistedaftera"I"switch. Inlargerprograms,Makefilesandgnumakeprogramcancompilecfilesintointermediatefilesendingwithsuffix.owhichcanbelinkedbygcc. HowtocompileeachobjectfileisusuallydescribedintheMakefilewiththeobjectfileasalabelendingwithacolonfollowedbytwospaces(tabsareoftenbadcharacters)followedbyalistofotherfilesthataredependencies,eg..cfilesand.ofiles compiledinanothersection,andonthenextline,theinvocationofgccthatisrequired.typingmanmakeorinfomakeoftengivestheinformationneededtojogthememoryonhowtousemake,andthesamegoesforgcc,althoughgcchasalotof optionswitches,themainonesbeinggtogeneratedebuggingforgdbtoallowittoshowsourcecodeduringsteppingthroughofthemachinecodeprogram.gdbhasa'h'commandthatshowswhatitcando,andisusuallystartedwith'gdba.out'ifa.out istheanonymousexecutablemachinecodefilethatwascompiledbygcc.
Embeddedsystems
MostCPUsaremicrocontrollersinembeddedsystems,oftenprogrammedinC,butmostofthecompilersmentionedabove(exceptGCC)donotsupportsuchCPUs.Forspecializedcompilersthatdosupportembeddedsystems,seeEmbedded Systems/CProgramming.
AtasteofC
Aswithnearlyeveryotherprogramminglanguagelearningbook,weusethe HelloworldprogramtointroduceyoutoC.
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { p u t s ( " H e l l o ,w o r l d ! " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
4/118
10/24/13
Thisprogramprints"Hello,world!"andthenexits. EnterthiscodeintoyourtexteditororIDE,andsaveitas"hello.c".
Then,presumingyouareusingGCC,type g c coh e l l oh e l l o . c .Thistellsgcctocompileyourhello.cprogramintoaformthemachinecanexecute.The'ohello'tellsittocallthecompiledprogram'hello'. Ifyouhaveenteredthiscorrectly,youshouldnowseeafilecalledhello.Thisfileisthebinaryversionofyourprogram,andwhenrunshoulddisplay"Hello,world!" Hereisanexampleofhowcompilingandrunninglookswhenusingaterminalonaunixsystem. l s isacommonunixcommandthatwilllistthefilesinthecurrentdirectory,whichinthiscaseisthedirectory p r o g s insidethehomedirectory(represented withthespecialtilde,~,symbol).Afterrunningthe g c c command, l s willlistanewfile, h e l l o ingreen.Greenisthestandardcolorcodingof l s forexecutablefiles.
~ / p r o g s $l s h e l l o . c ~ / p r o g s $g c coh e l l oh e l l o . c ~ / p r o g s $l s h e l l o h e l l o . c ~ / p r o g s $. / h e l l o H e l l o ,w o r l d ! ~ / p r o g s $
Partbypartexplanation
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > tellstheCcompilertofindthestandardheadercalled <stdio.h>andaddittothisprogram.InC,youoftenhavetopullinextraoptionalcomponentswhenyouneedthem. <stdio.h>containsdescriptionsofstandardinput/outputfunctions
whichyoucanusetosendmessagestoauser,ortoreadinputfromauser.
i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) issomethingyou'llfindineveryCprogram.Everyprogramhasa mainfunction.Generally,themainfunctioniswhereaprogrambegins.However,oneCprogramcanbescatteredacrossmultiplefiles,soyouwon'talwaysfindamain
functionineveryfile.The int atthebeginningmeansthatmainwillreturnanintegertotheoperatingsystemwhenitisfinished.

p u t s ( " H e l l o ,w o r l d ! " ) ; isthestatementthatactuallyputsthemessagetothescreen. putsisastringprintingfunctionthatisdeclaredinthefile stdio.h(whichiswhyyouhadto #includethatatthestartoftheprogram) p u t s automaticallyprintsanewlineat
theendofthestring.
r e t u r n0 ; willreturnzero(whichistheintegerreferredtoonline3)totheoperatingsystem.Whenaprogramrunssuccessfullyitsreturnvalueiszero(GCC4complainsifitdoesn'twhencompiling).Anonzerovalueisreturnedtoindicateawarningorerror.
Theemptylineistherebecauseitis(atleastonUNIX)consideredgoodpracticetoendafilewithanewline.Ingccusingthe W a l lp e d a n t i ca n s i options,ifthefiledoesnotendwithanewlinethismessageisdisplayed:"warning:nonewlineatendof file".(Thenewlineisn'tshownontheexamplebecauseMediaWikiautomaticallyremovesit)
Introexercise
IntroductoryExercises
OnGCC
IfyouareusingaUnix(like)system,suchasGNU/Linux,MacOSX,orSolaris,itwillprobablyhaveGCCinstalled.Typethehelloworldprogramintoafilecalledfirst.candthencompileitwithgcc.Justtype:
g c cf i r s t . c
Thenruntheprogrambytyping:
. / a . o u t
or,IfyouareusingCygwin.
a . e x e
YoushouldnowseeyourveryfirstCprogram.
Therearealotofoptionsyoucanusewiththegcccompiler.Forexample,ifyouwanttheoutputtohaveanameotherthana.out,youcanusetheooption.Thefollowingshowsafewexamples:
c
indicatesthatthecompilerissupposedtogeneratean objectfile,whichcanbelaterlinkedtootherfilestoformafinalprogram.
o
indicatesthatthenextparameteristhenameoftheresultingprogram(orlibrary).Ifthisoptionisnotspecified,thecompiledprogramwill,forhistoricreasons,endupinafilecalled"a.out"or"a.exe"(forcygwinusers).
g 3
5/118
10/24/13
indicatesthat debugginginformationshouldbeaddedtotheresultsofcompilation.
O 2f f a s t m a t h
indicatesthatthecompilationshouldbeoptimized.
WW a l lf n o c o m m o nW c a s t a l i g nW r e d u n d a n t d e c l sW b a d f u n c t i o n c a s tW w r i t e s t r i n g sW a g g r e g a t e r e t u r nW s t r i c t p r o t o t y p e sW m i s s i n g p r o t o t y p e s
indicatesthatgccshouldwarnaboutmanytypesofsuspiciouscodethatarelikelytobeincorrect.
E
indicatesthatgccshouldonlypreprocessthecodethisisusefulwhenyouarehavingtroubleunderstandingwhatgccisdoingwith#includeand#define,amongotherthings. Alltheoptionsarewelldocumentedinthemanualpage(http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc4.3.0/gcc/DebuggingOptions.html)forGCC.
theclassicalhelloworldprogram
Thebasichelloworldprogram,fromtheK+RbookonC,isoftenworthmemorising,justforthestructureofthemainfunctionwhichacceptsswitches,justlikegccisaprogramwithamainfunctionthatacceptsswitches.
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > i n tm a i n (i n ta r g c ,c h a r * *a r g v ){ p r i n t f ( " H e l l oW O r l d !\ n " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Thecommentedprogrambelowisbasicallythesame,withsomevariationsthathavethesameeffect.e.g.a"argv",or"pointertopointers",isthesameas*x[]or"arrayofpointers"and"exit(0)"doesthesameas"return0"forthemainfunction. Note:Itisagoodchancetosaythatweusuallyreturnorexitafunctionwiththe0codewhenallofthecommandsexecutedsuccessfully.e.g.inourHelloWorldprogram,allthecommandsbefore"return(0)",or"exit(0)"executedwithnoerror.Youwill noticethatthisconventionisverycommon,especiallyinthemainfunction.

/ *H e l l oW o r l d* / / * t h i sg i v e si n c l u d es t a t e m e n t ,b r i n g si nt h eh e a d e rf i l es t d i o . h, l o c a t e do f t e no nu n i xs y s t e m sa tt h ed i r e c t o r y/ u s r / i n c l u d e / , a n di n c l u d e s t h ep r i n t f ( )f u n c t i o n ,a sw e l la so t h e r s ,s n p r i n t f ,s c a n f ,g e t c h a r ,g e t l i n e . I nC ,f u n c t i o n st h a ta r ee x p o r t e dh a v et h e i r" s i g n a t u r e s "-f u n c t i o nn a m ea n dp a r a m e t e rl i s tl i s t e di nh e a d e rf i l e sf o re x p o r t i n g ,a n dt h e nt h es a m es i g n a t u r e sa r ed e f i n e di na n o t h e rf i l e , o f t e no ft h es a m en a m e ,t ob ec o m p i l e do n c ei n t oa no b j e c tf i l e ,a n do nu n i xs y s t e m so f t e nr e s i d e i n/ u s r / l i b / w i t hf i l en a m e sl i k es t d l i b . a o rs t d l i b . s o,o f t e na ss o f tl i n k st ov e r s i o n e df i l e s e . g .s t d l i b . 1 . 3 . s o, * / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > / * t h i sg i v e st h es t a n d a r dl i b r a r y ,w h i c hh a sf u n c t i o n s s u c ha sr a n d ( )r a n d o mn u m b e rg e n e r a t i o n( e . g .f o rg a m e s ) m a l l o c ( )a n df r e e ( ) f o rd y n a m i ch e a pm e m o r ya l l o c a t i o na so p p o s e dt os t a c km e m o r ya l l o c a t i o n . s t a c km e m o r yc a nb ea l l o c a t e db yd e c l a r i n gv a r i a b l e sa n da r r a y sa tt h es t a r to faf u n c t i o n,i n c l u d i n g t h em a i nf u n c t i o n ,a n dw i l lb ed e s t r o y e dw h e nt h ef u n c t i o ne x i t s . * / # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > / * t h en e x tl i n ei st h es t a n d a r de x p e c t e df u n c t i o nn a m e" m a i n "a n da r g u m e n tl i s to ft h ef i r s tf u n c t i o n t ob ee x e c u t e df o rt h i sp r o g r a mw h e nt h ec o m p i l e dp r o g r a mi se x e c u t e d . t h ef i r s ta r g u m e n ti st h en u m b e ro fa r g u m e n t s ,a n dt h es e c o n da r g u m e n ti sa na r r a yo fp o i n t e r st o a r r a y so fc h a r a c t e r s( s t r i n g s )w h i c hc o n t a i na r g u m e n t s. e . g . " ? "," v "," c " * / i n tm a i n ( i n tn _ a r g s ,c h a r *a r g s [ ] ){ p r i n t f ( " H e l l oW o r l d ! " ) ; / / o u t p u t sas t r i n gw i t h o u tf o r m a t t i n g . e x i t ( 0 ) ; / / s t d l i b . hf u n c t i o nt oe x i tw i t hac o d e ,i fe x e c u t e df r o m s a yab a s hs h e l ls c r i p t ,0w i l lb e / / r e t u r n e d ,w h i c hc a nb eu s e di n s i d eas h e l lc o n d i t i o n a li fs t a t e m e n t . }
OnIDEs
IfyouareusingacommercialIDEyoumayhavetoselectconsoleproject,andtocompileyoujustselectbuildfromthemenuorthetoolbar.Theexecutablewillappearinsidetheprojectfolder,butyoushouldhaveamenubuttonsoyoucanjustrunthe executablefromtheIDE. OnecanalsofindopensourceIDE'slikeEclipse,NetbeansorQtCreator.TheprocesswillbethesameasacommercialIDE.
6/118
10/24/13
BeginningC Preliminaries
BasicConcepts
BeforeonegetstoodeepintolearningCsyntaxandprogrammingconstructs,itisbeneficialtolearnthemeaningofafewkeytermsthatarecentraltoathoroughunderstandingofC.
BlockStructure,Statements,Whitespace,andScope
Nowwe discussthebasicstructureofaCprogram.Ifyou'refamiliarwithPASCAL,youmayhavehearditreferredtoasa blockstructuredlanguage.Cdoesnothavecompleteblockstructure(andyou'llfindoutwhywhenyougooverfunctionsin detail)butitisstillveryimportanttounderstandwhatblocksareandhowtousethem. Sowhatisina block?Generally,ablockconsistsofexecutable statements. Beforewesaywhatablockis,what'sastatement?Onewaytoputitisthatstatementsaretextthecompilerwillattempttoturnintoexecutableinstructions,andthewhitespacethatsurroundsthem.Aneasierwaytoputitisthatstatementsarebitsof codethatdothings,likethis:
i n ti=6 ;/ *t h i sd e c l a r e sav a r i a b l e' i ' ,a n ds e t si tt oe q u a l6* /
Youmighthavenoticedthesemicolonattheendofthestatement.StatementsinCalwaysendwithasemicolon()character.Leavingoffthesemicolonisacommonmistakethatalotofpeoplemake,beginnersandexpertsalike!Sountilitbecomes secondnature,besuretodoublecheckyourstatements! SinceCisa"freeformat"language,severalstatementscanshareasinglelineinthesourcefile,likeso:

/ *t h i sd e c l a r e st h ev a r i a b l e s' i ' ,' t e s t ' ,' f o o ' ,a n d' b a r ' n o t et h a tO N L Y' b a r 'i ss e tt os i x !* / i n ti ,t e s t ,f o o ,b a r=6 ;
Thereareseveralkindsofstatements,andyou'veseensomeofthem.Assignment(i=6),conditionalandflowcontrol.Asubstantialportionofthisbookdealswithstatementconstruction. Nowbacktoblocks.InC,blocksbeginwithanopeningbrace " { " andendwithaclosingbrace " } " .Blockscancontainotherblockswhichcancontaintheirownblocks,andsoon. Let'sshowanexampleofblocks.

i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { / *t h i si sa' b l o c k '* / i n ti=5 ; { / *t h i si sa l s oa' b l o c k , 's e p a r a t ef r o mt h el a s to n e* / i n ti=6 ; } r e t u r n0 ; }
Blockscomeinhandywithreadabilityandscope.You'lllearnalittlemoreaboutscopeinasecond. Whitespacereferstothetab,spaceandnewline/EOL(EndOfLine)charactersthatseparatethetextcharactersthatmakeupsourcecodelines.Likemanythingsinlife,it'shardtoappreciatewhitespaceuntilit'sgone.ToaCcompiler,thesourcecode
p r i n t f ( " H e l l ow o r l d " ) ;r e t u r n0 ;
isthesameas
p r i n t f ( " H e l l ow o r l d " ) ; r e t u r n0 ;
whichisthesameas
p r i n t f( " H e l l ow o r l d " );
r e t u r n0 ;
7/118
10/24/13
Thecompilersimplyskipsoverwhitespace.However,itiscommonpracticetousespaces(andtabs)toorganizesourcecodeforhumanreadability.Youcanuseblockswithoutaconditional,loop,orotherstatementtoorganizeyourcode. InC,mostofthetimewedonotwantotherfunctionsorotherprogrammer'sroutinesaccessingdatathatwearecurrentlymanipulating.Thisiswhyitisimportanttounderstandtheconceptofscope. Scopedescribesthelevelatwhichapieceofdataorafunctionisvisible.TherearetwokindsofscopeinC, local and global .Whenwespeakofsomethingbeing global ,wespeakofsomethingthatcanbeseenormanipulatedfromanywhereinthe program.Whenwespeakofsomethingbeing local ,wespeakofsomethingthatcanbeseenormanipulatedonlywithintheblockitwasdeclared. Let'sshowsomeexamples,togiveabetterpictureoftheideaofscope.
i n ti=5 ;/ *t h i si sa' g l o b a l 'v a r i a b l e ,a n y w h e r ei nt h ep r o g r a mc a na c c e s si t* / / *t h i si saf u n c t i o n ,a l lv a r i a b l e si n s i d eo fi t a r e" l o c a l "t ot h ef u n c t i o n .* / i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ti=6 ;/ *' i 'n o we q u a l s6* / p r i n t f ( " % d \ n " ,i ) ;/ *p r i n t sa' 6 't ot h es c r e e n ,i n s t e a do ft h eg l o b a lv a r i a b l eo f' i ' ,w h i c hi s5* / r e t u r n0 ; }
Thatshowsadecentexampleoflocalandglobal,butwhataboutdifferentscopes insideoffunctions?(you'lllearnmoreaboutfunctionslater,fornow,justfocusonthe"main"part.)
/ *t h em a i nf u n c t i o n* / i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { / *t h i si st h eb e g i n n i n go fa' b l o c k ' ,y o ur e a da b o u tt h o s ea b o v e* / i n ti=6 ;/ *t h i si st h ef i r s tv a r i a b l eo ft h i s' b l o c k ' ,' i '* / { / *t h i si san e w' b l o c k ' ,a n db e c a u s ei t ' sad i f f e r e n tb l o c k ,i th a si t so w ns c o p e* / / *t h i si sa l s oav a r i a b l ec a l l e d' i ' ,b u ti nad i f f e r e n t' b l o c k ' , b e c a u s ei t ' si nad i f f e r e n t' b l o c k 't h e nt h eo l d' i ' ,i td o e s n ' ta f f e c tt h eo l do n e !* / i n ti=5 ; p r i n t f ( " % d \ n " ,i ) ;/ *p r i n t sa' 5 'o n t ot h es c r e e n* / } / *n o ww e ' r eb a c ki n t ot h eo l db l o c k* / p r i n t f ( " % d \ n " ,i ) ;/ *p r i n t sa' 6 'o n t ot h es c r e e n* / r e t u r n0 ; }
BasicsofUsingFunctions
Functionsareabigpartofprogramming.Afunctionisaspecialkindofblockthatperformsawelldefinedtask.Ifafunctioniswelldesigned,itcanenableaprogrammertoperformataskwithoutknowinganythingabouthowthefunctionworks.Theact ofrequestingafunctiontoperformitstaskiscalleda functioncall .Manyfunctionsrequireacallertohanditcertainpiecesofdataneededtoperformitstaskthesearecalled arguments.Manyfunctionsalsoreturnavaluetothecallerwhenthey're finishedthisiscalleda returnvalue(thereturnvalueintheaboveprogramis 0). Thethingsyouneedtoknowbeforecallingafunctionare: Whatthefunctiondoes Thedatatype(discussedlater)oftheargumentsandwhattheymean Thedatatypeofthereturnvalueandwhatitmeans Allcodeotherthanglobaldatadefinitionsanddeclarationsneedstobeapartofafunction. Usually,you'refreetocallafunctionwhateveryouwishto.Theonlyrestrictionisthateveryexecutableprogramneedstohaveone,andonlyone, mainfunction,whichiswheretheprogrambeginsexecuting. Wewilldiscussfunctionsinmoredetailinalaterchapter,CProgramming/Proceduresandfunctions.
TheStandardLibrary
In1983,whenCwasintheprocessofbecomingstandardized,theAmericanNationalStandardsInstitute(ANSI)formedacommitteetoestablishastandardspecificationofCknownas"ANSIC".Thatstandardspecificationcreatedabasicsetof functionscommontoeachimplementationofC,whichisreferredtoastheStandardLibrary.TheStandardLibraryprovidesfunctionsfortaskssuchasinput/output,stringmanipulation,mathematics,files,andmemoryallocation.TheStandardLibrary doesnotprovidefunctionsthataredependentonspecifichardwareoroperatingsystems,likegraphics,sound,ornetworking.Inthe"Hello,World",program,aStandardLibraryfunctionisused p r i n t f whichoutputslinesoftexttothestandardoutput stream.
Compiling
HavingcoveredthebasicconceptsofCprogramming,wecannowbrieflydiscusstheprocessof compilation.
Likeanyprogramminglanguage,Cbyitselfiscompletelyincomprehensibletoamicroprocessor.Itspurposeistoprovideanintuitivewayforhumanstoprovideinstructionsthatcanbeeasilyconvertedintomachinecodethat iscomprehensibletoa
8/118
10/24/13
Likeanyprogramminglanguage,Cbyitselfiscompletelyincomprehensibletoamicroprocessor.Itspurposeistoprovideanintuitivewayforhumanstoprovideinstructionsthatcanbeeasilyconvertedintomachinecodethat iscomprehensibletoa microprocessor.The compileriswhattakesthiscode,andtranslatesitintothemachinecode. Tothosenewtoprogramming,thisseemsfairlysimple.Anaivecompilermightreadineverysourcefile,translateeverythingintomachinecode,andwriteoutanexecutable.Thiscouldwork,buthastwoseriousproblems.First,foralargeproject,the computermaynothaveenoughmemorytoreadallofthesourcecodeatonce.Second,ifyoumakeachangetoasinglesourcefile,youwouldrathernothavetorecompilethe entireapplication. Todealwiththeseproblems,compilersbreaktheirjobdownintostepsforeachsourcefile(each . c file),thecompilerreadsthefile,readsthefilesitreferenceswith # i n c l u d e ,andtranslatesittomachinecode.Theresultofthisisan"objectfile"(. o ).Once everyobjectfileismade,a"linker"collectsalloftheobjectfilesandwritestheactualprogram.Thisway,ifyouchangeonesourcefile,onlythatfileneedstoberecompiledandthentheapplicationneedstoberelinked. Withoutgoingintothepainfuldetails,itcanbebeneficialtohaveasuperficialunderstandingofthecompilationprocess.
Preprocessor
Thepreprocessorprovidestheabilityfortheinclusionofheaderfiles,macroexpansions,conditionalcompilation,andlinecontrol.Manytimesyouwillneedtogivespecialinstructionstoyourcompiler.Thisisdonebyinsertingpreprocessordirectivesinto yourcode.Whenyoubegincompilingyourcode,aspecialprogramcalledthepreprocessorscansthesourcecodeandperformssimplesubstitutionoftokenizedstringsforothersaccordingtopredefinedrules.ThepreprocessorisnotapartoftheC language. InClanguage,allpreprocessordirectivesbeginwiththepoundcharacter(#).YoucanseeonepreprocessordirectiveintheHelloworldprogramintroducedinAtasteofC: Example:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h >
Thisdirectivecausestheheadertobeincludedintoyourprogram.Otherdirectivessuchas # p r a g m a controlcompilersettingsandmacros.Theresultofthepreprocessingstageisatextstring.Youcanthinkofthepreprocessorasanoninteractivetexteditor thatpreparesyourcodeforthecompilationstep.ThelanguageofpreprocessordirectivesisagnostictothegrammarofC,sotheCpreprocessorcanalsobeusedindependentlytoprocessotherkindsoftextfiles.
SyntaxChecking
Thisstepensuresthatthecodeisvalidandwillsequenceintoanexecutableprogram.Undermostcompilers,youmaygetmessagesorwarningsindicatingpotentialissueswithyourprogram(suchasastatementalwaysbeingtrueorfalse,etc.) Whenanerrorisdetectedintheprogram,thecompilerwillnormallyreportthefilenameandlinethatispreventingcompilation.
ObjectCode
Thecompilerproducesamachinecodeequivalentofthesourcecodethatcanthenbelinkedintothefinalprogram.Thecodeitselfcan'tbeexecutedyet,asithastocompletethelinkingstage. It'simportanttonoteafterdiscussingthebasicsthatcompilationisa"onewaystreet".Thatis,compilingaCsourcefileintomachinecodeiseasy,but"decompiling"(turningmachinecodeintotheCsourcethatcreatesit)isnot.DecompilersforCdo exist,buttheyrarelycreateusefulcode.
Linking
Linkingcombinestheseparateobjectcodesintoonecompleteprogrambyintegratinglibrariesandthecodeandproducingeitheranexecutableprogramoralibrary.Linkingisperformedbyalinker,whichisoftenpartofacompiler. Commonerrorsduringthisstageareeithermissingfunctions,orduplicatefunctions.
Automation
ForlargeCprojects,manyprogrammerschoosetoautomatecompilation,bothinordertoreduceuserinteractionrequirementsandtospeeduptheprocessbyonlyrecompilingmodifiedfiles. Mostintegrateddevelopmentenvironmentshavesomekindofprojectmanagement,whichmakessuchautomationveryeasy.OnUNIXlikesystems,makeandMakefilesareoftenusedtoaccomplishthesame.
Structureandstyle
CStructureandStyle
ThisisabasicintroductiontogoodcodestyleintheCProgrammingLanguage.Itisdesignedtoprovideinformationonhowtoeffectivelyuseindentation,comments,andotherelementsthatwillmakeyourCcodemorereadable.Itisnotatutorialon actuallyprogramminginC. Asabeginningprogrammer,thepointofcreatingstructureintheprograms'codemightnotbeclear,asthecompilerdoesn'tcareaboutthedifference.However,asprogramsbecomecomplex,chancesarethatwritingtheprogramhasbecomeajoint effort.(Orothersmightwanttoseehowitwasaccomplished.)Therefore,thecodeisnolongerdesignedpurelyforacompilertoread. Inthefollowingsections,wewillattempttoexplaingoodprogrammingpracticesthatwillinturnmakeyourprogramsclearerandmoreeffective.
Introduction
InC,programsarecomposedofstatements.Thesestatementsareterminatedwithasemicolon,andarecollectedinsectionsknownasfunctions.Byconvention,astatementshouldbekeptonitsownline,asshownintheexamplebelow:
9/118
10/24/13
i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! \ n " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Thefollowingblockofcodeisessentiallythesame:whileitcontainsexactlythesamecode,andwillcompileandexecutewiththesameresult,theremovalofspacingcausesanessentialdifferencemakingithardertoread:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ){ p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! \ n " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Thesimpleuseofindentsandlinebreakscangreatlyimprovethereadabilityofthecodewithoutmakinganyimpactwhatsoeveronhowthecodeperforms.Byhavingreadablecode,itismucheasiertoseewherefunctionsandproceduresend,and whichlinesarepartofwhichloopsandprocedures. Thisbookisgoingtofocusontheabovepieceofcode,andhowtoimproveit.Pleasenotethatduringthecourseofthetutorial,therewillbemany(apparently)redundantpiecesofcodeadded.Theseareonlyaddedtoprovideexamplesoftechniques thatwewillbeexplaining,withoutbreakingtheoverallflowofcodethattheprogramachieves.
LineBreaksandIndentation
Theadditionofwhitespaceinsideyourcodeisarguablythemostimportantpartofgoodcodestructure.Effectiveuseofwhitespacecancreateavisualscaleofhowyourcodeflows,whichcanbeveryimportantwhenreturningtoyourcodewhenyou wanttomaintainit.
LineBreaks
Withminimallinebreaks,codeisbarelyreadablebyhumans,andmaybehardtodebugorunderstand:
1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > a i n i 2 .i n tm ( v o i d ) {i n ti = 0 ;p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ;f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) {p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ;b r e a k ;}r e t u r n0 ;}
Ratherthanputtingeverythingononeline,itismuchmorereadabletobreakuplonglinessothateachstatementanddeclarationgoesonitsownline.Afterinsertinglinebreaks,thecodewilllooklikethis:
1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > a i n 2 .i n tm ( v o i d ) 3 .{ 4 .i n ti = 0 ; 5 .p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; i 6 .f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) 7 .{ 8 .p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; 9 .b r e a k ; 1 0 .} 1 1 .r e t u r n0 ; 1 2 .}
BlankLines
Blanklinesshouldbeusedtooffsetthemaincomponentsofyourcode.Usethem Afterprecompilerdeclarations. Afternewvariablesaredeclared. Basedonthesetworules,thereshouldnowbetwolinebreaksadded. Afterline1,becauseline1hasapreprocessordirective Afterline4,becauseline4containsavariabledeclaration Thiswillmakethecodemuchmorereadablethanitwasbefore: Thefollowinglinesofcodehavelinebreaksbetweenfunctions,butwithoutindentation.
1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > 2 . a i n 3 .i n tm ( v o i d ) 4 .{
10/118
10/24/13
5 .i n ti = 0 ; 6 . 7 .p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; i 8 .f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) 9 .{ 1 0 .p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; 1 1 .b r e a k ; 1 2 .} 1 3 .r e t u r n0 ; 1 4 .}
Butthisstillisn'tasreadableasitcanbe.
Indentation
Althoughaddingsimplelinebreaksbetweenkeyblocksofcodecanmakecodeeasiertoread,itprovidesnoinformationabouttheblockstructureoftheprogram.Usingthetabkeycanbeveryhelpfulnow:indentation visuallyseparatespathsofexecutionbymovingtheirstartingpointstoanewcolumnintheline.Thissimplepracticewillmakeitmucheasiertoreadandunderstandcode.Indentationfollowsafairlysimplerule:
Manytexteditors
Allcodeinsideanewblockshouldbeindentedbyonetab[1]morethanthecodeinthepreviouspath. Basedonthecodefromtheprevioussection,therearetwoblocksrequiringindentation: Lines5to13 Lines10and11
automaticallyindent appropriatelywhenyou hittheenter/returnkey.
1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > 2 . a i n 3 .i n tm ( v o i d ) 4 .{ 5 . i n ti = 0 ; 6 . 7 . p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; i 8 . f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) 9 . { 1 0 . p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; 1 1 . b r e a k ; 1 2 . } 1 3 . r e t u r n0 ; 1 4 .}
Itisnowfairlyobviousastowhichpartsoftheprogramfitinsidewhichblocks.Youcantellwhichpartsoftheprogramthecoderhasintendedtoloop,andwhichoneshehasnot.Althoughitmightnotbeimmediatelynoticeable,oncemanynestedloops andpathsgetaddedtothestructureoftheprogram,theuseofindentationcanbeveryimportant.Thisindentationmakesthestructureofyourprogramclear. Indentationwasoriginallyonetabcharacter,ortheequivalentof8spaces.Researchsincetheoriginalindentsizehasshownthatindentsbetween2to4charactersareeasiertoread[2],resultinginsuchtabsizesbeingusedasdefaultinmodernIDEs. However,anindentof8charactersmaystillbeinuseforsomesystems[3].
Comments
Commentsincodecanbeusefulforavarietyofpurposes.Theyprovidetheeasiestwaytosetoffspecificpartsofcode(andtheirpurpose)aswellasprovidingavisual"split"betweenvariouspartsofyourcode.Havinggoodcommentsthroughoutyour codewillmakeitmucheasiertorememberwhatspecificpartsofyourcodedo. CommentsinmodernflavorsofC(andmanyotherlanguages)cancomeintwoforms:
/ / S i n g l eL i n eC o m m e n t s ( a d d e db yC 9 9s t a n d a r d ,f a m o u s l yk n o w na sc + +s t y l eo fc o m m e n t s )
and
/ * M u l t i L i n e C o m m e n t s * /( o n l yf o r mo fc o m m e n t ss u p p o r t e db yC 8 9s t a n d a r d )
NotethatSinglelinecommentsareafairlyrecentadditiontoC,sosomecompilersmaynotsupportthem.ArecentversionofGCCwillhavenoproblemssupportingthem. Thissectionisgoingtofocusonthevarioususesofeachformofcommentary.
SinglelineComments
11/118
10/24/13
Singlelinecommentsaremostusefulforsimple'side'notesthatexplainwhatcertainpartsofthecodedo.Thebestplacestoputthesecommentsarenexttovariabledeclarations,andnexttopiecesofcodethatmayneedexplanation. Basedonourpreviousprogram,therearetwogoodplacestoplacecomments Line5,toexplainwhat'inti'isgoingtodo Line11,toexplainwhythereisa'break'keyword. Thiswillmakeourprogramlooksomethinglike

# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ti = 0 ;
/ /l o o pv a r i a b l e .
p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ){ p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; } r e t u r n0 ; }
/ / E x i t s' f o r 'l o o p .
MultilineComments
Multilinecommentsaremostusefulforlongexplanationsofcode.Theycanbeusedascopyright/licensingnotices,andtheycanalsobeusedtoexplainthepurposeofablockofcode.Thiscanbeusefulfortworeasons: Theymakeyourfunctionseasiertounderstand,andtheymakeiteasiertospoterrorsincode.Ifyouknowwhatablockis supposedtodo,thenitismucheasiertofindthepieceofcodethatisresponsibleifanerroroccurs.
Singlelinecomments
Asanexample,supposewehadaprogramthatwasdesignedtoprint"Hello,World!"acertainnumberoflines,aspecifiednumberoftimes.Therewouldbemanyforloopsinthisprogram.Forthisexample,weshallcall thenumberoflines i,andthenumberofstringsperlineas j. Agoodexampleofamultilinecommentthatdescribes'for'loop i'spurposewouldbe:

/ *F o rL o o p( i n ti ) L o o p st h ef o l l o w i n gp r o c e d u r eit i m e s( f o rn u m b e ro fl i n e s ) . P e r f o r m s' f o r 'l o o pjo ne a c hl o o p , a n dp r i n t san e wl i n ea te n do fe a c hl o o p . * /
areanewfeature,so manyCprogrammers onlyusemultiline comments.
Thisprovidesagoodexplanationofwhat i'spurposeis,whilstnotgoingintodetailofwhat jdoes.Bygoingintodetailoverwhatthespecificpathdoes(andnotonesinsideit),itwillbeeasiertotroubleshootthepath. Similarly,youshouldalwaysincludeamultilinecommentbeforeeachfunction,toexplaintherole,preconditionsandpostconditionsofeachfunction.Alwaysleavethetechnicaldetailstotheindividualblocksinsideyourprogramthismakesiteasierto troubleshoot. Afunctiondescriptorshouldlooksomethinglike:

/ *F u n c t i o n:i n th w o r l d( i n ti , i n tj ) I n p u t :i n ti( N u m b e ro fl i n e s ) ,i n tj( N u m b e ro fi n s t a n c e sp e rl i n e ) O u t p u t :0( o ns u c c e s s ) P r o c e d u r e :P r i n t s" H e l l o ,W o r l d ! "jt i m e s ,a n dan e wl i n et os t a n d a r do u t p u to v e ril i n e s . * /
Thissystemallowsforanataglanceexplanationofwhatthefunctionshoulddo.Youcanthengointodetailoverhoweachaspectoftheprogramisachievedlateronintheprogram. Finally,ifyouliketohaveaestheticallypleasingsourcecode,themultilinecommentsystemallowsfortheeasyadditionofcommentboxes.Thesemakethecommentsstandoutmuchmorethantheywouldwithoutotherwise.Theylooklikethis.
/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * T h i si sam u l t il i n ec o m m e n t * T h a ti sn e a r l ys u r r o u n d e db ya * C o o l ,s t a r r yb o r d e r ! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * /
Appliedtoouroriginalprogram,wecannowincludeamuchmoredescriptiveandreadablesourcecode:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { / * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *F u n c t i o n :i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) *I n p u t :n o n e *O u t p u t :R e t u r n s0o ns u c c e s s *P r o c e d u r e :P r i n t s" H e l l o ,W o r l d ! "a n dan e wl i n et os t a n d a r do u t p u tt h e ne x i t s . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * /
12/118
10/24/13
i n ti = 0 ; / / T e m p o r a r yv a r i a b l eu s e df o r' f o r 'l o o p .
p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; / *F O RL O O P( i n ti ) P r i n t san e wl i n et os t a n d a r do u t p u t ,a n de x i t s* / f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; / / E x i t s' f o r 'l o o p . } r e t u r n0 ; }
Thiswillallowanyoutsideusersoftheprogramaneasywaytocomprehendwhatthecodefunctionsareandhowtheyoperate.Italsoinhibitsuncertaintywithotherlikenamedfunctions. Afewprogrammersaddacolumnofstarsontherightsideofablockcomment:
/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * T h i si sam u l t il i n ec o m m e n t * * t h a ti sc o m p l e t e l ys u r r o u n d e db ya* * c o o l ,s t a r r yb o r d e r ! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * /
Butmostprogrammersdon'tputanystarsontherightsideofablockcomment.Theyfeelthataligningtherightsideisawasteoftime. CommentswritteninsourcefilescanbeusedfordocumentingsourcecodeautomaticallybyusingpopulartoolslikeDoxygen[4][5]
Links
1. Severalprogrammersrecommend"usespacesforindentation.Donotusetabsinyourcode.Youshouldsetyoureditortoemitspaceswhenyouhitthetabkey."[1](http://googlestyleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml)[2] (http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabsvsspaces.html)Otherprogrammersdisagree.[3](http://diagrammesmodernes.blogspot.com/2006/04/tabversusspaces.html)[4](http://www.derkarl.org/why_to_tabs.html)Regardlessofwhetheryoupreferspacesor tabs,makesureyoukeepitconsistentwithprojectsyouareworkingon,becausemixingtabsandspacescancausecodetobecomeunreadable. 2. [5](http://www.oualline.com/vimcook.html#drawing) 3. [http://lxr.linux.no/#linux+v2.6.31/Documentation/CodingStyleLinuxKernelcodingstandard 4. "CodingConventionsforC++andJava"(http://www.macadamian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=37)"alltheblockcommentsillustratedinthisdocumenthavenoprettystarsontherightsideoftheblockcomment. Thisdeliberatechoicewasmadebecausealigningthoseprettystarsisalargewasteoftimeanddiscouragesthemaintenanceofinlinecomments.", 5. wiki:BigBlocksOfAsterisks,"Codecraft"(http://books.google.com/books? id=i4zCzpkrt4sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=programming+comment+block+waste+time+lining+up&source=bl&ots=TUpTMIHBnh&sig=NeZm23WPmvnw2aKMnIRUeQoHmJg&hl=en&ei=pri3SevGIYGyNMn9jd4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result) byPeteGoodliffepage82,Falvotech"CProgrammingStyleGuide"(http://www.falvotech.com/content/publications/conventions/c/),FedoraDirectoryServerCodingStyle(http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Coding_Style) Aladdin'sCcodingguidelines(http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/AFPL/6.01/Cstyle.htm)AmoredefinitiveCcodingguideline. C/C++ProgrammingStyles(http://www.mycplus.com/c.asp?ID=12)GNUCodingstyles&LinuxKernelCodingstyle CProgrammingTutorial(http://www.studiesinn.com/learn/ProgrammingLanguages/CLanguage.html)CProgrammingTutorial
Errorhandling
Cdoesnotprovidedirectsupportforerrorhandling(alsoknownasexceptionhandling).Byconvention,theprogrammerisexpectedtopreventerrorsfromoccurringinthefirstplace,andtestreturnvaluesfromfunctions.Forexample,1andNULLare usedinseveralfunctionssuchassocket()(Unixsocketprogramming)ormalloc()respectivelytoindicateproblemsthattheprogrammershouldbeawareabout.Inaworstcasescenariowherethereisanunavoidableerrorandnowaytorecoverfromit,a Cprogrammerusuallytriestologtheerrorand"gracefully"terminatetheprogram. Thereisanexternalvariablecalled"errno",accessiblebytheprogramsafterincluding<errno.h>thatfilecomesfromthedefinitionofthepossibleerrorsthatcanoccurinsomeOperatingSystems(e.g.Linuxinthiscase,thedefinitionisininclude/asm generic/errno.h)whenprogramsaskforresources.Suchvariableindexeserrordescriptionsaccessiblebythefunction'strerror(errno)'. Thefollowingcodeteststhereturnvaluefromthelibraryfunctionmalloctoseeifdynamicmemoryallocationcompletedproperly:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< e r r n o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > e x t e r ni n te r r n o ; i n tm a i n (v o i d) { / *p o i n t e rt oc h a r ,r e q u e s t i n gd y n a m i ca l l o c a t i o no f2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 *s t o r a g ee l e m e n t s( d e c l a r e da sa ni n t e g e rc o n s t a n to ft y p e *u n s i g n e dl o n gi n t ) .( I fy o u rs y s t e mh a sl e s st h a n2 G Bo fm e m o r y *a v a i l a b l e ,t h e nt h i sc a l lt om a l l o cw i l lf a i l ) * / c h a r* p t r=m a l l o c (2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 U L) ; / *f p r i n t f* / / *e r r n o* / / *m a l l o c ,f r e e ,e x i t* / / *s t r e r r o r* /
13/118
10/24/13
i f(p t r= =N U L L) { p u t s ( " m a l l o cf a i l e d " ) ; p u t s ( s t r e r r o r ( e r r n o ) ) ; } e l s e { / *t h er e s to ft h ec o d eh e r e a f t e rc a na s s u m et h a t2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 *c h a r sw e r es u c c e s s f u l l ya l l o c a t e d . . . * / f r e e (p t r) ; } e x i t ( E X I T _ S U C C E S S ) ;/ *e x i t i n gp r o g r a m* / }
Thecodesnippetaboveshowstheuseofthereturnvalueofthelibraryfunctionmalloctocheckforerrors.Manylibraryfunctionshavereturnvaluesthatflagerrors,andthusshouldbecheckedbytheastuteprogrammer.Inthesnippetabove,aNULL pointerreturnedfrommallocsignalsanerrorinallocation,sotheprogramexits.Inmorecomplicatedimplementations,theprogrammighttrytohandletheerrorandtrytorecoverfromthefailedmemoryallocation.
Preventingdividebyzeroerrors
AcommonpitfallmadebyCprogrammersisnotcheckingifadivisoriszerobeforeadivisioncommand.Thefollowingcodewillproducearuntimeerrorandinmostcases,exit.
i n td i v i d e n d=5 0 ; i n td i v i s o r=0 ; i n tq u o t i e n t ; q u o t i e n t=( d i v i d e n d / d i v i s o r ) ;/ *T h i sw i l lp r o d u c ear u n t i m ee r r o r !* /
Forreasonsbeyondthescopeofthisdocument,youmustcheckormakesurethatadivisorisneverzero.Alternatively,for*nixprocesses,youcanstoptheOSfromterminatingyourprocessbyblockingtheSIGFPEsignal. Thecodebelowfixesthisbycheckingifthedivisoriszerobeforedividing.
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h >/ *f o rf p r i n t fa n ds t d e r r* / # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h >/ *f o re x i t* / i n tm a i n (v o i d) { i n td i v i d e n d=5 0 ; i n td i v i s o r=0 ; i n tq u o t i e n t ; i f( d i v i s o r= =0 ){ / *E x a m p l eh a n d l i n go ft h i se r r o r .W r i t i n gam e s s a g et os t d e r r ,a n d *e x i t i n gw i t hf a i l u r e . * / f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," D i v i s i o nb yz e r o !A b o r t i n g . . . \ n " ) ; e x i t ( E X I T _ F A I L U R E ) ;/ *i n d i c a t ef a i l u r e . * / } q u o t i e n t=d i v i d e n d/d i v i s o r ; e x i t ( E X I T _ S U C C E S S ) ;/ *i n d i c a t es u c c e s s . * / }
Signals
Insomecases,theenvironmentmayrespondtoaprogrammingerrorinCbyraisingasignal.Signalsareeventsraisedbythehostenvironmentoroperatingsystemtoindicatethataspecificerrororcriticaleventhasoccurred(e.g.adivisionbyzero, interrupt,andsoon.)However,thesesignalsarenotmeanttobeusedasameansoferrorcatchingtheyusuallyindicateacriticaleventthatwillinterferewithnormalprogramflow. Tohandlesignals,aprogramneedstousethe s i g n a l . h headerfile.Asignalhandlerwillneedtobedefined,andthesignal()functionisthencalledtoallowthegivensignaltobehandled.Somesignalsthatareraisedtoanexceptionwithinyourcode(e.g. adivisionbyzero)areunlikelytoallowyourprogramtorecover.Thesesignalhandlerswillberequiredtoinsteadensurethatsomeresourcesareproperlycleanedupbeforetheprogramterminates. Thisexamplecreatesasignalhandlerandraisesthesignal:
# i n c l u d e< s i g n a l . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > s t a t i cv o i dc a t c h _ f u n c t i o n ( i n ts i g n a l ){ p u t s ( " I n t e r a c t i v ea t t e n t i o ns i g n a lc a u g h t . " ) ; } i n tm a i n ( v o i d ){ i f( s i g n a l ( S I G I N T ,c a t c h _ f u n c t i o n )= =S I G _ E R R ){ f p u t s ( " A ne r r o ro c c u r r e dw h i l es e t t i n gas i g n a lh a n d l e r . \ n " ,s t d e r r ) ; r e t u r nE X I T _ F A I L U R E ; } p u t s ( " R a i s i n gt h ei n t e r a c t i v ea t t e n t i o ns i g n a l . " ) ; i f( r a i s e ( S I G I N T )! =0 ){ f p u t s ( " E r r o rr a i s i n gt h es i g n a l . \ n " ,s t d e r r ) ;
14/118
10/24/13
r e t u r nE X I T _ F A I L U R E ; } p u t s ( " E x i t i n g . " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
setjmp
Thesetjmpfunctioncanbeusedtoemulatetheexceptionhandlingfeatureofotherprogramminglanguages.Thefirstcalltosetjmpprovidesareferencepointtoreturningtoagivenfunction,andisvalidaslongasthefunctioncontainingsetjmp()doesn't returnorexit.Acalltolongjmpcausestheexecutiontoreturntothepointoftheassociatedsetjmpcall.
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s e t j m p . h > j m p _ b u ft e s t 1 ; v o i dt r y j u m p ( ) { l o n g j m p ( t e s t 1 ,3 ) ; } i n tm a i n( v o i d ) { i f( s e t j m p ( t e s t 1 ) = = 0 ){ p r i n t f( " s e t j m p ( )r e t u r n e d0 . " ) ; t r y j u m p ( ) ; }e l s e{ p r i n t f( " s e t j m pr e t u r n e df r o mal o n g j m pf u n c t i o nc a l l . " ) ; } }
Thevaluesofnonvolatilevariablesmaybecorruptedwhensetjmpreturnsfromalongjmpcall. Whilesetjmp()andlongjmp()maybeusedforerrorhandling,itisgenerallypreferredtousethereturnvalueofafunctiontoindicateanerror,ifpossible.
Variables
Likemostprogramminglanguages,Cisabletouseandprocessnamedvariablesandtheircontents. Variablesaresimplynamesusedtorefertosomelocationinmemoryalocationthatholdsavaluewithwhichweareworking. Itmayhelptothinkofvariablesasaplaceholderforavalue.Youcanthinkofavariableasbeingequivalenttoitsassignedvalue.So,ifyouhaveavariable ithatis initialized(setequal)to4,thenitfollowsthat i+1willequal 5. SinceCisarelativelylowlevelprogramminglanguage,beforeaCprogramcanutilizememorytostoreavariableitmustclaimthememoryneededtostorethevaluesforavariable.Thisisdoneby declaringvariables.Declaringvariablesisthewayin whichaCprogramshowsthenumberofvariablesitneeds,whattheyaregoingtobenamed,andhowmuchmemorytheywillneed. WithintheCprogramminglanguage,whenmanagingandworkingwithvariables,itisimportanttoknowthe typeofvariablesandthe sizeofthesetypes.SinceCisafairlylowlevelprogramminglanguage,theseaspectsofitsworkingcanbehardware specificthatis,howthelanguageismadetoworkononetypeofmachinecanbedifferentfromhowitismadetoworkonanother. AllvariablesinCare typed.Thatis,everyvariabledeclaredmustbeassignedasacertaintypeofvariable.
Declaring,Initializing,andAssigningVariables
Hereisanexampleofdeclaringaninteger,whichwe'vecalled s o m e _ n u m b e r .(Notethesemicolonattheendofthelinethatishowyourcompilerseparatesoneprogram statement fromanother.)
i n ts o m e _ n u m b e r ;
Thisstatementmeanswe'redeclaringsomespaceforavariablecalledsome_number,whichwillbeusedtostore i n t egerdata.Notethatwemustspecifythetypeofdatathatavariablewillstore.Therearespecifickeywordstodothiswe'lllookatthem inthenextsection. Multiplevariablescanbedeclaredwithonestatement,likethis:

i n ta n u m b e r ,a n o t h e r n u m b e r ,y e t a n o t h e r n u m b e r ;
Wecanalsodeclare andassignsomecontenttoavariableatthesametime.
i n ts o m e _ n u m b e r = 3 ;
Thisiscalled initialization. InearlyversionsofC,variableshadtobedeclaredatthebeginningofablock.InC99itisallowedtomixdeclarationsandstatementsarbitrarilybutdoingsoisnotusual,becauseitisrarelynecessary,somecompilersstilldontsupportC99(portability), anditmay,becauseitisuncommonyet,irritatefellowprogrammers(maintainability).
15/118
10/24/13
Afterdeclaringvariables,youcanassignavaluetoavariablelateronusingastatementlikethis:
s o m e _ n u m b e r = 3 ;
Youcanalsoassignavariablethevalueofanothervariable,likeso:
a n u m b e r=a n o t h e r n u m b e r ;
Orassignmultiplevariablesthesamevaluewithonestatement:
a n u m b e r=a n o t h e r n u m b e r=y e t a n o t h e r n u m b e r=3 ;
Thisisbecausetheassignment x=y returnsthevalueoftheassignment. x=y=z isreallyshorthandfor x=( y=z ) .
NamingVariables
VariablenamesinCaremadeupofletters(upperandlowercase)anddigits.Theunderscorecharacter("_")isalsopermitted.Namesmustnotbeginwithadigit.Unlikesomelanguages(suchasPerlandsomeBASICdialects),Cdoesnotuseany specialprefixcharactersonvariablenames. Someexamplesofvalid(butnotverydescriptive)Cvariablenames:
f o o B a r B A Z f o o _ b a r _ f o o 4 2 _ Q u U x
SomeexamplesofinvalidCvariablenames:
2 f o o m yf o o $ f o o w h i l e ( m u s tn o tb e g i nw i t had i g i t ) ( s p a c e sn o ta l l o w e di nn a m e s ) ( $n o ta l l o w e d-o n l yl e t t e r s ,d i g i t s ,a n d_ ) ( l a n g u a g ek e y w o r d sc a n n o tb eu s e da sn a m e s )
Asthelastexamplesuggests,certainwordsarereservedaskeywordsinthelanguage,andthesecannotbeusedasvariablenames. Inadditiontherearecertainsetsofnamesthat,whilenotlanguagekeywords,arereservedforonereasonoranother.Forexample,aCcompilermightusecertainnames"behindthescenes",andthismightcauseproblemsforaprogramthatattemptsto usethem.Also,somenamesarereservedforpossiblefutureuseintheCstandardlibrary.Therulesfordeterminingexactlywhatnamesarereserved(andinwhatcontextstheyarereserved)aretoocomplicatedtodescribehere,andasabeginneryou don'tneedtoworryaboutthemmuchanyway.Fornow,justavoidusingnamesthatbeginwithanunderscorecharacter. ThenamingrulesforCvariablesalsoapplytonamingotherlanguageconstructssuchasfunctionnames,structtags,andmacros,allofwhichwillbecoveredlater.
Literals
Anytimewithinaprograminwhichyouspecifyavalueexplicitlyinsteadofreferringtoavariableorsomeotherformofdata,thatvalueisreferredtoasa literal .Intheinitializationexampleabove,3isaliteral.Literalscaneithertakeaformdefinedby theirtype(moreonthatsoon),oronecanusehexadecimal(hex)notationtodirectlyinsertdataintoavariableregardlessofitstype. [citationneeded]Hexnumbersarealwaysprecededwith 0x.Fornow,though,youprobablyshouldn'tbetooconcernedwith hex.
TheFourBasicDataTypes
InStandardCtherearefourbasicdatatypes.Theyare i n t , c h a r , f l o a t ,and d o u b l e . Wewillbrieflydescribethemhere,thengointomoredetailinCProgramming/Types.
Thei n t type
The i n t typestoresintegersintheformof"wholenumbers".Anintegeristypicallythesizeofonemachineword,whichonmostmodernhomePCsis32bits(4octets).Examplesofliteralsarewholenumbers(integers)suchas1,2,3,10,100...When i n t is32bits(4octets),itcanstoreanywholenumber(integer)between2147483648and2147483647.A32bitword(number)hasthepossibilityofrepresentinganyonenumberoutof4294967296possibilities(2tothepowerof32). Ifyouwanttodeclareanewintvariable,usethe i n t keyword.Forexample:
i n tn u m b e r O f S t u d e n t s ,i ,j = 5 ;
16/118
10/24/13
Inthisdeclarationwedeclare3variables,numberOfStudents,iandj,jhereisassignedtheliteral5.
Thec h a r type
The c h a r typeiscapableofholdinganymemberoftheexecutioncharacterset.Itstoresthesamekindofdataasan i n t (i.e.integers),buttypicallyhasasizeofonebyte.Thesizeofabyteisspecifiedbythemacro C H A R _ B I T whichspecifiesthenumberof bitsinachar(byte).InstandardCitnevercanbelessthan8bits.Avariableoftype c h a r ismostoftenusedtostorecharacterdata,henceitsname.MostimplementationsusetheASCIIcharactersetastheexecutioncharacterset,butit'sbestnotto knoworcareaboutthatunlesstheactualvaluesareimportant. Examplesofcharacterliteralsare'a','b','1',etc.,aswellassomespecialcharacterssuchas'\ 0 '(thenullcharacter)and'\ n '(newline,recall"Hello,World").Notethatthe c h a r valuemustbeenclosedwithinsinglequotations. Whenweinitializeacharactervariable,wecandoittwoways.Oneispreferred,theotherwayis badprogrammingpractice. Thefirstwayistowrite
c h a rl e t t e r 1=' a ' ;
Thisis goodprogrammingpracticeinthatitallowsapersonreadingyourcodetounderstandthatletter1isbeinginitializedwiththeletter'a'tostartoffwith. Thesecondway,whichshould not beusedwhenyouarecodinglettercharacters,istowrite

c h a rl e t t e r 2=9 7 ;/ *i nA S C I I ,9 7=' a '* /
Thisisconsideredbysometobeextremely badpractice,ifweareusingittostoreacharacter,notasmallnumber,inthatifsomeonereadsyourcode,mostreadersareforcedtolookupwhatcharactercorrespondswiththenumber97intheencoding scheme.Intheend, l e t t e r 1 and l e t t e r 2 storeboththesamethingtheletter'a',butthefirstmethodisclearer,easiertodebug,andmuchmorestraightforward. Oneimportantthingtomentionisthatcharactersfornumeralsarerepresenteddifferentlyfromtheircorrespondingnumber,i.e.'1'isnotequalto1.Inshort,anysingleentrythatisenclosedwithin'singlequotes'. Thereisonemorekindofliteralthatneedstobeexplainedinconnectionwithchars:the stringliteral .Astringisaseriesofcharacters,usuallyintendedtobedisplayed.Theyaresurroundedbydoublequotations("",not'').Anexampleofastringliteral isthe"Hello,World!\n"inthe"Hello,World"example. Thestringliteralisassignedtoacharacter array,arraysaredescribedlater.Example:
c o n s tc h a rM Y _ C O N S T A N T _ P E D A N T I C _ I T C H [ ]=" l e a r nt h eu s a g ec o n t e x t . \ n " ; p r i n t f ( " S q u a r eb r a c k e t sa f t e rav a r i a b l en a m em e a n si ti sap o i n t e rt oas t r i n go fm e m o r yb l o c k st h es i z eo ft h et y p eo ft h ea r r a ye l e m e n t . \ n " ) ;
Thef l o a t type
f l o a t isshortfor floatingpoint.Itstoresrealnumbersalso,butisonlyonemachinewordinsize.Therefore,itisusedwhenlessprecisionthanadoubleprovidesisrequired. f l o a t literalsmustbesuffixedwithForf,otherwisetheywillbeinterpretedas
doubles.Examplesare:3.1415926f,4.0f,6.022e+23f. f l o a t variablescanbedeclaredusingthe f l o a t keyword.
Thed o u b l e type
The d o u b l e and f l o a t typesareverysimilar.The f l o a t typeallowsyoutostoresingleprecisionfloatingpointnumbers,whilethe d o u b l e keywordallowsyoutostoredoubleprecisionfloatingpointnumbersrealnumbers,inotherwords,bothintegerandnon integervalues.Itssizeistypicallytwomachinewords,or8bytesonmostmachines.Examplesof d o u b l e literalsare3.1415926535897932,4.0,6.022e+23(scientificnotation).Ifyouuse4insteadof4.0,the4willbeinterpretedasan i n t . Thedistinctionbetweenfloatsanddoubleswasmadebecauseofthedifferingsizesofthetwotypes.WhenCwasfirstused,spacewasataminimumandsothejudicioususeofafloatinsteadofadoublesavedsomememory.Nowadays,withmemory morefreelyavailable,youdonotreallyneedtoconservememorylikethisitmaybebettertousedoublesconsistently.Indeed,someCimplementationsusedoublesinsteadoffloatswhenyoudeclareafloatvariable. Ifyouwanttouseadoublevariable,usethe d o u b l e keyword.
s i z e o f
Ifyouhaveanydoubtsastotheamountofmemoryactuallyusedbyanyvariable(andthisgoesfortypeswe'lldiscusslater,also),youcanusethe s i z e o f operatortofindoutforsure.(Forcompleteness,itisimportanttomentionthat s i z e o f isaunary operator,notafunction.)Itssyntaxis:
s i z e o fo b j e c t s i z e o f ( t y p e )
Thetwoexpressionsabovereturnthesizeoftheobjectandtypespecified,inbytes.Thereturntypeis s i z e _ t (definedintheheader < s t d d e f . h > )whichisanunsignedvalue.Here'sanexampleusage:

s i z e _ ts i z e ; i n ti ; s i z e=s i z e o f ( i ) ;
s i z e willbesetto4,assuming C H A R _ B I T isdefinedas8,andanintegeris32bitswide.Thevalueof s i z e o f 'sresultisthenumberofbytes.
Notethatwhen s i z e o f isappliedtoa c h a r ,theresultis1thatis:
17/118
10/24/13
s i z e o f ( c h a r )
alwaysreturns1.
Datatypemodifiers
Onecanalterthedatastorageofanydatatypebyprecedingitwithcertainmodifiers.
l o n g and s h o r t aremodifiersthatmakeitpossibleforadatatypetouseeithermoreorlessmemory.The i n t keywordneednotfollowthe s h o r t and l o n g keywords.Thisismostcommonlythecase.A s h o r t canbeusedwherethevaluesfallwithinalesser
rangethanthatofan i n t ,typically32768to32767.A l o n g canbeusedtocontainanextendedrangeofvalues.Itisnotguaranteedthata s h o r t useslessmemorythanan i n t ,norisitguaranteedthata l o n g takesupmorememorythanan i n t .Itisonly guaranteedthatsizeof(short)<=sizeof(int)<=sizeof(long).Typicallya s h o r t is2bytes,an i n t is4bytes,anda l o n g either4or8bytes.ModernCcompilersalsoprovide l o n gl o n g whichistypicallyan8byteinteger. Inallofthetypesdescribedabove,onebitisusedtoindicatethesign(positiveornegative)ofavalue.Ifyoudecidethatavariablewillneverholdanegativevalue,youmayusethe u n s i g n e d modifiertousethatonebitforstoringotherdata,effectively doublingtherangeofvalueswhilemandatingthatthosevaluesbepositive.The u n s i g n e d specifieralsomaybeusedwithoutatrailing i n t ,inwhichcasethesizedefaultstothatofan i n t .Thereisalsoa s i g n e d modifierwhichistheopposite,butitisnot necessary,exceptforcertainusesof c h a r ,andseldomusedsincealltypes(except c h a r )aresignedbydefault. Touseamodifier,justdeclareavariablewiththedatatypeandrelevantmodifiers:
u n s i g n e ds h o r ti n tu s i ; / *f u l l yq u a l i f i e d-u n s i g n e ds h o r ti n t* / s h o r ts i ; / *s h o r ti n t* / u n s i g n e dl o n gu l i ; / *u n s i g n e dl o n gi n t* /
c o n s t qualifier
Whenthe c o n s t qualifierisused,thedeclaredvariablemustbeinitializedatdeclaration.Itisthennotallowedtobechanged. Whiletheideaofavariablethatneverchangesmaynotseemuseful,therearegoodreasonstouse c o n s t .Foronething,manycompilerscanperformsomesmalloptimizationsondatawhenitknowsthatdatawillneverchange.Forexample,ifyouneed thevalueofinyourcalculations,youcandeclareaconstvariableof p i ,soaprogramoranotherfunctionwrittenbysomeoneelsecannotchangethevalueof p i . NotethataStandardconformingcompilermustissueawarningifanattemptismadetochangea c o n s t variablebutafterdoingsothecompilerisfreetoignorethe c o n s t qualifier.
Magicnumbers
WhenyouwriteCprograms,youmaybetemptedtowritecodethatwilldependoncertainnumbers.Forexample,youmaybewritingaprogramforagrocerystore.Thiscomplexprogramhasthousandsuponthousandsoflinesofcode.Theprogrammer decidestorepresentthecostofacanofcorn,currently99cents,asaliteralthroughoutthecode.Now,assumethecostofacanofcornchangesto89cents.Theprogrammermustnowgoinandmanuallychangeeachentryof99centsto89.Whilethis isnotthatbigofaproblem,consideringthe"globalfindreplace"functionofmanytexteditors,consideranotherproblem:thecostofacanofgreenbeansisalsoinitially99cents.Toreliablychangetheprice,youhavetolookateveryoccurrenceofthe number99. Cpossessescertainfunctionalitytoavoidthis.Thisfunctionalityisapproximatelyequivalent,thoughonemethodcanbeusefulinonecircumstance,overanother.
Usingthec o n s t keyword
The c o n s t keywordhelpseradicate magicnumbers.Bydeclaringavariable c o n s tc o r n atthebeginningofablock,aprogrammercansimplychangethatconstandnothavetoworryaboutsettingthevalueelsewhere. Thereisalsoanothermethodforavoidingmagicnumbers.Itismuchmoreflexiblethan c o n s t ,andalsomuchmoreproblematicinmanyways.Italsoinvolvesthepreprocessor,asopposedtothecompiler.Behold...
# d e f i n e
Whenyouwriteprograms,youcancreatewhatisknownasa macro,sowhenthecomputerisreadingyourcode,itwillreplaceallinstancesofawordwiththespecifiedexpression. Here'sanexample.Ifyouwrite

# d e f i n eP R I C E _ O F _ C O R N0 . 9 9
whenyouwantto,forexample,printthepriceofcorn,youusetheword P R I C E _ O F _ C O R N insteadofthenumber0.99thepreprocessorwillreplaceallinstancesof P R I C E _ O F _ C O R N with0.99,whichthecompilerwillinterpretastheliteral d o u b l e 0.99.The preprocessorperformssubstitution,thatis, P R I C E _ O F _ C O R N isreplacedby0.99sothismeansthereisnoneedforasemicolon. Itisimportanttonotethat # d e f i n e hasbasicallythesamefunctionalityasthe"findandreplace"functioninalotoftexteditors/wordprocessors. Forsomepurposes, # d e f i n e canbeharmfullyused,anditisusuallypreferabletouse c o n s t if # d e f i n e isunnecessary.Itispossible,forinstance,to # d e f i n e ,say,amacro D O G asthenumber3,butifyoutrytoprintthemacro,thinkingthat D O G representsastring thatyoucanshowonthescreen,theprogramwillhaveanerror. # d e f i n e alsohasnoregardfortype.Itdisregardsthestructureofyourprogram,replacingthetext everywhere(ineffect,disregardingscope),whichcouldbeadvantageousinsome circumstances,butcanbethesourceofproblematicbugs. Youwillseefurtherinstancesofthe # d e f i n e directivelaterinthetext.Itisgoodconventiontowrite # d e f i n e dwordsinallcapitals,soaprogrammerwillknowthatthisisnotavariablethatyouhavedeclaredbuta # d e f i n e dmacro.Itisnotnecessarytoenda preprocessordirectivesuchas # d e f i n e withasemicoloninfact,somecompilersmaywarnyouaboutunnecessarytokensinyourcodeifyoudo.
Scope
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming/Print_version 18/118
10/24/13
IntheBasicConceptssection,theconceptofscopewasintroduced.Itisimportanttorevisitthedistinctionbetweenlocaltypesandglobaltypes,andhowtodeclarevariablesofeach.Todeclarealocalvariable,youplacethedeclarationatthebeginning (i.e.beforeanynondeclarativestatements)oftheblocktowhichthevariableisintendedtobelocal.Todeclareaglobalvariable,declarethevariableoutsideofanyblock.Ifavariableisglobal,itcanberead,andwritten,fromanywhereinyourprogram. Globalvariablesarenotconsideredgoodprogrammingpractice,andshouldbeavoidedwheneverpossible.Theyinhibitcodereadability,createnamingconflicts,wastememory,andcancreatedifficulttotracebugs.Excessiveusageofglobalsisusuallya signoflazinessand/orpoordesign.However,ifthereisasituationwherelocalvariablesmaycreatemoreobtuseandunreadablecode,there'snoshameinusingglobals.
OtherModifiers
Includedhere,forcompleteness,aremoreofthemodifiersthatstandardCprovides.Forthebeginningprogrammer, staticand externmaybeuseful. volatileismoreofinteresttoadvancedprogrammers. registerand autoarelargelydeprecatedandare generallynotofinteresttoeitherbeginningoradvancedprogrammers.
static
s t a t i c issometimesausefulkeyword.Itisacommonmisbeliefthattheonlypurposeistomakeavariablestayinmemory.
Whenyoudeclareafunctionorglobalvariableas staticitwillbecomeinternal.Youcannotaccessthefunctionorvariablethroughtheextern(seebelow)keywordfromotherfilesinyourproject. Whenyoudeclarealocalvariableas static,itiscreatedjustlikeanyothervariable.However,whenthevariablegoesoutofscope(i.e.theblockitwaslocaltoisfinished)thevariablestaysinmemory,retainingitsvalue.Thevariablestaysinmemoryuntil theprogramends.Whilethisbehaviourresemblesthatofglobalvariables,staticvariablesstillobeyscoperulesandthereforecannotbeaccessedoutsideoftheirscope. Variablesdeclaredstaticareinitializedtozero(orforpointers,NULL)bydefault. Youcanusestaticin(atleast)twodifferentways.Considerthiscode,andimagineitisinafilecalledjfile.c:

# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > s t a t i ci n tj=0 ; v o i du p ( v o i d ) { / *ki ss e tt o0w h e nt h ep r o g r a ms t a r t s .T h el i n ei st h e n" i g n o r e d " *f o rt h er e s to ft h ep r o g r a m( i . e .ki sn o ts e tt o0e v e r yt i m eu p ( ) *i sc a l l e d ) * / s t a t i ci n tk=0 ; j + + ; k + + ; p r i n t f ( " u p ( )c a l l e d . k =% 2 d ,j =% 2 d \ n " ,k,j ) ; } v o i dd o w n ( v o i d ) { s t a t i ci n tk=0 ; j ; k ; p r i n t f ( " d o w n ( )c a l l e d .k =% 2 d ,j =% 2 d \ n " ,k,j ) ; } i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ti ; / *c a l lt h eu pf u n c t i o n3t i m e s ,t h e nt h ed o w nf u n c t i o n2t i m e s* / f o r( i =0 ;i<3 ;i + + ) u p ( ) ; f o r( i =0 ;i<2 ;i + + ) d o w n ( ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Thejvarisaccessiblebybothupanddownandretainsitsvalue.Thekvarsalsoretaintheirvalue,buttheyaretwodifferentvariables,oneineachoftheirscopes.Staticvarsareagoodwaytoimplementencapsulation,atermfromtheobjectoriented wayofthinkingthateffectivelymeansnotallowingchangestobemadetoavariableexceptthroughfunctioncalls. Runningtheprogramabovewillproducethefollowingoutput:

u p ( )c a l l e d . k = 1 ,j = u p ( )c a l l e d . k = 2 ,j = u p ( )c a l l e d . k = 3 ,j = d o w n ( )c a l l e d .k =1 ,j = d o w n ( )c a l l e d .k =2 ,j = 1 2 3 2 1
Featuresof s t a t i c variables:
1 .K e y w o r du s e d -s t a t i c 2 .S t o r a g e -M e m o r y 3 .D e f a u l tv a l u e -Z e r o 4 .S c o p e -L o c a lt ot h eb l o c ki nw h i c hi ti sd e c l a r e d 5 .L i f e t i m e -V a l u ep e r s i s t sb e t w e e nd i f f e r e n tf u n c t i o nc a l l s 6 .K e y w o r do p t i o n a l i t y-M a n d a t o r yt ou s et h ek e y w o r d
19/118
10/24/13
extern
e x t e r n isusedwhenafileneedstoaccessavariableinanotherfilethatitmaynothave # i n c l u d e ddirectly.Therefore, externdoesnotactuallycarveoutspaceforanewvariable,itjustprovidesthecompilerwithsufficientinformationtoaccesstheremote
variable. Featuresof e x t e r n a l variable:

1 .K e y w o r du s e d -e x t e r n 2 .S t o r a g e -M e m o r y 3 .D e f a u l tv a l u e -Z e r o 4 .S c o p e -G l o b a l( a l lo v e rt h ep r o g r a m ) 5 .L i f e t i m e -V a l u ep e r s i s t st i l lt h ep r o g r a m ' se x e c u t i o nc o m e st oa ne n d 6 .K e y w o r do p t i o n a l i t y-O p t i o n a li fd e c l a r e do u t s i d ea l lt h ef u n c t i o n s
volatile
v o l a t i l e isaspecialtypeofmodifierwhichinformsthecompilerthatthevalueofthevariablemaybechangedbyexternalentitiesotherthantheprogramitself.Thisisnecessaryforcertainprogramscompiledwithoptimizationsifavariablewerenot
defined v o l a t i l e thenthecompilermayassumethatcertainoperationsinvolvingthevariablearesafetooptimizeawaywheninfacttheyaren't. volatileisparticularlyrelevantwhenworkingwithembeddedsystems(whereaprogrammaynothavecomplete controlofavariable)andmultithreadedapplications.
auto
a u t o isamodifierwhichspecifiesan"automatic"variablethatisautomaticallycreatedwheninscopeanddestroyedwhenoutofscope.Ifyouthinkthissoundslikeprettymuchwhatyou'vebeendoingallalongwhenyoudeclareavariable,you'reright:all
declareditemswithinablockareimplicitly"automatic".Forthisreason,the autokeywordismoreliketheanswertoatriviaquestionthanausefulmodifier,andtherearelotsofverycompetentprogrammersthatareunawareofitsexistence. Featuresof a u t o m a t i c variables:

1 .K e y w o r du s e d -a u t o 2 .S t o r a g e -M e m o r y 3 .D e f a u l tv a l u e -G a r b a g ev a l u e( r a n d o mv a l u e ) 4 .S c o p e -L o c a lt ot h eb l o c ki nw h i c hi ti sd e f i n e d 5 .L i f e t i m e -V a l u ep e r s i s t sw h i l et h ec o n t r o lr e m a i n sw i t h i nt h eb l o c k 6 .K e y w o r do p t i o n a l i t y-O p t i o n a l
register
r e g i s t e r isahinttothecompilertoattempttooptimizethestorageofthegivenvariablebystoringitinaregisterofthecomputer'sCPUwhentheprogramisrun.Mostoptimizingcompilersdothisanyway,souseofthiskeywordisoftenunnecessary.In
fact,ANSICstatesthatacompilercanignorethiskeywordifitsodesiresandmanydo.MicrosoftVisualC++isanexampleofanimplementationthatcompletelyignoresthe registerkeyword. Featuresof r e g i s t e r variables:

1 .K e y w o r du s e d -r e g i s t e r 2 .S t o r a g e -C P Ur e g i s t e r s( v a l u e sc a nb er e t r i e v e df a s t e rt h a nf r o mm e m o r y ) 3 .D e f a u l tv a l u e -G a r b a g ev a l u e 4 .S c o p e -L o c a lt ot h eb l o c ki nw h i c hi ti sd e f i n e d 5 .L i f e t i m e -V a l u ep e r s i s t sw h i l et h ec o n t r o lr e m a i n sw i t h i nt h eb l o c k 6 .K e y w o r do p t i o n a l i t y-M a n d a t o r yt ou s et h ek e y w o r d
Concepts
Variables Types DataStructures Arrays
Inthissection
Cvariables Ctypes Carrays
SimpleInputandOutput
Whenyoutaketimetoconsiderit,acomputerwouldbeprettyuselesswithoutsomewaytotalktothepeoplewhouseit.Justlikeweneedinformationinordertoaccomplishtasks,sodocomputers.Andjustaswesupplyinformationtootherssothat theycandotasks,sodocomputers.
20/118
10/24/13
Thesesuppliesandreturnsofinformationtoacomputerarecalled inputand output.'Input'isinformationsuppliedtoacomputerorprogram.'Output'isinformationprovidedbyacomputerorprogram.Frequently,computerprogrammerswilllumpthe discussioninthemoregeneralterm input/output orsimply, I/O. InC,therearemanydifferentwaysforaprogramtocommunicatewiththeuser.Amazingly,themostsimplemethodsusuallytaughttobeginningprogrammersmayalsobethemostpowerful.Inthe"Hello,World"exampleatthebeginningofthistext, wewereintroducedtoaStandardLibraryfilestdio.h,andoneofitsfunctions,printf().Herewediscussmoreofthefunctionsthatstdio.hgivesus.
Outputusingprintf()
Recallfromthebeginningofthistextthedemonstrationprogramduplicatedbelow:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,w o r l d ! \ n " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Ifyoucompileandrunthisprogram,youwillseethesentencebelowshowuponyourscreen:
H e l l o ,w o r l d !
Thisamazingaccomplishmentwasachievedbyusingthe function p r i n t f ( ) .Afunctionislikea"blackbox"thatdoessomethingforyouwithoutexposingtheinternalsinside.WecanwritefunctionsourselvesinC,butwewillcoverthatlater. Youhaveseenthattouse p r i n t f ( ) oneputstext,surroundedbyquotes,inbetweentheparentheses.Wecallthetextsurroundedbyquotesa literalstring(orjusta string),andwecallthatstringan argument toprintf. Asanoteofexplanation,itissometimesconvenienttoincludetheopenandclosingparenthesesafterafunctionnametoremindusthatitis,indeed,afunction.Howeverusuallywhenthenameofthefunctionwearetalkingaboutisunderstood,itisnot necessary. Asyoucanseeintheexampleabove,using p r i n t f ( ) canbeassimpleastypinginsometext,surroundedbydoublequotes(notethatthesearedoublequotesandnottwosinglequotes).So,forexample,youcanprintanystringbyplacingitasan argumenttothe p r i n t f ( ) function:
p r i n t f ( " T h i ss e n t e n c ew i l lp r i n to u te x a c t l ya sy o us e ei t . . . " ) ;
Andonceitiscontainedinaproper m a i n ( ) function,itwillshow:
T h i ss e n t e n c ew i l lp r i n to u te x a c t l ya sy o us e ei t . . .
Printingnumbersandescapesequences
Placeholdercodes The p r i n t f functionisapowerfulfunction,andisprobablythemostusedfunctioninCprograms. Forexample,letuslookataproblem.Saywedon'tknowwhat19+31is.Let'suseCtogettheanswer. Westartwriting
# i n c l u d e" s t d i o . h "/ /t h i si si m p o r t a n t ,s i n c ep r i n t f / /c a n ' tb eu s e dw i t h o u tt h i sl i n e
i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) {
21/118
10/24/13
p r i n t f ( " 1 9 + 3 1i s " ) ;
butherewearestuck! p r i n t f onlyprintsstrings!Thankfully,printfhasmethodsforprintingnumbers.Whatwedoisputa placeholderformatcodeinthestring.Wewrite:

p r i n t f ( " 1 9 + 3 1i s% d " ,1 9 + 3 1 ) ;
Theplaceholder%dliterally"holdstheplace"fortheactualnumberthatistheresultofadding19to31. Theseplaceholdersarecalled formatspecifiers.Manyotherformatspecifiersworkwith p r i n t f .Ifwehaveafloatingpointnumber,wecanuse % f toprintoutafloatingpointnumber,decimalpointandall.Otherformatspecifiersare: %dint(sameas%i) %ldlongint(sameas%li) %ffloat %lfdouble %cchar %sstring %xhexadecimal Tabsandnewlines Whatif,wewanttoachievesomeoutputthatwilllooklike:
1 9 0 5 3 1 2+ -
p r i n t f willnotputlinebreaksinattheendofeachstatement:wemustdothisourselves.Buthow?
Whatwecandoisusethenewline escapecharacter.Anescapecharacterisaspecialcharacterthatwecanwritebutwilldosomethingspecialonscreen,suchasmakeabeep,writeatab,andsoon.Towriteanewlinewewrite \ n .Allescapecharacters startwithabackslash. Sotoachievetheoutputabove,wewrite

p r i n t f ( "1 9 0 5 \ n 3 1 2+ \ n \ n " ) ;
ortobeabitmoreclear,wecanbreakthislongprintfstatementoverseverallines.Soourprogramwillbe
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { p r i n t f ( "1 9 0 5 \ n " ) ; p r i n t f ( " 3 1 2+ \ n " ) ; p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; p r i n t f ( " % d " ,1 9 0 5 + 3 1 2 ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Thereareotherescapecharacterswecanuse.Anothercommononeistouse \ t towriteatab.Youcanuse \ a toringthecomputer'sbell,butyoushouldnotusethisverymuchinyourprograms,asexcessiveuseofsoundisnotveryfriendlytothe user.Media:CProgramming/Printversion
Otheroutputmethods
puts()
Theputs()functionisaverysimplewaytosendastringtothescreenwhenyouhavenoplaceholderstobeconcernedabout.Itworksverymuchliketheprintf()functionwesawinthe"Hello,World!"example:
p u t s ( " P r i n tt h i ss t r i n g . " ) ;
willprinttothescreen:
P r i n tt h i ss t r i n g .
22/118
10/24/13
followedbythenewlinecharacter(asdiscussedabove).(The p u t s functionappendsanewlinecharactertoitsoutput.)
# i n c l u d e < s t d i o . h > f ( i n ti , i n tj , i n tk ) { p r i n t f ( " % d % d % d " , i , j , k ) ; } m a i n ( ) { i n tx = 1 , y = 2 , z = 3 ; f ( x + y , y = x + z , z = x + y ) ; }
Inputusingscanf()
Thescanf()functionistheinputmethodequivalenttotheprintf()outputfunctionsimpleyetpowerful.Initssimplestinvocation,thescanf formatstringholdsasingle placeholderrepresentingthetypeofvaluethatwillbeenteredbytheuser.These placeholdersareexactlythesameastheprintf()function%dforints,%fforfloats,and%lffordoubles. Thereis,however,onevariationtoscanf()ascomparedtoprintf().Thescanf()functionrequiresthememoryaddressofthevariabletowhichyouwanttosavetheinputvalue.While pointersarepossiblehere,thisisaconceptthatwon'tbeapproached untillaterinthetext.Instead,thesimpletechniqueistousethe addressof operator, &.Fornowitmaybebesttoconsiderthis"magic"beforewediscusspointers. Atypicalapplicationmightbelikethis:
# i n c l u d e" s t d i o . h " i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ta ; p r i n t f ( " P l e a s ei n p u ta ni n t e g e rv a l u e :" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " ,& a ) ; p r i n t f ( " Y o ue n t e r e d :% d \ n " ,a ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Ifyouweretodescribetheeffectofthescanf()functioncallabove,itmightreadas:"Readinanintegerfromtheuserandstoreitattheaddressofvariable a". Ifyouaretryingtoinputa stringusing scanf ,youshould notincludethe&operator.Thecodebelowwillnotcompile.

s c a n f ( " % s " ,& a ) ;
Thecorrectusagewouldbe:
s c a n f ( " % s " ,a ) ;
Thisisbecause,wheneveryouuseaformatspecifierforastring(%s),thevariablethatyouusetostorethevaluewillbeanarrayand,thearraynames(inthiscasea)themselvespointouttotheirbaseaddressandhence,the addressofoperatoris notrequired. (Although,thisisvulnerabletoBufferoverflow.fgets()ispreferredtoscanf()). Noteoninputs:Whendataistypedatakeyboard,theinformationdoesnotgostraighttotheprogramthatisrunning.Itisfirststoredinwhatisknownasa bufferasmallamountofmemoryreservedfortheinputsource.Sometimestherewillbedata leftinthebufferwhentheprogramwantstoreadfromtheinputsource,andthescanf()functionwillreadthisdatainsteadofwaitingfortheusertotypesomething.Somemaysuggestyouusethefunctionfflush(stdin),whichmayworkasdesiredon somecomputers,butisn'tconsideredgoodpractice,asyouwillseelater.Doingthishasthedownfallthatifyoutakeyourcodetoadifferentcomputerwithadifferentcompiler,yourcodemaynotworkproperly.
Links
Backtocontents:BeginningC
Simplemath
OperatorsandAssignments
Chasawiderangeofoperatorsthatmakesimplematheasytohandle.Thelistofoperatorsgroupedintoprecedencelevelsisasfollows:
Primaryexpressions
Anidentifierisaprimaryexpression,providedthatithasbeendeclaredasdesignatinganobject(inwhichcaseitisanlvalue[avaluethatcanbeusedastheleftsideofanassignmentexpression])orafunction(inwhichcaseitisafunctiondesignator). Aconstantisaprimaryexpression.Itstypedependsonitsformandvalue.
23/118
10/24/13
Astringliteralisaprimaryexpression.
Aparenthesizedexpressionisaprimaryexpression.Itstypeandvaluearethoseoftheunparenthesizedexpression.
Postfixoperators
First,aprimaryexpressionisalsoapostfixexpression.Thefollowingexpressionsarealsopostfixexpressions: Apostfixexpressionfollowedbyaleftsquarebracket([ ),anexpression,andarightsquarebracket(] )constitutesaninvocationofthearraysubscriptoperator.Oneoftheexpressionsshallhavetype"pointertoobject type"andtheothershallhavean integertypetheresulttypeis type.Successivearraysubscriptoperatorsdesignateanelementofamultidimensionalarray. Apostfixexpressionfollowedbyparenthesesoranoptionalparenthesizedargumentlistindicatesaninvocationofthefunctioncalloperator. Apostfixexpressionfollowedbyadot(. )followedbyanidentifierselectsamemberfromastructureorunionapostfixexpressionfollowedbyanarrow(> )followedbyanidentifierselectsamemberfromastructureorunionwhoispointedtobythe pointeronthelefthandsideoftheexpression. Apostfixexpressionfollowedbytheincrementordecrementoperators(+ + or )indicatesthatthevariableistobeincrementedordecrementedasasideeffect.Thevalueoftheexpressionisthevalueofthepostfixexpression beforetheincrementor decrement.
Unaryexpressions
First,aunaryexpressionisapostfixexpression.Thefollowingexpressionsareallpostfixexpressions: Theincrementordecrementoperatorsfollowedbyaunaryexpressionisaunaryexpression.Thevalueoftheexpressionisthevalueoftheunaryexpression aftertheincrementordecrement. Thefollowingoperatorsfollowedbyacastexpressionareunaryexpressions:
O p e r a t o r = = = = = = = = & * + ! ~ M e a n i n g = = = = = = = A d d r e s s o f ;v a l u ei st h el o c a t i o no ft h eo p e r a n d C o n t e n t s o f ;v a l u ei sw h a ti ss t o r e da tt h el o c a t i o n N e g a t i o n V a l u e o fo p e r a t o r L o g i c a ln e g a t i o n(( ! E )i se q u i v a l e n tt o( 0 = = E )) B i t w i s ec o m p l e m e n t
Thekeyword s i z e o f followedbyaunaryexpressionisaunaryexpression.Thevalueisthesizeofthetypeoftheexpressioninbytes.Theexpressionisnotevaluated. Thekeyword s i z e o f followedbyaparenthesizedtypenameisaunaryexpression.Thevalueisthesizeofthetypeinbytes.
Castoperators
Acastexpressionisaunaryexpression. Aparenthesizedtypenamefollowedbyacastexpressionisacastexpression.Theparenthesizedtypenamehastheeffectofforcingthecastexpressionintothetypespecifiedbythetypenameinparentheses.Forarithmetictypes,thiseitherdoesnot changethevalueoftheexpression,ortruncatesthevalueoftheexpressioniftheexpressionisanintegerandthenewtypeissmallerthantheprevioustype. Anexampleofcastingafloatasanint:
f l o a tp i=3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 ; i n tt r u n c a t e d _ p i=( i n t ) p i ;/ /t r u n c a t e d _ p i= =3
Anexampleofcastingacharasanint:
c h a rm y _ c h a r=' A ' ; i n tm y _ i n t=( i n t ) m y _ c h a r ;/ /m y _ i n t= =6 5 ,w h i c hi st h eA S C I Iv a l u eo f' A '
Multiplicativeandadditiveoperators
InC,simplemathisveryeasytohandle.Thefollowingoperatorsexist:+(addition),(subtraction),*(multiplication),/(division),and%(modulus)Youlikelyknowallofthemfromyourmathclassesexcept,perhaps,modulus.Itreturnsthe remainder ofadivision(e.g.5%2=1). Caremustbetakenwiththemodulus,becauseit'snottheequivalentofthemathematicalmodulus:(5)%2isnot1,but1.Divisionofintegerswillreturnaninteger,andthedivisionofanegativeintegerbyapositiveintegerwillroundtowardszero insteadofroundingdown(e.g.(5)/3=1insteadof2). Thereisnoinlineoperatortodothepower(e.g.5^2is not25,and5**2isanerror),butthereisapowerfunction. Themathematicalorderofoperationsdoesapply.Forexample(2+3)*2=10while2+3*2=8.Multiplicativeoperatorshaveprecedenceoveradditiveoperators.
24/118
10/24/13
i n tm a i n ( ) { i n ti=0 ,j=0 ; / *w h i l eii sl e s st h a n5A N Dji sl e s st h a n5 ,l o o p* / w h i l e (( i<5 )& &( j<5 )) { / *p o s t f i xi n c r e m e n t ,i + + * t h ev a l u eo fii sr e a da n dt h e ni n c r e m e n t e d * / p r i n t f ( " i :% d \ t " ,i + + ) ; / * *p r e f i xi n c r e m e n t ,+ + j * t h ev a l u eo fji si n c r e m e n t e da n dt h e nr e a d * / p r i n t f ( " j :% d \ n " ,+ + j ) ; } p r i n t f ( " A tt h ee n dt h e yh a v eb o t he q u a lv a l u e s : \ n i :% d \ t j :% d \ n " ,i ,j ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
willdisplaythefollowing:
i :0 j :1 i :1 j :2 i :2 j :3 i :3 j :4 i :4 j :5 A tt h ee n dt h e yh a v eb o t he q u a lv a l u e s : i :5 j :5
shiftandrotate
ShiftfunctionsareoftenusedinlowlevelI/Ohardwareinterfacing.Shiftandrotatefunctionsareheavilyusedincryptographyandsoftwarefloatingpointemulation.Otherthanthat,shiftscanbeusedinplaceofdivisionormultiplicationbyapowerof two.ManyprocessorshavededicatedfunctionblockstomaketheseoperationsfastseeMicroprocessorDesign/ShiftandRotateBlocks.Onprocessorswhichhavesuchblocks,mostCcompilerscompileshiftandrotateoperatorstoasingleassembly languageinstructionseeX86Assembly/ShiftandRotate. shiftleft The < < operatorshiftsthebinaryrepresentationtotheleft,droppingthemostsignificantbitsandappendingitwithzerobits.Theresultisequivalenttomultiplyingtheintegerbyapoweroftwo. unsignedshiftright Theunsignedshiftrightoperator,alsosometimescalledthelogicalrightshiftoperator.Itshiftsthebinaryrepresentationtotheright,droppingtheleastsignificantbitsandprependingitwithzeros.The > > operatorisequivalenttodivisionbyapowerof twoforunsignedintegers. signedshiftright Thesignedshiftrightoperator,alsosometimescalledthearithmeticrightshiftoperator.Itshiftsthebinaryrepresentationtotheright,droppingtheleastsignificantbit,butprependingitwithcopiesoftheoriginalsignbit.The > > operatorisnotequivalent todivisionforsignedintegers. InC,thebehaviorofthe > > operatordependsonthedatatypeitactson.Therefore,asignedandanunsignedrightshiftlooksexactlythesame,butproducesadifferentresultinsomecases. rotateright Contrarytopopularbelief,itispossibletowriteCcodethatcompilesdowntothe"rotate"assemblylanguageinstruction(onCPUsthathavesuchaninstruction). Mostcompilersrecognizethisidiom:
u n s i g n e di n tx ; u n s i g n e di n ty ; / *. . .* / y=( x> >s h i f t )|( x< <( 3 2-s h i f t ) ) ;
andcompileittoasingle32bitrotateinstruction. [1] [2] Onsomesystems,thismaybe"#define"edasamacroordefinedasaninlinefunctioncalledsomethinglike"rightrotate32"or"rotr32"or"ror32"inastandardheaderfilelike"bitops.h". [3]
25/118
10/24/13
rotateleft Mostcompilersrecognizethisidiom:
u n s i g n e di n tx ; u n s i g n e di n ty ; / *. . .* / y=( x< <s h i f t )|( x> >( 3 2-s h i f t ) ) ;
andcompileittoasingle32bitrotateinstruction. Onsomesystems,thismaybe"#define"edasamacroordefinedasaninlinefunctioncalledsomethinglike"leftrotate32"or"rotl32"inaheaderfilelike"bitops.h".
Relationalandequalityoperators
Therelationalbinaryoperators < (lessthan), > (greaterthan), < = (lessthanorequal),and > = (greaterthanorequal)operatorsreturnavalueof1iftheresultoftheoperationistrue,0iffalse. Theequalitybinaryoperators = = (equals)and ! = (notequals)operatorsaresimilartotherelationaloperatorsexceptthattheirprecedenceislower.
Bitwiseoperators
Thebitwiseoperatorsare & (and), ^ (exclusiveor)and | (inclusiveor).The & operatorhashigherprecedencethan ^ ,whichhashigherprecedencethan | .
Logicaloperators
Thelogicaloperatorsare & & (and),and | | (or).Bothoftheseoperatorsproduce1iftherelationshipistrueand0forfalse.Bothoftheseoperatorsshortcircuitiftheresultoftheexpressioncanbedeterminedfromthefirstoperand,thesecondisignored.
& & isusedtoevaluateexpressionslefttoright,andreturnsa1if bothstatementsaretrue.
i n tx=7 ; i n ty=5 ; i f ( x= =7& &y= =5 ){ . . . }
Here,the&&operatorcheckstheleftmostexpression,thentheexpressiontoit'sright.Sincebothstatementsreturntrue,the&&operatorreturnstrue,andthecodeblockisexecuted.
i f ( x= =5& &y= =5 ){ . . . }
The&&operatorchecksinthesamewayasbefore,andfindsthatthefirstexpressionisfalse.The&&operatorstopsevaluatingassoonasitfindsastatementtobefalse,andreturnsafalse.
| | isusedtoevaluateexpressionslefttoright,andreturnsa1if eitheroftheexpressionsaretrue.
/ *U s et h es a m ev a r i a b l e sa sb e f o r e .* / i f ( x= =2| |y= =5 ){/ /t h e| |s t a t e m e n tc h e c k sb o t he x p r e s s i o n s ,f i n d st h a tt h el a t t e ri st r u e ,a n dr e t u r n st r u e . . . }
The | | operatorherecheckstheleftmostexpression,findsitfalse,butcontinuestoevaluatethenextexpression.Itfindsthatthenextexpressionreturnstrue,stops,andreturnsa1.Muchhowthe & & operatorceaseswhenitfindsanexpressionthat returnsfalse,the | | operatorceaseswhenitfindsanexpressionthatreturnstrue. ItisworthnotingthatCdoesnothaveBooleanvalues(trueandfalse)commonlyfoundinotherlanguages.Itinsteadinterpretsa0asfalse,andanynonzerovalueastrue.
Conditionaloperators
Theternary ? : operatoristheconditionaloperator.Theexpression ( x?y:z ) hasthevalueof y if x isnonzero, z otherwise. Example:
i n tx=0 ; i n ty ; y=( x?1 0 : 6 ) ;
26/118
10/24/13
Theexpression x evaluatesto0.Theternaryoperatorthenlooksforthe"iffalse"value,whichinthiscase,is6.Itreturnsthat,so y isequaltosix.Had x beenanonzero,thentheexpressionwouldhavereturneda10.
Assignmentoperators
Theassignmentoperatorsare = , * = , / = , % = , + = , = , < < = , > > = , & = , ^ = ,and | = .The = operatorstoresthevalueoftherightoperandintothelocationdeterminedbytheleftoperand,whichmustbeanlvalue Fortheothers, xo p =y isshorthandfor x=xo p( y ) .Hence,thefollowingexpressionsarethesame:
1 .x+ =y 2 .x=y 3 .x* =y 4 .x/ =y 5 .x% =y x=x + y x=x y x=x * y x=x / y x=x % y
Commaoperator
Theoperatorwiththeleastprecedenceisthecommaoperator.Thevalueoftheexpression x ,y willevaluateboth x and y ,butprovidesthevalueof y . Thisoperatorisusefulforincludingmultipleactionsinonestatement(e.g.withinaforloopconditional). Herearesomesmallexamplesofthecommaoperator:
i n ti ,x ; / *d e c l a r e st w oi n t s ,ia n dx ,i no n es t a t e m e n t* /
/ *t h i sl o o pi n i t i a l i z e sxa n dit o0 ,t h e nr u n st h el o o p* / f o r ( x=0 ,i=0 ;i< =6 ;i + + ){ p r i n t f ( " x=% d ,a n di=% d \ n " ,x ,i ) ; }
1. Severalprogrammersrecommend"usespacesforindentation.Donotusetabsinyourcode.Youshouldsetyoureditortoemitspaceswhenyouhitthetabkey."[1](http://googlestyleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml)[2] (http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabsvsspaces.html)Otherprogrammersdisagree.[3](http://diagrammesmodernes.blogspot.com/2006/04/tabversusspaces.html)[4](http://www.derkarl.org/why_to_tabs.html)Regardlessofwhetheryoupreferspacesor tabs,makesureyoukeepitconsistentwithprojectsyouareworkingon,becausemixingtabsandspacescancausecodetobecomeunreadable. 2. [5](http://www.oualline.com/vimcook.html#drawing) 3. [http://lxr.linux.no/#linux+v2.6.31/Documentation/CodingStyleLinuxKernelcodingstandard 4. "CodingConventionsforC++andJava"(http://www.macadamian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=37)"alltheblockcommentsillustratedinthisdocumenthavenoprettystarsontherightsideoftheblockcomment. Thisdeliberatechoicewasmadebecausealigningthoseprettystarsisalargewasteoftimeanddiscouragesthemaintenanceofinlinecomments.", 5. wiki:BigBlocksOfAsterisks,"Codecraft"(http://books.google.com/books? id=i4zCzpkrt4sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=programming+comment+block+waste+time+lining+up&source=bl&ots=TUpTMIHBnh&sig=NeZm23WPmvnw2aKMnIRUeQoHmJg&hl=en&ei=pri3SevGIYGyNMn9jd4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result) byPeteGoodliffepage82,Falvotech"CProgrammingStyleGuide"(http://www.falvotech.com/content/publications/conventions/c/),FedoraDirectoryServerCodingStyle(http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Coding_Style)
Furthermath
The < m a t h . h > headercontainsprototypesforseveralfunctionsthatdealwithmathematics.Inthe1990versionoftheISOstandard,onlythe d o u b l e versionsofthefunctionswerespecifiedthe1999versionaddedthe f l o a t and l o n gd o u b l e versions.Touse thesemathfunctions,youmustlinkyourprogramwiththemathlibrary.Forsomecompilers(includingGCC),youmustspecifytheadditionalparameter l m . Thefunctionscanbegroupedintothefollowingcategories:
Trigonometricfunctions
Thea c o s anda s i n functions
The a c o s functionsreturnthearccosineoftheirargumentsinradians,andthe a s i n functionsreturnthearcsineoftheirargumentsinradians.Allfunctionsexpecttheargumentintherange[1,+1].Thearccosinereturnsavalueintherange[0,]the arcsinereturnsavalueintherange[/2,+/2].
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a ta s i n f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ta c o s f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ea s i n ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l ea c o s ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ea s i n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ea c o s l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thea t a n anda t a n 2 functions

The a t a n functionsreturnthearctangentoftheirargumentsinradians,andthe a t a n 2 functionreturnthearctangentof y / x inradians.The a t a n functionsreturnavalueintherange[/2,+/2](thereasonwhy/2areincludedintherangeisbecausethe floatingpointvaluemayrepresentinfinity,andatan()=/2)the a t a n 2 functionsreturnavalueintherange[/2,+/2].For a t a n 2 ,adomainerrormayoccurifbothargumentsarezero.
27/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a ta t a n f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ta t a n 2 f ( f l o a ty ,f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ea t a n ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l ea t a n 2 ( d o u b l ey ,d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ea t a n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ea t a n 2 l ( l o n gd o u b l ey ,l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thec o s ,s i n ,andt a n functions

The c o s , s i n ,and t a n functionsreturnthecosine,sine,andtangentoftheargument,expressedinradians.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tc o s f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ts i n f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tt a n f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ec o s ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l es i n ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l et a n ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ec o s l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l es i n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l et a n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Hyperbolicfunctions
The c o s h , s i n h and t a n h functionscomputethehyperboliccosine,thehyperbolicsine,andthehyperbolictangentoftheargumentrespectively.Forthehyperbolicsineandcosinefunctions,arangeerroroccursifthemagnitudeoftheargumentistoolarge. The a c o s h functionscomputetheinversehyperboliccosineoftheargument.Adomainerroroccursforargumentslessthan1. The a s i n h functionscomputetheinversehyperbolicsineoftheargument. The a t a n h functionscomputetheinversehyperbolictangentoftheargument.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisnotintheinterval[1,+1].Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentequals1or+1.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tc o s h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ts i n h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tt a n h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ec o s h ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l es i n h ( d o u b l ex ) ; d o u b l et a n h ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ec o s h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l es i n h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l et a n h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ta c o s h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ta s i n h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ta t a n h f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ea c o s h ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ea s i n h ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ea t a n h ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ea c o s h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ea s i n h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ea t a n h l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Exponentialandlogarithmicfunctions
Thee x p ,e x p 2 ,ande x p m 1 functions
The e x p functionscomputethebaseeexponentialfunctionof x (ex).Arangeerroroccursifthemagnitudeof x istoolarge. The e x p 2 functionscomputethebase2exponentialfunctionof x (2x).Arangeerroroccursifthemagnitudeof x istoolarge. The e x p m 1 functionscomputethebaseeexponentialfunctionoftheargument,minus1.Arangeerroroccursinthemagnitudeof x istoolarge.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a te x p f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ee x p ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ee x p l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a te x p 2 f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ee x p 2 ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ee x p 2 l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a te x p m 1 f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ee x p m 1 ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ee x p m 1 l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
28/118
10/24/13
Thef r e x p ,l d e x p ,m o d f ,s c a l b n ,ands c a l b l n functions
Thesefunctionsareheavilyusedinsoftwarefloatingpointemulators,butareotherwiserarelydirectlycalled. Insidethecomputer,eachfloatingpointnumberisrepresentedbytwoparts: Thesignificandiseitherintherange[1/2,1),oritequalszero. Theexponentisaninteger. Thevalueofafloatingpointnumber is .
The f r e x p functionsbreaktheargumentfloatingpointnumber v a l u e intothosetwoparts,theexponentandsignificand.Afterbreakingitapart,itstorestheexponentinthe i n t objectpointedtoby e x ,andreturnsthesignificand.Inotherwords,thevalue returnedisacopyofthegivenfloatingpointnumberbutwithanexponentreplacedby0.If v a l u e iszero,bothpartsoftheresultarezero. The l d e x p functionsmultiplyafloatingpointnumberbyaintegralpowerof2andreturntheresult.Inotherwords,itreturnscopyofthegivenfloatingpointnumberwiththeexponentincreasedbyex.Arangeerrormayoccur. The m o d f functionsbreaktheargument v a l u e intointegerandfractionparts,eachofwhichhasthesamesignastheargument.Theystoretheintegerpartintheobjectpointedtoby * i p t r andreturnthefractionpart.The * i p t r isafloatingpointtype,rather thanan"int"type,becauseitmightbeusedtostoreanintegerlike1000000000000000000000whichistoobigtofitinanint.
n The s c a l b n and s c a l b l n compute x F L T _ R A D I X . F L T _ R A D I X isthebaseofthefloatingpointsystemifitis2,thefunctionsareequivalentto l d e x p .
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tf r e x p f ( f l o a tv a l u e ,i n t* e x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ef r e x p ( d o u b l ev a l u e ,i n t* e x ) ; l o n gd o u b l ef r e x p l ( l o n gd o u b l ev a l u e ,i n t* e x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl d e x p f ( f l o a tx ,i n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el d e x p ( d o u b l ex ,i n te x ) ; l o n gd o u b l el d e x p l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,i n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tm o d f f ( f l o a tv a l u e ,f l o a t* i p t r ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l em o d f ( d o u b l ev a l u e ,d o u b l e* i p t r ) ; l o n gd o u b l em o d f l ( l o n gd o u b l ev a l u e ,l o n gd o u b l e* i p t r ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ts c a l b n f ( f l o a tx ,i n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l es c a l b n ( d o u b l ex ,i n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l es c a l b n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,i n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a ts c a l b l n f ( f l o a tx ,l o n gi n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l es c a l b l n ( d o u b l ex ,l o n gi n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l es c a l b l n l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gi n te x ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
MostCfloatingpointlibrariesalsoimplementtheIEEE754recommendednextafter(),nextUp(),andnextDown()functions.[6](http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/nextafter.html)
Thel o g ,l o g 2 ,l o g 1 p ,andl o g 1 0 functions

The l o g functionscomputethebaseenatural(notcommon)logarithmoftheargumentandreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisnegative.Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentiszero. The l o g 1 p functionscomputethebaseenatural(notcommon)logarithmofoneplustheargumentandreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentislessthan1.Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentis1. The l o g 1 0 functionscomputethecommon(base10)logarithmoftheargumentandreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisnegative.Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentiszero. The l o g 2 functionscomputethebase2logarithmoftheargumentandreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisnegative.Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentiszero.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tl o g f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el o g ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l el o g l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl o g 1 p f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el o g 1 p ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l el o g 1 p l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl o g 1 0 f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el o g 1 0 ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l el o g 1 0 l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl o g 2 f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el o g 2 ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l el o g 2 l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thei l o g b andl o g b functions

The i l o g b functionsextracttheexponentof x asasignedintvalue.If x iszero,theyreturnthevalue F P _ I L O G B 0 if x isinfinite,theyreturnthevalue I N T _ M A X if x isnotanumbertheyreturnthevalue F P _ I L O G B N A N otherwise,theyareequivalenttocallingthe corresponding l o g b functionandcastingthereturnedvaluetotype i n t .Arangeerrormayoccurif x iszero. F P _ I L O G B 0 and F P _ I L O G B N A N aremacrosdefinedin m a t h . h I N T _ M A X isamacrodefinedin l i m i t s . h .
l o g b ( x ) The l o g b functionsextracttheexponentof x asasignedintegervalueinfloatingpointformat.If x issubnormal,itistreatedasifitwerenormalizedthus,forpositivefinite x ,1 x F L T _ R A D I X < F L T _ R A D I X . F L T _ R A D I X istheradixforfloatingpointnumbers, definedinthe f l o a t . h header.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > i n ti l o g b f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
29/118
10/24/13
i n ti l o g b ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / i n td o u b l ei l o g b l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl o g b f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el o g b ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l el o g b l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Powerfunctions
Thep o w functions
The p o w functionscompute x raisedtothepower y andreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursif x isnegativeand y isnotanintegralvalue.Adomainerroroccursiftheresultcannotberepresentedwhen x iszeroand y islessthanorequaltozero.A rangeerrormayoccur.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tp o w f ( f l o a tx ,f l o a ty ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ep o w ( d o u b l ex ,d o u b l ey ) ; l o n gd o u b l ep o w l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gd o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thes q r t functions
The s q r t functionscomputethepositivesquarerootof x andreturntheresult.Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisnegative.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a ts q r t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l es q r t ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l es q r t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thec b r t functions
The c b r t functionscomputethecuberootof x andreturntheresult.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tc b r t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ec b r t ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ec b r t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Theh y p o t functions
The h y p o t functionscomputethesquarerootofthesumsofthesquaresof x and y ,withoutoverfloworunderflow,andreturntheresult.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a th y p o t f ( f l o a tx ,f l o a ty ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l eh y p o t ( d o u b l ex ,d o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l eh y p o t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gd o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Nearestinteger,absolutevalue,andremainderfunctions
Thec e i l andf l o o r functions
The c e i l functionscomputethesmallestintegralvaluenotlessthan x andreturntheresultthe f l o o r functionscomputethelargestintegralvaluenotgreaterthan x andreturntheresult.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tc e i l f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ec e i l ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ec e i l l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tf l o o r f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ef l o o r ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ef l o o r l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thef a b s functions
The f a b s functionscomputetheabsolutevalueofafloatingpointnumber x andreturntheresult.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tf a b s f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ef a b s ( d o u b l ex ) ; l o n gd o u b l ef a b s l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
30/118
10/24/13
Thef m o d functions
The f m o d functionscomputethefloatingpointremainderof x / y andreturnthevalue x i* y ,forsomeinteger isuchthat,if y isnonzero,theresulthasthesamesignas x andmagnitudelessthanthemagnitudeof y .If y iszero,whetheradomainerror occursorthe f m o d functionsreturnzeroisimplementationdefined.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tf m o d f ( f l o a tx ,f l o a ty ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ef m o d ( d o u b l ex ,d o u b l ey ) ; l o n gd o u b l ef m o d l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gd o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Then e a r b y i n t ,r i n t ,l r i n t ,andl l r i n t functions

The n e a r b y i n t functionsroundtheirargumenttoanintegervalueinfloatingpointformat,usingthecurrentroundingdirectionandwithoutraisingthe"inexact"floatingpointexception. The r i n t functionsaresimilartothe n e a r b y i n t functionsexceptthattheycanraisethe"inexact"floatingpointexceptioniftheresultdiffersinvaluefromtheargument. The l r i n t and l l r i n t functionsroundtheirargumentstothenearestintegervalueaccordingtothecurrentroundingdirection.Iftheresultisoutsidetherangeofvaluesofthereturntype,thenumericresultisundefinedandarangeerrormayoccurifthe magnitudeoftheargumentistoolarge.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tn e a r b y i n t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l en e a r b y i n t ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l en e a r b y i n t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tr i n t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l er i n t ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l er i n t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r i n t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r i n t ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r i n t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r i n t f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r i n t ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r i n t l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Ther o u n d ,l r o u n d ,andl l r o u n d functions

The r o u n d functionsroundtheargumenttothenearestintegervalueinfloatingpointformat,roundinghalfwaycasesawayfromzero,regardlessofthecurrentroundingdirection. The l r o u n d and l l r o u n d functionsroundtheargumenttothenearestintegervalue,roundinghalfwaycasesawayfromzero,regardlessofthecurrentroundingdirection.Iftheresultisoutsidetherangeofvaluesofthereturntype,thenumericresultis undefinedandarangeerrormayoccurifthemagnitudeoftheargumentistoolarge.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tr o u n d f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l er o u n d ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l er o u n d l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r o u n d f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r o u n d ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gi n tl r o u n d l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r o u n d f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r o u n d ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gl o n gi n tl l r o u n d l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Thet r u n c functions
The t r u n c functionsroundtheirargumenttotheintegervalueinfloatingpointformatthatisnearestbutnolargerinmagnitudethantheargument.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tt r u n c f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l et r u n c ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l et r u n c l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Ther e m a i n d e r functions
The r e m a i n d e r functionscomputetheremainder x REM y asdefinedbyIEC60559.Thedefinitionreads,"When y0,theremainder r= xREM yisdefinedregardlessoftheroundingmodebythemathematicalreduction r= x ny,where nistheinteger nearesttheexactvalueof x/ ywhenever|n x/ y|=,then niseven.Thus,theremainderisalwaysexact.If r=0,itssignshallbethatof x."Thisdefinitionisapplicableforallimplementations.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tr e m a i n d e r f ( f l o a tx ,f l o a ty ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l er e m a i n d e r ( d o u b l ex ,d o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l er e m a i n d e r l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gd o u b l ey ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Ther e m q u o functions
31/118
10/24/13
The r e m q u o functionsreturnthesameremainderasthe r e m a i n d e r functions.Intheobjectpointedtoby q u o ,theystoreavaluewhosesignisthesignof x /y andwhosemagnitudeiscongruentmodulo2ntothemagnitudeoftheintegralquotientof x /y ,where n isanimplementationdefinedintegergreaterthanorequalto3.

# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a tr e m q u o f ( f l o a tx ,f l o a ty ,i n t* q u o ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l er e m q u o ( d o u b l ex ,d o u b l ey ,i n t* q u o ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l er e m q u o l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ,l o n gd o u b l ey ,i n t* q u o ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
Errorandgammafunctions
The e r f functionscomputetheerrorfunctionoftheargument(2/() 0x et dt)the e r f c functionscomputethecomplimentaryerrorfunctionoftheargument(thatis,1erfx).Forthe e r f c functions,arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentistoolarge. The l g a m m a functionscomputethenaturallogarithmoftheabsolutevalueofthegammaoftheargument(thatis,loge|(x)|).Arangeerrormayoccuriftheargumentisanegativeintegerorzero. The t g a m m a functionscomputethegammaoftheargument(thatis,(x)).Adomainerroroccursiftheargumentisanegativeintegeroriftheresultcannotberepresentedwhentheargumentiszero.Arangeerrormayoccur.
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > f l o a te r f f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ee r f ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ee r f l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a te r f c f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l ee r f c ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l ee r f c l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tl g a m m a f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l el g a m m a ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l el g a m m a l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / f l o a tt g a m m a f ( f l o a tx ) ;/ *C 9 9* / d o u b l et g a m m a ( d o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* / l o n gd o u b l et g a m m a l ( l o n gd o u b l ex ) ;/ *C 9 9* /
2
Furtherreading
Control
Veryfewprogramsfollowexactlyonecontrolpathandhaveeachinstructionstatedexplicitly.Inordertoprogrameffectively,itisnecessarytounderstandhowonecanalterthestepstakenbyaprogramduetouserinputorotherconditions,howsome stepscanbeexecutedmanytimeswithfewlinesofcode,andhowprogramscanappeartodemonstratearudimentarygraspoflogic.Cconstructsknownasconditionalsandloopsgrantthispower. Fromthispointforward,itisnecessarytounderstandwhatisusuallymeantbytheword block.Ablockisagroupofcodestatementsthatareassociatedandintendedtobeexecutedasaunit.InC,thebeginningofablockofcodeisdenotedwith{(left curly),andtheendofablockisdenotedwith}.Itisnotnecessarytoplaceasemicolonaftertheendofablock.Blockscanbeempty,asin{}.Blockscanalsobenestedi.e.therecanbeblocksofcodewithinlargerblocks.
Conditionals
Thereislikelynomeaningfulprogramwritteninwhichacomputerdoesnotdemonstratebasicdecisionmakingskills.Itcanactuallybearguedthatthereisnomeaningfulhumanactivityinwhichsomesortofdecisionmaking,instinctualorotherwise, doesnottakeplace.Forexample,whendrivingacarandapproachingatrafficlight,onedoesnotthink,"Iwillcontinuedrivingthroughtheintersection."Rather,onethinks,"Iwillstopifthelightisred,goifthelightisgreen,andifyellowgoonlyifIam travelingatacertainspeedacertaindistancefromtheintersection."ThesekindsofprocessescanbesimulatedinCusingconditionals. Aconditionalisastatementthatinstructsthecomputertoexecuteacertainblockofcodeoraltercertaindataonlyifaspecificconditionhasbeenmet.ThemostcommonconditionalistheIfElsestatement,withconditionalexpressionsandSwitchCase statementstypicallyusedasmoreshorthandedmethods. Beforeonecanunderstandconditionalstatements,itisfirstnecessarytounderstandhowCexpresseslogicalrelations.Ctreatslogicasbeingarithmetic.Thevalue0(zero)representsfalse,and allothervaluesrepresenttrue.Ifyouchosesome particularvaluetorepresenttrueandthencomparevaluesagainstit,soonerorlateryourcodewillfailwhenyourassumedvalue(often1)turnsouttobeincorrect.CodewrittenbypeopleuncomfortablewiththeClanguagecanoftenbeidentifiedbythe usageof#definetomakea"TRUE"value. [4] BecauselogicisarithmeticinC,arithmeticoperatorsandlogicaloperatorsareoneandthesame.Nevertheless,thereareanumberofoperatorsthataretypicallyassociatedwithlogic:
32/118
10/24/13
RelationalandEquivalenceExpressions:
ab 1if aisgreaterthan b,0otherwise. a<=b 1if aislessthanorequalto b,0otherwise. a>=b 1if aisgreaterthanorequalto b,0otherwise. a==b 1if aisequalto b,0otherwise. a!=b 1if aisnotequalto b,0otherwise
Newprogrammersshouldtakespecialnoteofthefactthatthe"equalto"operatoris==,not=.Thisisthecauseofnumerouscodingmistakesandisoftenadifficulttofindbug,astheexpression ( a=b ) sets a equalto b andsubsequentlyevaluatesto b buttheexpression ( a= =b ) ,whichisusuallyintended,checksif a isequalto b .Itneedstobepointedoutthat,ifyouconfuse=with==,yourmistakewilloftennotbebroughttoyourattentionbythecompiler.Astatementsuchas i f(c=2 0 ){ } is consideredperfectlyvalidbythelanguage,butwillalwaysassign20to c andevaluateastrue.Asimpletechniquetoavoidthiskindofbug(inmany,notallcases)istoputtheconstantfirst.Thiswillcausethecompilertoissueanerror,if==got misspelledwith=. NotethatCdoesnothaveadedicatedbooleantypeasmanyotherlanguagesdo.0meansfalseandanythingelsetrue.Sothefollowingareequivalent:
i f( f o o ( ) ){ / / d os o m e t h i n g }
and
i f( f o o ( )! =0 ){ / / d os o m e t h i n g }
Often # d e f i n eT R U E1 and # d e f i n eF A L S E0 areusedtoworkaroundthelackofabooleantype.Thisisbadpractice,sinceitmakesassumptionsthatdonothold.Itisabetterideatoindicatewhatyouareactuallyexpectingasaresultfromafunctioncall,as therearemanydifferentwaysofindicatingerrorconditions,dependingonthesituation.

i f( s t r s t r ( " f o o " ,b a r )> =0 ){ / / b a rc o n t a i n s" f o o " }
Here, s t r s t r returnstheindexwherethesubstringfooisfoundand1ifitwasnotfound.Notethatthiswouldfailwiththe T R U E definitionmentionedinthepreviousparagraph.Itwouldalsonotproducetheexpectedresultsifweomittedthe > =0 . Oneotherthingtonoteisthattherelationalexpressionsdonotevaluateastheywouldinmathematicaltexts.Thatis,anexpression m y M i n<v a l u e<m y M a x doesnotevaluateasyouprobablythinkitmight.Mathematically,thiswouldtestwhetherornot value isbetween myMinand myMax.ButinC,whathappensisthat valueisfirstcomparedwith myMin.Thisproduceseithera0ora1.ItisthisvaluethatiscomparedagainstmyMax.Example:
i n tv a l u e=2 0 ; / *. . .* / i f(0<v a l u e<1 0 ){/ /d o n ' td ot h i s !i ta l w a y se v a l u a t e st o" t r u e " ! / *d os o m es t u f f* / }
Because valueisgreaterthan0,thefirstcomparisonproducesavalueof1.Now1iscomparedtobelessthan10,whichistrue,sothestatementsintheifareexecuted.Thisprobablyisnotwhattheprogrammerexpected.Theappropriatecodewould be
i n tv a l u e=2 0 ; / *. . .* / i f(0<v a l u e& &v a l u e<1 0 ){ / /t h e& &m e a n s" a n d " / *d os o m es t u f f* / }
LogicalExpressions
a||b whenEITHER aor bistrue(orboth),theresultis1,otherwisetheresultis0. a&&b whenBOTH aand baretrue,theresultis1,otherwisetheresultis0.
33/118
10/24/13
!a when aistrue,theresultis0,when ais0,theresultis1. Here'sanexampleofalargerlogicalexpression.Inthestatement:
e=( ( a& &b )| |( c>d ) ) ;
eissetequalto1ifaandbarenonzero,orifcisgreaterthand.Inallothercases,eissetto0. Cusesshortcircuitevaluationoflogicalexpressions.Thatistosay,onceitisabletodeterminethetruthofalogicalexpression,itdoesnofurtherevaluation.Thisisoftenusefulasinthefollowing:
i n tm y A r r a y [ 1 2 ] ; . . . . i f(i<1 2& &m y A r r a y [ i ]>3 ){ . . . .
Inthesnippetofcode,thecomparisonofiwith12isdonefirst.Ifitevaluatesto0(false), i wouldbeoutofboundsasanindexto myArray.Inthiscase,theprogramneverattemptstoaccess myArray[i]sincethetruthoftheexpressionisknowntobe false.Henceweneednotworryhereabouttryingtoaccessanoutofboundsarrayelementifitisalreadyknownthatiisgreaterthanorequaltozero.Asimilarthinghappenswithexpressionsinvolvingtheor||operator.

w h i l e (d o T h i s ( )| |d o T h a t ( ) ). . .
doThat()isnevercalledifdoThis()returnsanonzero(true)value.
BitwiseBooleanExpressions
Thebitwiseoperatorsworkbitbybitontheoperands.Theoperandsmustbeofintegraltype(oneofthetypesusedforintegers).Thesixbitwiseoperatorsare&(AND),|(OR),^(exclusiveOR,commonlycalledXOR),~(NOT,whichchanges1to0and0 to1),<<(shiftleft),and>>(shiftright).Thenegationoperatorisaunaryoperatorwhichprecedestheoperand.Theothersarebinaryoperatorswhichliebetweenthetwooperands.Theprecedenceoftheseoperatorsislowerthanthatoftherelationaland equivalenceoperatorsitisoftenrequiredtoparenthesizeexpressionsinvolvingbitwiseoperators. Forthissection,recallthatanumberstartingwith 0xishexadecimal,orhexforshort.Unlikethenormaldecimalsystemusingpowersof10anddigits0123456789,hexusespowersof16anddigits0123456789abcdef.Hexadecimaliscommonlyusedin Cprogramsbecauseaprogrammercanquicklyconvertittoorfrombinary(powersof2anddigits01).Cdoesnotdirectlysupportbinarynotation,whichwouldbereallyverboseanyway. a&b bitwisebooleanandof aand b 0xc&0xaproducesthevalue0x8(inbinary,1100&1010produces1000) a|b bitwisebooleanorof aand b 0xc|0xaproducesthevalue0xe(inbinary,1100|1010produces1110) a^b bitwisexorof aand b 0xc^0xaproducesthevalue0x6(inbinary,1100^1010produces0110) ~a bitwisecomplementof a. ~0xcproducesthevalue10xc(inbinary,~1100produces...11110011where"..."maybemanymore1bits) a<>b shift arightby b(divideaby ) 0xc>>1producesthevalue0x6(inbinary,1100>>1producesthevalue110)
TheIfElsestatement
IfElseprovidesawaytoinstructthecomputertoexecuteablockofcodeonlyifcertainconditionshavebeenmet.ThesyntaxofanIfElseconstructis:
i f( / *c o n d i t i o ng o e sh e r e* / ){ / *i ft h ec o n d i t i o ni sn o n z e r o( t r u e ) ,t h i sc o d ew i l le x e c u t e* / }e l s e{ / *i ft h ec o n d i t i o ni s0( f a l s e ) ,t h i sc o d ew i l le x e c u t e* / }
34/118
10/24/13
Thefirstblockofcodeexecutesiftheconditioninparenthesesdirectlyafterthe if evaluatestononzero(true)otherwise,thesecondblockexecutes. The elseandfollowingblockofcodearecompletelyoptional.Ifthereisnoneedtoexecutecodeifaconditionisnottrue,leaveitout. Also,keepinmindthatan if candirectlyfollowan elsestatement.Whilethiscanoccasionallybeuseful,chainingmorethantwoorthreeifelsesinthisfashionisconsideredbadprogrammingpractice.WecangetaroundthiswiththeSwitchCase constructdescribedlater. Twoothergeneralsyntaxnotesneedtobemadethatyouwillalsoseeinothercontrolconstructs:First,notethatthereisnosemicolonafter if or else.Therecouldbe,buttheblock(codeenclosedin{and})takestheplaceofthat.Second,ifyouonly intendtoexecuteonestatementasaresultofan if or else,curlybracesarenotneeded.However,manyprogrammersbelievethatinsertingcurlybracesanywayinthiscaseisgoodcodingpractice. Thefollowingcodesetsavariablecequaltothegreateroftwovariablesaandb,or0ifaandbareequal.
i f ( a>b ){ c=a ; }e l s ei f ( b>a ){ c=b ; }e l s e{ c=0 ; }
Considerthisquestion:whycan'tyoujustforgetabout elseandwritethecodelike:
i f ( a>b ){ c=a ; } i f ( a<b ){ c=b ; } i f ( a= =b ){ c=0 ; }
Thereareseveralanswerstothis.Mostimportantly,ifyourconditionalsarenotmutuallyexclusive, twocasescouldexecuteinsteadofonlyone.Ifthecodewasdifferentandthevalueofaorbchangessomehow(e.g.:youresetthelesserofaandbto0 afterthecomparison)duringoneoftheblocks?Youcouldendupwithmultiple if statementsbeinginvoked,whichisnotyourintent.Also,evaluating if conditionalstakesprocessortime.Ifyouuse elsetohandlethesesituations,inthecaseabove assuming(a>b)isnonzero(true),theprogramissparedtheexpenseofevaluatingadditional if statements.Thebottomlineisthatitisusuallybesttoinsertan elseclauseforallcasesinwhichaconditionalwillnotevaluatetononzero(true). Theconditionalexpression AconditionalexpressionisawaytosetvaluesconditionallyinamoreshorthandfashionthanIfElse.Thesyntaxis:
( / *l o g i c a le x p r e s s i o ng o e sh e r e* / )?( / *i fn o n z e r o( t r u e )* / ):( / *i f0( f a l s e )* / )
Thelogicalexpressionisevaluated.Ifitisnonzero(true),theoverallconditionalexpressionevaluatestotheexpressionplacedbetweenthe?and:,otherwise,itevaluatestotheexpressionafterthe:.Therefore,theaboveexample(changingitsfunction slightlysuchthatcissettobwhenaandbareequal)becomes:
c=( a>b )?a:b ;
Conditionalexpressionscansometimesclarifytheintentofthecode.Nestingtheconditionaloperatorshouldusuallybeavoided.It'sbesttouseconditionalexpressionsonlywhentheexpressionsforaandbaresimple.Also,contrarytoacommon beginnerbelief,conditionalexpressionsdonotmakeforfastercode.Astemptingasitistoassumethatfewerlinesofcoderesultinfasterexecutiontimes,thereisnosuchcorrelation.
TheSwitchCasestatement
Sayyouwriteaprogramwheretheuserinputsanumber15(correspondingtostudentgrades,A(representedas1)D(4)andF(5)),storesitinavariable gradeandtheprogramrespondsbyprintingtothescreentheassociatedlettergrade.Ifyou implementedthisusingIfElse,yourcodewouldlooksomethinglikethis:
i f ( g r a d e= =1 ){ p r i n t f ( " A \ n " ) ; }e l s ei f ( g r a d e= =2 ){ p r i n t f ( " B \ n " ) ; }e l s ei f/ *e t c .e t c .* /
Havingalongchainofifelseifelseifelsecanbeapain,bothfortheprogrammerandanyonereadingthecode.Fortunately,there'sasolution:theSwitchCaseconstruct,ofwhichthebasicsyntaxis:
s w i t c h ( / *i n t e g e ro re n u mg o e sh e r e* / ){ c a s e/ *p o t e n t i a lv a l u eo ft h ea f o r e m e n t i o n e di n to re n u m* / : / *c o d e* / c a s e/ *ad i f f e r e n tp o t e n t i a lv a l u e* / : / *d i f f e r e n tc o d e* /
35/118
10/24/13
/ *i n s e r ta d d i t i o n a lc a s e sa sn e e d e d* / d e f a u l t : / *m o r ec o d e* / }
TheSwitchCaseconstructtakesavariable,usuallyanintoranenum,placedafter switch,andcomparesittothevaluefollowingthe casekeyword.Ifthevariableisequaltothevaluespecifiedafter case,theconstruct"activates",orbeginsexecutingthe codeafterthecasestatement.Oncetheconstructhas"activated",therewillbenofurtherevaluationof cases. SwitchCaseissyntactically"weird"inthatnobracesarerequiredforcodeassociatedwitha case. Veryimportant:Typically,thelaststatementforeachcaseisabreakstatement.Thiscausesprogramexecutiontojumptothestatementfollowingtheclosingbracketoftheswitchstatement,whichiswhatonewouldnormallywanttohappen.However ifthebreakstatementisomitted,programexecutioncontinueswiththefirstlineofthenextcase,ifany.Thisiscalleda fallthrough.Whenaprogrammerdesiresthisaction,acommentshouldbeplacedattheendoftheblockofstatementsindicating thedesiretofallthrough.Otherwiseanotherprogrammermaintainingthecodecouldconsidertheomissionofthe'break'tobeanerror,andinadvertently'correct'theproblem.Here'sanexample:
s w i t c h(s o m e V a r i a b l e){ c a s e1 : p r i n t f ( " T h i sc o d eh a n d l e sc a s e1 \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; c a s e2 : p r i n t f ( " T h i sp r i n t sw h e ns o m e V a r i a b l ei s2 ,a l o n gw i t h . . . \ n " ) ; / *F A L LT H R O U G H* / c a s e3 : p r i n t f ( " T h i sp r i n t sw h e ns o m e V a r i a b l ei se i t h e r2o r3 . \ n ") ; b r e a k ; }
Ifa default caseisspecified,theassociatedstatementsareexecutedifnoneoftheothercasesmatch.A default caseisoptional.Here'saswitchstatementthatcorrespondstothesequenceofifelseifstatementsabove. Backtoourexampleabove.Here'swhatitwouldlooklikeasSwitchCase:

s w i t c h( g r a d e ){ c a s e1 : p r i n t f ( " A \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; c a s e2 : p r i n t f ( " B \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; c a s e3 : p r i n t f ( " C \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; c a s e4 : p r i n t f ( " D \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; d e f a u l t : p r i n t f ( " F \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; }
Asetofstatementstoexecutecanbegroupedwithmorethanonevalueofthevariableasinthefollowingexample.(thefallthroughcommentisnotnecessaryherebecausetheintendedbehaviorisobvious)
s w i t c h( s o m e t h i n g ){ c a s e2 : c a s e3 : c a s e4 : / *s o m es t a t e m e n t st oe x e c u t ef o r2 ,3o r4* / b r e a k ; c a s e1 : d e f a u l t : / *s o m es t a t e m e n t st oe x e c u t ef o r1o ro t h e rt h a n2 , 3 , a n d4* / b r e a k ; }
SwitchCaseconstructsareparticularlyusefulwhenusedinconjunctionwithuserdefined enumdatatypes.Somecompilersarecapableofwarningaboutanunhandledenumvalue,whichmaybehelpfulforavoidingbugs.
Loops
Oftenincomputerprogramming,itisnecessarytoperformacertainactionacertainnumberoftimesoruntilacertainconditionismet.Itisimpracticalandtedioustosimplytypeacertainstatementorgroupofstatementsalargenumberoftimes,notto mentionthatthisapproachistooinflexibleandunintuitivetobecountedontostopwhenacertaineventhashappened.Asarealworldanalogy,someoneasksadishwasheratarestaurantwhathedidallnight.Hewillrespond,"Iwasheddishesallnight long."Heisnotlikelytorespond,"Iwashedadish,thenwashedadish,thenwashedadish,then...".Theconstructsthatenablecomputerstoperformcertainrepetitivetasksarecalledloops.
Whileloops
Awhileloopisthemostbasictypeofloop.Itwillrunaslongastheconditionisnonzero(true).Forexample,ifyoutrythefollowing,theprogramwillappeartolockupandyouwillhavetomanuallyclosetheprogramdown.Asituationwherethe conditionsforexitingtheloopwillneverbecometrueiscalledaninfiniteloop.
i n ta = 1 ;
36/118
10/24/13
w h i l e ( 4 2 ){ a=a * 2 ; }
Hereisanotherexampleofawhileloop.Itprintsoutallthepowersoftwolessthan100.
i n ta = 1 ; w h i l e ( a < 1 0 0 ){ p r i n t f ( " ai s% d\ n " , a ) ; a=a * 2 ; }
Theflowofallloopscanalsobecontrolledby breakand continuestatements.Abreakstatementwillimmediatelyexittheenclosingloop.Acontinuestatementwillskiptheremainderoftheblockandstartatthecontrollingconditionalstatementagain. Forexample:

i n ta = 1 ; w h i l e( 4 2 ){/ /l o o p su n t i lt h eb r e a ks t a t e m e n ti nt h el o o pi se x e c u t e d p r i n t f ( " ai s% d" , a ) ; a=a * 2 ; i f ( a > 1 0 0 ){ b r e a k ; }e l s ei f ( a = = 6 4 ){ c o n t i n u e ; / /I m m e d i a t e l yr e s t a r t sa tw h i l e ,s k i p sn e x ts t e p } p r i n t f ( " ai sn o t6 4 \ n " ) ; }
Inthisexample,thecomputerprintsthevalueofaasusual,andprintsanoticethataisnot64(unlessitwasskippedbythecontinuestatement). SimilartoIfabove,bracesfortheblockofcodeassociatedwithaWhileloopcanbeomittedifthecodeconsistsofonlyonestatement,forexample:
i n ta = 1 ; w h i l e ( a<1 0 0 )a=a * 2 ;
Thiswillmerelyincreaseauntilaisnotlessthan100. Whenthecomputerreachestheendofthewhileloop,italwaysgoesbacktothewhilestatementatthetopoftheloop,whereitreevaluatesthecontrollingcondition.Ifthatconditionis"true"atthatinstantevenifitwastemporarily0forafew statementsinsidetheloopthenthecomputerbeginsexecutingthestatementsinsidetheloopagainotherwisethecomputerexitstheloop.Thecomputerdoesnot"continuouslycheck"thecontrollingconditionofawhileloopduringtheexecutionof thatloop.Itonly"peeks"atthecontrollingconditioneachtimeitreachesthe w h i l e atthetopoftheloop. Itisveryimportanttonote,oncethecontrollingconditionofaWhileloopbecomes0(false),theloopwillnotterminateuntiltheblockofcodeisfinishedanditistimetoreevaluatetheconditional.IfyouneedtoterminateaWhileloopimmediatelyupon reachingacertaincondition,considerusing break. Acommonidiomistowrite:

i n ti=5 ; w h i l e ( i ){ p r i n t f ( " j a v aa n dc #c a n ' td ot h i s \ n " ) ; }
Thisexecutesthecodeinthewhileloop5times,withihavingvaluesthatrangefrom4downto0(insidetheloop).Conveniently,thesearethevaluesneededtoaccesseveryitemofanarraycontaining5elements.
Forloops
Forloopsgenerallylooksomethinglikethis:
f o r ( i n i t i a l i z a t i o n ;t e s t ;i n c r e m e n t ){ / *c o d e* / }
The initializationstatementisexecutedexactlyoncebeforethefirstevaluationofthe test condition.Typically,itisusedtoassignaninitialvaluetosomevariable,althoughthisisnotstrictlynecessary.The initializationstatementcanalsobeusedto declareandinitializevariablesusedintheloop. The test expressionisevaluatedeachtimebeforethecodeinthe forloopexecutes.Ifthisexpressionevaluatesas0(false)whenitischecked(i.e.iftheexpressionisnottrue),theloopisnot(re)enteredandexecutioncontinuesnormallyatthecode immediatelyfollowingtheFORloop.Iftheexpressionisnonzero(true),thecodewithinthebracesoftheloopisexecuted. Aftereachiterationoftheloop,the increment statementisexecuted.Thisoftenisusedtoincrementtheloopindexfortheloop,thevariableinitializedintheinitializationexpressionandtestedinthetestexpression.Followingthisstatementexecution, controlreturnstothetopoftheloop,wherethe test actionoccurs.Ifa continuestatementisexecutedwithinthe forloop,theincrementstatementwouldbethenextoneexecuted. Eachofthesepartsoftheforstatementisoptionalandmaybeomitted.Becauseofthefreeformnatureoftheforstatement,somefairlyfancythingscanbedonewithit.Oftenaforloopisusedtoloopthroughitemsinanarray,processingeachitemat atime.
37/118
10/24/13
i n t m y A r r a y [ 1 2 ] ; i n ti x ; f o r( i x=0 ;i x < 1 2 ;i x + + ){ m y A r r a y [ i x ]=5*i x+3 ; }
Theaboveforloopinitializeseachofthe12elementsofmyArray.Theloopindexcanstartfromanyvalue.Inthefollowingcaseitstartsfrom1.
f o r ( i x=1 ;i x< =1 0 ;i x + + ){ p r i n t f ( " % d" ,i x ) ; }
whichwillprint
1234567891 0
Youwillmostoftenuseloopindexesthatstartfrom0,sincearraysareindexedatzero,butyouwillsometimesuseothervaluestoinitializealoopindexaswell. The increment actioncandootherthings,suchas decrement .Sothiskindofloopiscommon:

f o r( i=5 ;i>0 ;i ){ p r i n t f ( " % d" , i ) ; }
whichyields
54321
Here'sanexamplewherethetestconditionissimplyavariable.Ifthevariablehasavalueof0orNULL,theloopexits,otherwisethestatementsinthebodyoftheloopareexecuted.
f o r( t=l i s t _ h e a d ;t ;t=N e x t I t e m ( t )){ / * b o d yo fl o o p* / }
AWHILEloopcanbeusedtodothesamethingasaFORloop,howeveraFORloopisamorecondensedwaytoperformasetnumberofrepetitionssinceallofthenecessaryinformationisinaonelinestatement. AFORloopcanalsobegivennoconditions,forexample:
f o r ( ; ; ){ / *b l o c ko fs t a t e m e n t s* / }
Thisiscalledaninfiniteloopsinceitwillloopforeverunlessthereisabreakstatementwithinthestatementsoftheforloop.Theemptytestconditioneffectivelyevaluatesastrue. Itisalsocommontousethecommaoperatorinforloopstoexecutemultiplestatements.
i n ti ,j ,n=1 0 ; f o r ( i=0 ,j=0 ;i< =n ;i + + , j + = 2 ){ p r i n t f ( " i=% d,j=% d\ n " , i , j ) ; }
Specialcareshouldbetakenwhendesigningorrefactoringtheconditionalpart,especiallywhetherusing<or<=,whetherstartandstopshouldbecorrectedby1,andincaseofprefixandpostfixnotations.(Ona100yardspromenadewithatreeevery 10yardsthereare11trees.)
i n ti ,n=1 0 ; f o r ( i=0 ;i<n ;i + + )p r i n t f ( " % d" , i ) ;/ /p r o c e s s e dnt i m e s= >0123. . .( n 1 ) p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; f o r ( i=0 ;i< =n ;i + + )p r i n t f ( " % d" , i ) ;/ /p r o c e s s e d( n + 1 )t i m e s= >0123. . .n p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; f o r ( i=n ;i ; )p r i n t f ( " % d" , i ) ;/ /p r o c e s s e dnt i m e s= >( n 1 ). . . 3210 p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; f o r ( i=n ;i ; )p r i n t f ( " % d" , i ) ;/ /p r o c e s s e d( n 1 )t i m e s= >( n 1 ). . . 4321 p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ;
DoWhileloops
38/118
10/24/13
ADOWHILEloopisapostcheckwhileloop,whichmeansthatitcheckstheconditionaftereachrun.Asaresult,eveniftheconditioniszero(false),itwillrunatleastonce.Itfollowstheformof:
d o{ / *d os t u f f* / }w h i l e( c o n d i t i o n ) ;
Notetheterminatingsemicolon.Thisisrequiredforcorrectsyntax.Sincethisisalsoatypeofwhileloop, breakand continuestatementswithintheloopfunctionaccordingly.A continuestatementcausesajumptothetestoftheconditionanda break statementexitstheloop. ItisworthnotingthatDoWhileandWhilearefunctionallyalmostidentical,withoneimportantdifference:DoWhileloopsarealwaysguaranteedtoexecuteatleastonce,butWhileloopswillnotexecuteatalliftheirconditionis0(false)onthefirst evaluation.
Onelastthing:goto
gotoisaverysimpleandtraditionalcontrolmechanism.Itisastatementusedtoimmediatelyandunconditionallyjumptoanotherlineofcode.Tousegoto,youmustplacealabelatapointinyourprogram.Alabelconsistsofanamefollowedbya colon(:)onalinebyitself.Then,youcantype"goto label"atthedesiredpointinyourprogram.Thecodewillthencontinueexecutingbeginningwith label.Thislookslike:
M y L a b e l : / *s o m ec o d e* / g o t oM y L a b e l ;
Theabilitytotransfertheflowofcontrolenabledbygotosissopowerfulthat,inadditiontothesimpleif,allothercontrolconstructscanbewrittenusinggotosinstead.Here,wecanlet"S"and"T"beanyarbitrarystatements:
i f( ' ' c o n d ' ' ){ S ; }e l s e{ T ; } / *. . .* /
Thesamestatementcouldbeaccomplishedusingtwogotosandtwolabels:
i f( ' ' c o n d ' ' )g o t oL a b e l 1 ; T ; g o t oL a b e l 2 ; L a b e l 1 : S ; L a b e l 2 : / *. . .* /
Here,thefirstgotoisconditionalonthevalueof"cond".Thesecondgotoisunconditional.Wecanperformthesametranslationonaloop:
w h i l e( ' ' c o n d 1 ' ' ){ S ; i f( ' ' c o n d 2 ' ' )b r e a k ; T ; } / *. . .* /
Whichcanbewrittenas:
S t a r t : i f( ! ' ' c o n d 1 ' ' )g o t oE n d ; S ; i f( ' ' c o n d 2 ' ' )g o t oE n d ; T ; g o t oS t a r t ; E n d : / *. . .* /
Asthesecasesdemonstrate,oftenthestructureofwhatyourprogramisdoingcanusuallybeexpressedwithoutusinggotos.Undisciplineduseofgotoscancreateunreadable,unmaintainablecodewhenmoreidiomaticalternatives(suchasifelses,orfor loops)canbetterexpressyourstructure.Theoretically,thegotoconstructdoesnotever havetobeused,buttherearecaseswhenitcanincreasereadability,avoidcodeduplication,ormakecontrolvariablesunnecessary.Youshouldconsiderfirst masteringtheidiomaticsolutions,andusegotoonlywhennecessary.Keepinmindthatmany,ifnotmost,Cstyleguidelines strictlyforbiduseof goto,withtheonlycommonexceptionsbeingthefollowingexamples. Oneuseofgotoistobreakoutofadeeplynestedloop.Since breakwillnotwork(itcanonlyescapeoneloop), gotocanbeusedtojumpcompletelyoutsidetheloop.Breakingoutsideofdeeplynestedloopswithouttheuseofthegotoisalways possible,butofteninvolvesthecreationandtestingofextravariablesthatmaymaketheresultingcodefarlessreadablethanitwouldbewith goto.Theuseof gotomakesiteasytoundoactionsinanorderlyfashion,typicallytoavoidfailingtofree memorythathadbeenallocated. Anotheraccepteduseisthecreationofastatemachine.Thisisafairlyadvancedtopicthough,andnotcommonlyneeded.
Examples
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_Programming/Print_version 39/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e< e r r n o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ty e a r s ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e ry o u ra g ei ny e a r s:" ) ; f f l u s h ( s t d o u t ) ; e r r n o=0 ; i f ( s c a n f ( " % d " ,& y e a r s )! =1| |e r r n o ) r e t u r nE X I T _ F A I L U R E ; p r i n t f ( " Y o u ra g ei nd a y si s% d \ n " ,y e a r s*3 6 5 ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Furtherreading
Proceduresandfunctions
InCprogramming,allexecutablecoderesideswithina function.Afunctionisanamedblockofcodethatperformsataskandthenreturnscontroltoacaller.Notethatotherprogramminglanguagesmaydistinguishbetweena"function","subroutine", "subprogram","procedure",or"method"inC,theseareallfunctions. Afunctionisoftenexecuted(called)severaltimes,fromseveraldifferentplaces,duringasingleexecutionoftheprogram.Afterfinishingasubroutine,theprogramwillbranchback(return)tothepointafterthecall. Functionsareapowerfulprogrammingtool. Asabasicexample,supposeyouarewritingcodetoprintoutthefirst5squaresofnumbers,dosomeintermediateprocessing,thenprintthefirst5squaresagain.Wecouldwriteitlikethis:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { i n ti ; f o r ( i = 1 ;i< =5 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " % d" ,i * i ) ; } f o r ( i = 1 ;i< =5 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " % d" ,i * i ) ; } r e t u r n0 ; }
Wehavetowritethesamelooptwice.Wemaywanttosomehowputthiscodeinaseparateplaceandsimplyjumptothiscodewhenwewanttouseit.Thiswouldlooklike:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > v o i dP r i n t _ S q u a r e s ( v o i d ) { i n ti ; f o r ( i = 1 ;i< = 5 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " % d" ,i * i ) ; } } i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { P r i n t _ S q u a r e s ( ) ; P r i n t _ S q u a r e s ( ) ; r e t u r n0 ;
40/118
10/24/13
}
Thisispreciselywhatfunctionsarefor.
Moreonfunctions
Afunctionislikeablackbox.Ittakesininput,doessomethingwithit,thenspitsoutananswer. Notethatafunctionmaynottakeanyinputsatall,oritmaynotreturnanythingatall.Intheaboveexample,ifweweretomakeafunctionofthatloop,wemaynotneedanyinputs,andwearen'treturninganythingatall(Textoutputdoesn'tcount whenwespeakof returningwemeantosaymeaningfuldatathattheprogramcanuse). Wehavesometerminologytorefertofunctions: Afunction,callit f ,thatusesanotherfunction g,issaidto call g.Forexample, f calls gtoprintthesquaresoftennumbers. Afunction'sinputsareknownasits arguments Afunction gthatgivessomekindofanswerbackto f issaidto returnthatanswer.Forexample, greturnsthesumofitsarguments.
WritingfunctionsinC
It'salwaysgoodtolearnbyexample.Let'swriteafunctionthatwillreturnthesquareofanumber.
i n ts q u a r e ( i n tx ) { i n ts q u a r e _ o f _ x ; s q u a r e _ o f _ x=x*x ; r e t u r ns q u a r e _ o f _ x ; }
Tounderstandhowtowritesuchafunctionlikethis,itmayhelptolookatwhatthisfunctiondoesasawhole.Ittakesinan i n t ,x,andsquaresit,storingitinthevariablesquare_of_x.Nowthisvalueisreturned. Thefirstintatthebeginningofthefunctiondeclarationisthetypeofdatathatthefunctionreturns.Inthiscasewhenwesquareanintegerwegetaninteger,andwearereturningthisinteger,andsowewrite i n t asthereturntype. Nextisthenameofthefunction.Itisgoodpracticetousemeaningfulanddescriptivenamesforfunctionsyoumaywrite.Itmayhelptonamethefunctionafterwhatitiswrittentodo.Inthiscasewenamethefunction"square",becausethat'swhatit doesitsquaresanumber. Nextisthefunction'sfirstandonlyargument,an i n t ,whichwillbereferredtointhefunctionasx.Thisisthefunction's input . Inbetweenthebracesistheactualgutsofthefunction.Itdeclaresanintegervariablecalledsquare_of_xthatwillbeusedtoholdthevalueofthesquareofx.Notethatthevariablesquare_of_xcan onlybeusedwithinthisfunction,andnotoutside. We'lllearnmoreaboutthissortofthinglater,andwewillseethatthispropertyisveryuseful. Wethenassignxmultipliedbyx,orxsquared,tothevariablesquare_of_x,whichiswhatthisfunctionisallabout.Followingthisisa r e t u r n statement.Wewanttoreturnthevalueofthesquareofx,sowemustsaythatthisfunctionreturnsthecontents ofthevariablesquare_of_x. Ourbracetoclose,andwehavefinishedthedeclaration. Writteninamoreconcisemanner,thiscodeperformsexactlythesamefunctionastheabove:
i n ts q u a r e ( i n tx ) { r e t u r nx*x ; }
Notethisshouldlookfamiliaryouhavebeenwritingfunctionsalready,infactmainisafunctionthatisalwayswritten.
Ingeneral
Ingeneral,ifwewanttodeclareafunction,wewrite
t y p en a m e ( t y p e 1a r g 1 ,t y p e 2a r g 2 ,. . . ) { / *c o d e* / }
We'vepreviouslysaidthatafunctioncantakenoarguments,orcanreturnnothing,orboth.Whatdowewriteifwewantthefunctiontoreturnnothing?WeuseC's v o i d keyword. v o i d basicallymeans"nothing"soifwewanttowriteafunctionthatreturns nothing,forexample,wewrite

v o i ds a y h e l l o ( i n tn u m b e r _ o f _ t i m e s ) { i n ti ; f o r ( i = 1 ;i< =n u m b e r _ o f _ t i m e s ;i + + ){
41/118
10/24/13
p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ! \ n ' ' ' " ) ; } }
Noticethatthereisno r e t u r n statementinthefunctionabove.Sincethere'snone,wewrite v o i d asthereturntype.(Actually,onecanusethe r e t u r n keywordinaproceduretoreturntothecallerbeforetheendoftheprocedure,butonecannotreturna valueasifitwereafunction.) Whataboutafunctionthattakesnoarguments?Ifwewanttodothis,wecanwriteforexample

f l o a tc a l c u l a t e _ n u m b e r ( v o i d ) { f l o a tt o _ r e t u r n = 1 ; i n ti ; f o r ( i = 0 ;i<1 0 0 ;i + + ){ t o _ r e t u r n+ =1 ; t o _ r e t u r n=1 / t o _ r e t u r n ; } r e t u r nt o _ r e t u r n ; }
Noticethisfunctiondoesn'ttakeanyinputs,butmerelyreturnsanumbercalculatedbythisfunction. Naturally,youcancombinebothvoidreturnandvoidinargumentstogethertogetavalidfunction,also.
Recursion
Here'sasimplefunctionthatdoesaninfiniteloop.Itprintsalineandcallsitself,whichagainprintsalineandcallsitselfagain,andthiscontinuesuntilthestackoverflowsandtheprogramcrashes.Afunctioncallingitselfiscalledrecursion,andnormally youwillhaveaconditionalthatwouldstoptherecursionafterasmall,finitenumberofsteps.
/ /d o n ' tr u nt h i s ! v o i di n f i n i t e _ r e c u r s i o n ( ) { p r i n t f ( " I n f i n i t el o o p ! \ n " ) ; i n f i n i t e _ r e c u r s i o n ( ) ; }
Asimplecheckcanbedonelikethis.Notethat++depthisusedsotheincrementwilltakeplacebeforethevalueispassedintothefunction.Alternativelyyoucanincrementonaseparatelinebeforetherecursioncall.Ifyousayprint_me(3,0)thefunction willprintthelineRecursion3times.
v o i dp r i n t _ m e ( i n tj ,i n td e p t h ) { i f ( d e p t h<j ){ p r i n t f ( " R e c u r s i o n !d e p t h=% dj=% d \ n " , d e p t h , j ) ;/ / jk e e p si t sv a l u e p r i n t _ m e ( j ,+ + d e p t h ) ; } }
Recursionismostoftenusedforjobssuchasdirectorytreescans,seekingfortheendofalinkedlist,parsingatreestructureinadatabaseandfactorisingnumbers(andfindingprimes)amongotherthings.
Staticfunctions
Ifafunctionistobecalledonlyfromwithinthefileinwhichitisdeclared,itisappropriatetodeclareitasastaticfunction.Whenafunctionisdeclaredstatic,thecompilerwillnowcompiletoanobjectfileinawaythatpreventsthefunctionfrombeing calledfromcodeinotherfiles.Example:
s t a t i ci n tc o m p a r e (i n ta ,i n tb) { r e t u r n( a + 4<b ) ?a:b ; }
UsingCfunctions
Wecannow writefunctions,buthowdoweusethem?Whenwewritemain,weplacethefunctionoutsidethebracesthatencompassmain. Whenwewanttousethatfunction,say,usingour c a l c u l a t e _ n u m b e r functionabove,wecanwritesomethinglike
f l o a tf ; f=c a l c u l a t e _ n u m b e r ( ) ;
Ifafunctiontakesinarguments,wecanwritesomethinglike
42/118
10/24/13
i n ts q u a r e _ o f _ 1 0 ; s q u a r e _ o f _ 1 0=s q u a r e ( 1 0 ) ;
Ifafunctiondoesn'treturnanything,wecanjustsay
s a y _ h e l l o ( ) ;
sincewedon'tneedavariabletocatchitsreturnvalue.
FunctionsfromtheCStandardLibrary
WhiletheClanguagedoesn'titselfcontainfunctions,itisusuallylinkedwiththeCStandardLibrary.Tousethislibrary,youneedtoaddan#includedirectiveatthetopoftheCfile,whichmaybeoneofthefollowing:
< a s s e r t . h > < c t y p e . h > < e r r n o . h > < f l o a t . h >
< l i m i t s . h > < l o c a l e . h > < m a t h . h > < s e t j m p . h >
< s i g n a l . h > < s t d a r g . h > < s t d d e f . h > < s t d i o . h >
< s t d l i b . h > < s t r i n g . h >
< c o m p l e x . h >
Thefunctionsavailableare:
< a s s e r t . h > < l i m i t s . h > < s i g n a l . h > < s t d l i b . h >
assert(int)
(constantsonly)
intraise(intsig).This void*signal(intsig,void(*func)(int))
atof(char*),atoi(char*),atol(char*) strtod(char*str,char**endptr),strtol(char*str,char**endptr),strtoul(char*str,char**endptr) rand(),srand() malloc(size_t),calloc(size_telements,size_telementSize),realloc(void*,int) free(void*) exit(int),abort() atexit(void(*func)()) getenv system qsort(void*,size_tnumber,size_tsize,int(*sortfunc)(void*,void*)) abs,labs div,ldiv
< s t r i n g . h >
< c t y p e . h >
< l o c a l e . h >
< s t d a r g . h >
isalnum,isalpha,isblank iscntrl,isdigit,isgraph islower,isprint,ispunct isspace,isupper,isxdigit tolower,toupper
structlconv*localeconv(void) char*setlocale(int,constchar*)
va_start(va_list,ap) va_arg(ap,(type)) va_end(ap) va_copy(va_list,va_list)
memcpy,memmove memchr,memcmp,memset strcat,strncat,strchr,strrchr strcmp,strncmp,strccoll strcpy,strncpy strerror strlen strspn,strcspn strpbrk strstr strtok strxfrm time.h
errno.h
math.h sin,cos,tan asin,acos,atan,atan2 sinh,cosh,tanh ceil exp
stddef.h
asctime(structtm*tmptr) clock_tclock() char*ctime(consttime_t*timer)
43/118
10/24/13
fabs floor fmod frexp ldexp log,log10 modf pow sqrt

doubledifftime(time_ttimer2,time_ttimer1) structtm*gmtime(consttime_t*timer) structtm*gmtime_r(consttime_t*timer,structtm*result) structtm*localtime(consttime_t*timer) time_tmktime(structtm*ptm) time_ttime(time_t*timer) char*strptime(constchar*buf,constchar*format,structtm*tptr) time_ttimegm(structtm*brokentime)
(errno)
offsetofmacro
float.h
setjmp.h fclose fopen,freopen remove rename rewind tmpfile clearerr feof,ferror fflush fgetpos,fsetpos fgetc,fputc fgets,fputs ftell,fseek
stdio.h fread,fwrite getc,putc getchar,putchar,fputchar gets,puts printf,vprintf fprintf,vfprintf sprintf,snprintf,vsprintf,vsnprintf perror scanf,vscanf fscanf,vfscanf sscanf,vsscanf setbuf,setvbuf tmpnam ungetc
(constants)
intsetjmp(jmp_bufenv) voidlongjmp(jmp_bufenv,intvalue)
printf fulllist(http://www.utas.edu.au/infosys/info/documentation/C/CStdLib.html#ctype.h)
Variablelengthargumentlists
Functionswithvariablelengthargumentlistsarefunctionsthatcantakeavaryingnumberofarguments.AnexampleintheCstandardlibraryisthe p r i n t f function,whichcantakeanynumberofargumentsdependingonhowtheprogrammerwantstouse it. Cprogrammersrarelyfindtheneedtowritenewfunctionswithvariablelengtharguments.Iftheywanttopassabunchofthingstoafunction,theytypicallydefineastructuretoholdallthosethingsperhapsalinkedlist,oranarrayandcallthat functionwiththedatainthearguments. However,youmayoccasionallyfindtheneedtowriteanewfunctionthatsupportsavariablelengthargumentlist.Tocreateafunctionthatcanacceptavariablelengthargumentlist,youmustfirstincludethestandardlibraryheader s t d a r g . h .Next,declare thefunctionasyouwouldnormally.Next,addasthelastargumentanellipsis("...").Thisindicatestothecompilerthatavariablelistofargumentsistofollow.Forexample,thefollowingfunctiondeclarationisforafunctionthatreturnstheaverageofa listofnumbers:
f l o a ta v e r a g e( i n tn _ a r g s ,. . . ) ;
Notethatbecauseofthewayvariablelengthargumentswork,wemustsomehow,inthearguments,specifythenumberofelementsinthevariablelengthpartofthearguments.Inthe a v e r a g e functionhere,it'sdonethroughanargumentcalled n _ a r g s . In the p r i n t f function,it'sdonewiththeformatcodesthatyouspecifyinthatfirststringintheargumentsyouprovide. Nowthatthefunctionhasbeendeclaredasusingvariablelengtharguments,wemustnextwritethecodethatdoestheactualworkinthefunction.Toaccessthenumbersstoredinthevariablelengthargumentlistforour a v e r a g e function,wemustfirst declareavariableforthelistitself:

v a _ l i s tm y L i s t ;
The v a _ l i s t typeisatypedeclaredinthe s t d a r g . h headerthatbasicallyallowsyoutokeeptrackofyourlist.Tostartactuallyusing m y L i s t ,however,wemustfirstassignitavalue.Afterall,simplydeclaringitbyitselfwouldn'tdoanything.Todothis,we mustcall v a _ s t a r t ,whichisactuallyamacrodefinedin s t d a r g . h . Intheargumentsto v a _ s t a r t ,youmustprovidethe v a _ l i s t variableyouplanonusing,aswellasthenameofthelastvariableappearingbeforetheellipsisinyourfunctiondeclaration:

# i n c l u d e< s t d a r g . h > f l o a ta v e r a g e( i n tn _ a r g s ,. . . ) { v a _ l i s tm y L i s t ; v a _ s t a r t( m y L i s t ,n _ a r g s ) ; v a _ e n d( m y L i s t ) ;
44/118
10/24/13
}
Nowthat m y L i s t hasbeenpreppedforusage,wecanfinallystartaccessingthevariablesstoredinit.Todoso,usethe v a _ a r g macro,whichpopsoffthenextargumentonthelist.Intheargumentsto v a _ a r g ,providethe v a _ l i s t variableyou'reusing,aswell astheprimitivedatatype(e.g. i n t , c h a r )thatthevariableyou'reaccessingshouldbe:

# i n c l u d e< s t d a r g . h > f l o a ta v e r a g e( i n tn _ a r g s ,. . . ) { v a _ l i s tm y L i s t ; v a _ s t a r t( m y L i s t ,n _ a r g s ) ; i n tm y N u m b e r=v a _ a r g( m y L i s t ,i n t ) ; v a _ e n d( m y L i s t ) ; }
Bypopping n _ a r g s integersoffofthevariablelengthargumentlist,wecanmanagetofindtheaverageofthenumbers:
# i n c l u d e< s t d a r g . h > f l o a ta v e r a g e( i n tn _ a r g s ,. . . ) { v a _ l i s tm y L i s t ; v a _ s t a r t( m y L i s t ,n _ a r g s ) ; i n tn u m b e r s A d d e d=0 ; i n ts u m=0 ; w h i l e( n u m b e r s A d d e d<n _ a r g s ){ i n tn u m b e r=v a _ a r g( m y L i s t ,i n t ) ;/ /G e tn e x tn u m b e rf r o ml i s t s u m+ =n u m b e r ; n u m b e r s A d d e d+ =1 ; } v a _ e n d( m y L i s t ) ; f l o a ta v g=( f l o a t ) ( s u m )/( f l o a t ) ( n u m b e r s A d d e d ) ;/ /F i n dt h ea v e r a g e r e t u r na v g ; }
Bycalling a v e r a g e( 2 ,1 0 ,2 0 ) ,wegettheaverageof 1 0 and 2 0 ,whichis 1 5 .
Preprocessor
PreprocessorsareawayofmakingtextprocessingwithyourCprogrambeforetheyareactuallycompiled.BeforetheactualcompilationofeveryCprogramitispassedthroughaPreprocessor.ThePreprocessorlooksthroughtheprogramtryingtofind outspecificinstructionscalledPreprocessordirectivesthatitcanunderstand.AllPreprocessordirectivesbeginwiththe#(hash)symbol.C++compilersusethesameCpreprocessor. [5] Thepreprocessorisapartofthecompilerwhichperformspreliminaryoperations(conditionallycompilingcode,includingfilesetc...)toyourcodebeforethecompilerseesit.Thesetransformationsarelexical,meaningthattheoutputofthepreprocessoris stilltext.
NOTE:TechnicallytheoutputofthepreprocessingphaseforCconsistsofasequenceoftokens,ratherthansourcetext,butitissimpletooutputsourcetextwhichisequivalenttothegiventokensequence,andthatiscommonly supportedbycompilersviaa E or / E optionalthoughcommandlineoptionstoCcompilersaren'tcompletelystandard,manyfollowsimilarrules.
Directives
Directivesarespecialinstructionsdirectedtothepreprocessor(preprocessordirective)ortothecompiler(compilerdirective)onhowitshouldprocesspartorallofyoursourcecodeorsetsomeflagsonthefinalobjectandareusedtomakewritingsource codeeasier(moreportableforinstance)andtomakethesourcecodemoreunderstandable.Directivesarehandledbythepreprocessor,whichiseitheraseparateprograminvokedbythecompilerorpartofthecompileritself.
#include
Chassomefeaturesaspartofthelanguageandsomeothersaspartofa standardlibrary,whichisarepositoryofcodethatisavailablealongsideeverystandardconformantCcompiler.WhentheCcompilercompilesyourprogramitusuallyalsolinks itwiththestandardClibrary.Forexample,onencounteringa # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > directive,itreplacesthedirectivewiththecontentsofthe s t d i o . h headerfile. Whenyouusefeaturesfromthelibrary,Crequiresyouto declarewhatyouwouldbeusing.Thefirstlineintheprogramisa preprocessingdirectivewhichshouldlooklikethis:
TheabovelinecausestheCdeclarationswhichareinthe s t d i o . h headertobeincludedforuseinyourprogram.Usuallythisisimplementedbyjustinsertingintoyourprogramthecontentsofa headerfilecalled s t d i o . h ,locatedinasystemdependent location.Thelocationofsuchfilesmaybedescribedinyourcompiler'sdocumentation.AlistofstandardCheaderfilesislistedbelowintheHeaderstable. The s t d i o . h headercontainsvariousdeclarationsforinput/output(I/O)usinganabstractionofI/Omechanismscalled streams.Forexamplethereisanoutputstreamobjectcalled s t d o u t whichisusedtooutputtexttothestandardoutput,whichusually displaysthetextonthecomputerscreen.
45/118
10/24/13
Ifusinganglebracketsliketheexampleabove,thepreprocessorisinstructedtosearchfortheincludefilealongthedevelopmentenvironmentpathforthestandardincludes.
# i n c l u d e" o t h e r . h "
Ifyouusequotationmarks("" ),thepreprocessorisexpectedtosearchinsomeadditional,usuallyuserdefined,locationsfortheheaderfile,andtofallbacktothestandardincludepathsonlyifitisnotfoundinthoseadditionallocations.Itiscommonfor thisformtoincludesearchinginthesamedirectoryasthefilecontainingthe # i n c l u d e directive.
NOTE:Youshouldcheckthedocumentationofthedevelopmentenvironmentyouareusingforanyvendorspecificimplementationsofthe # i n c l u d e directive.
Headers TheC90standardheaderslist:
< a s s e r t . h > < c t y p e . h > < e r r n o . h > < f l o a t . h > < l i m i t s . h >
< l o c a l e . h > < m a t h . h > < s e t j m p . h > < s i g n a l . h > < s t d a r g . h >
< s t d d e f . h > < s t d i o . h > < s t d l i b . h > < s t r i n g . h >
HeadersaddedsinceC90:
< c o m p l e x . h > < f e n v . h > 
 < s t d b o o l . h > < s t d i n t . h >
< t g m a t h . h > < w c h a r . h > < w c t y p e . h >
#pragma
The pragma(pragmaticinformation)directiveispartofthestandard,butthemeaningofanypragmadependsonthesoftwareimplementationofthestandardthatisused.The#pragmadirectiveprovidesawaytorequestspecialbehaviorfromthe compiler.Thisdirectiveismostusefulforprogramsthatareunusuallylargeorthatneedtotakeadvantageofthecapabilitiesofaparticularcompiler. Pragmasareusedwithinthesourceprogram.
# p r a g m at o k e n ( s )
1. pragmaisusuallyfollowedbyasingletoken,whichrepresentsacommandforthecompilertoobey.YoushouldcheckthesoftwareimplementationoftheCstandardyouintendonusingforalistofthesupportedtokens.Notsurprisingly,thesetof commandsthatcanappearin#pragmadirectivesisdifferentforeachcompileryou'llhavetoconsultthedocumentationforyourcompilertoseewhichcommandsitallowsandwhatthosecommandsdo. Forinstanceoneofthemostimplementedpreprocessordirectives, # p r a g m ao n c e whenplacedatthebeginningofaheaderfile,indicatesthatthefilewhereitresideswillbeskippedifincludedseveraltimesbythepreprocessor.
NOTE:Othermethodsexisttodothisactionthatiscommonlyreferredasusing includeguards.
# d e f i n e
WARNING:Preprocessormacros,althoughtempting,canproducequiteunexpectedresultsifnotdoneright.Alwayskeepinmindthatmacrosaretextualsubstitutionsdonetoyoursourcecodebeforeanythingiscompiled.Thecompiler doesnotknowanythingaboutthemacrosandnevergetstoseethem.Thiscanproduceobscureerrors,amongstothernegativeeffects.Prefertouselanguagefeatures,ifthereareequivalent(Inexampleuse c o n s ti n t or e n u m insteadof # d e f i n e dconstants). Thatsaid,therearecases,wheremacrosareveryuseful(seethe d e b u g macrobelowforanexample).
46/118
10/24/13
The # d e f i n e directiveisusedtodefinevaluesormacrosthatareusedbythepreprocessortomanipulatetheprogramsourcecodebeforeitiscompiled.Becausepreprocessordefinitionsaresubstitutedbeforethecompileractsonthesourcecode,any errorsthatareintroducedby # d e f i n e aredifficulttotrace. Byconvention,valuesdefinedusing # d e f i n e arenamedinuppercase.Althoughdoingsoisnotarequirement,itisconsideredverybadpracticetodootherwise.Thisallowsthevaluestobeeasilyidentifiedwhenreadingthesourcecode. Today, # d e f i n e isprimarilyusedtohandlecompilerandplatformdifferences.E.g.,adefinemightholdaconstantwhichistheappropriateerrorcodeforasystemcall.Theuseof # d e f i n e shouldthusbelimitedunlessabsolutelynecessary t y p e d e f statements andconstantvariablescanoftenperformthesamefunctionsmoresafely. Anotherfeatureofthe # d e f i n e commandisthatitcantakearguments,makingitratherusefulasapseudofunctioncreator.Considerthefollowingcode:
# d e f i n eA B S O L U T E _ V A L U E (x)(( ( x )<0 )?( x ):( x )) . . . i n tx=1 ; w h i l e (A B S O L U T E _ V A L U E (x)){ . . . }
It'sgenerallyagoodideatouseextraparentheseswhenusingcomplexmacros.Noticethatintheaboveexample,thevariable"x"isalwayswithinitsownsetofparentheses.Thisway,itwillbeevaluatedinwhole,beforebeingcomparedto0or multipliedby1.Also,theentiremacroissurroundedbyparentheses,topreventitfrombeingcontaminatedbyothercode.Ifyou'renotcareful,youruntheriskofhavingthecompilermisinterpretyourcode. Becauseofsideeffectsitisconsideredaverybadideatousemacrofunctionsasdescribedabove.

i n tx=1 0 ; i n ty=A B S O L U T E _ V A L U E (x + +) ;
IfABSOLUTE_VALUE()werearealfunction'x'wouldnowhavethevalueof'9',butbecauseitwasanargumentinamacroitwasexpandedtwiceandthushasavalueof8.
Example: Toillustratethedangersofmacros,considerthisnaivemacro
# d e f i n eM A X ( a , b )a > b ? a : b
andthecode
i=M A X ( 2 , 3 ) + 5 ; j=M A X ( 3 , 2 ) + 5 ;
Takealookatthisandconsiderwhatthevalueafterexecutionmightbe.Thestatementsareturnedinto
i n ti=2 > 3 ? 2 : 3 + 5 ; i n tj=3 > 2 ? 3 : 2 + 5 ;
Thus,afterexecution i = 8 and j = 3 insteadoftheexpectedresultof i = j = 8 !Thisiswhyyouwerecautionedtouseanextrasetofparenthesisabove,butevenwiththese,theroadisfraughtwithdangers.Thealertreadermightquicklyrealize thatif a or b containsexpressions,thedefinitionmustparenthesizeeveryuseof a , b inthemacrodefinition,likethis:

# d e f i n eM A X ( a , b )( ( a ) > ( b ) ? ( a ) : ( b ) )
Thisworks,provided a , b havenosideeffects.Indeed,
i=2 ; j=3 ; k=M A X ( i + + ,j + + ) ;
wouldresultin k = 4 , i = 3 and j = 5 .Thiswouldbehighlysurprisingtoanyoneexpecting M A X ( ) tobehavelikeafunction. Sowhatisthecorrectsolution?Thesolutionisnottousemacroatall.Aglobal,inlinefunction,likethis

i n l i n ei n tm a x ( i n ta ,i n tb ){ r e t u r na > b ? a : b }
hasnoneofthepitfallsabove,butwillnotworkwithalltypes.
47/118
10/24/13
NOTE:Theexplicit i n l i n e declarationisnotreallynecessaryunlessthedefinitionisinaheaderfile,sinceyourcompilercaninlinefunctionsforyou(withgccthiscanbedonewith f i n l i n e f u n c t i o n s or O 3 ).Thecompileris oftenbetterthantheprogrammeratpredictingwhichfunctionsareworthinlining.Also,functioncallsarenotreallyexpensive(theyusedtobe). Thecompilerisactuallyfreetoignorethe i n l i n e keyword.Itisonlyahint(exceptthat i n l i n e isnecessaryinordertoallowafunctiontobedefinedinaheaderfilewithoutgeneratinganerrormessageduetothefunction beingdefinedinmorethanonetranslationunit).
(#,##) The #and ##operatorsareusedwiththe # d e f i n e macro.Using#causesthefirstargumentafterthe #tobereturnedasastringinquotes.Forexample,thecommand

# d e f i n ea s _ s t r i n g (s)#s
willmakethecompilerturnthiscommand
p u t s (a s _ s t r i n g (H e l l oW o r l d !));
into
p u t s (" H e l l oW o r l d ! ") ;
Using ##concatenateswhat'sbeforethe ##withwhat'safterit.Forexample,thecommand

# d e f i n ec o n c a t e n a t e (x ,y)x# #y . . . i n tx y=1 0 ; . . .
willmakethecompilerturn
p r i n t f (" % d " ,c o n c a t e n a t e (x ,y) ) ;
into
p r i n t f (" % d " ,x y ) ;
whichwill,ofcourse,display 1 0 tostandardoutput. Itispossibletoconcatenateamacroargumentwithaconstantprefixorsuffixtoobtainavalididentifierasin

# d e f i n em a k e _ f u n c t i o n (n a m e)i n tm y _# #n a m e( i n tf o o ){ } m a k e _ f u n c t i o n (b a r)
whichwilldefineafunctioncalled m y _ b a r ( ) .Butitisn'tpossibletointegrateamacroargumentintoaconstantstringusingtheconcatenationoperator.Inordertoobtainsuchaneffect,onecanusetheANSICpropertythattwoormoreconsecutivestring constantsareconsideredequivalenttoasinglestringconstantwhenencountered.Usingthisproperty,onecanwrite

# d e f i n ee a t (w h a t)p u t s (" I ' me a t i n g"# w h a t"t o d a y . ") e a t (f r u i t)
whichthemacroprocessorwillturninto
p u t s (" I ' me a t i n g"" f r u i t ""t o d a y . ")
whichinturnwillbeinterpretedbytheCparserasasinglestringconstant. Thefollowingtrickcanbeusedtoturnanumericconstantsintostringliterals
# d e f i n en u m 2 s t r ( x )s t r ( x )
48/118
10/24/13
# d e f i n es t r ( x )# x # d e f i n eC O N S T2 3 p u t s ( n u m 2 s t r ( C O N S T ) ) ;
Thisisabittricky,sinceitisexpandedin2steps.First n u m 2 s t r ( C O N S T ) isreplacedwith s t r ( 2 3 ) ,whichinturnisreplacedwith " 2 3 " .Thiscanbeusefulinthefollowingexample:

# i f d e fD E B U G # d e f i n ed e b u g ( m s g )f p u t s ( _ _ F I L E _ _" : "n u m 2 s t r ( _ _ L I N E _ _ )"-"m s g ,s t d e r r ) # e l s e # d e f i n ed e b u g ( m s g ) # e n d i f
Thiswillgiveyouanicedebugmessageincludingthefileandthelinewherethemessagewasissued.IfDEBUGisnotdefinedhoweverthedebuggingmessagewillcompletelyvanishfromyourcode.Becarefulnottousethissortofconstructwith anythingthathassideeffects,sincethiscanleadtobugs,thatappearanddisappeardependingonthecompilationparameters.
macros
Macrosaren'ttypecheckedandsotheydonotevaluatearguments.Also,theydonotobeyscopeproperly,butsimplytakethestringpassedtothemandreplaceeachoccurrenceofthemacroargumentinthetextofthemacrowiththeactualstringfor thatparameter(thecodeisliterallycopiedintothelocationitwascalledfrom). Anexampleonhowtouseamacro:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # d e f i n eS L I C E S8 # d e f i n eA D D ( x )(( x )/S L I C E S) i n tm a i n ( ) { i n ta=0 ,b=1 0 ,c=6 ; a=A D D ( b+c ) ; p r i n t f ( " % d \ n " ,a ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
theresultof"a"shouldbe"2"(b+c=16>passedtoADD>16/SLICES>resultis"2")
NOTE: Itisusuallybadpracticetodefinemacrosinheaders. Amacroshouldbedefinedonlywhenitisnotpossibletoachievethesameresultwithafunctionorsomeothermechanism.Somecompilersareabletooptimizecodetowherecallstosmallfunctionsarereplacedwithinlinecode, negatinganypossiblespeedadvantage.Usingtypedefs,enums,and i n l i n e (inC99)isoftenabetteroption.
Oneofthefewsituationswhereinlinefunctionswon'tworksoyouareprettymuchforcedtousefunctionlikemacrosinsteadistoinitializecompiletimeconstants(staticinitializationofstructs).Thishappenswhentheargumentstothemacroare literalsthatthecompilercanoptimizetoanotherliteral. [6]
#error
The #errordirectivehaltscompilation.Whenoneisencounteredthestandardspecifiesthatthecompilershouldemitadiagnosticcontainingtheremainingtokensinthedirective.Thisismostlyusedfordebuggingpurposes.
# e r r o rm e s s a g e
#warning
Manycompilerssupporta #warningdirective.Whenoneisencountered,thecompileremitsadiagnosticcontainingtheremainingtokensinthedirective. 1. warningmessage
#undef
The #undefdirectiveundefinesamacro.Theidentifierneednothavebeenpreviouslydefined.
#if,#else,#elif,#endif(conditionals)
49/118
10/24/13
The #ifcommandcheckswhetheracontrollingconditionalexpressionevaluatestozeroornonzero,andexcludesorincludesablockofcoderespectively.Forexample:
# i f1 / *T h i sb l o c kw i l lb ei n c l u d e d* / # e n d i f # i f0 / *T h i sb l o c kw i l ln o tb ei n c l u d e d* / # e n d i f
TheconditionalexpressioncouldcontainanyCoperatorexceptfortheassignmentoperators,theincrementanddecrementoperators,theaddressofoperator,andthesizeofoperator. Oneuniqueoperatorusedinpreprocessingandnowhereelseisthe definedoperator.Itreturns1ifthemacroname,optionallyenclosedinparentheses,iscurrentlydefined0ifnot. The #endifcommandendsablockstartedby # i f , # i f d e f ,or # i f n d e f . The #elifcommandissimilarto # i f ,exceptthatitisusedtoextractonefromaseriesofblocksofcode.E.g.:

# i f/ *s o m ee x p r e s s i o n* / : : : # e l i f/ *a n o t h e re x p r e s s i o n* / : / *i m a g i n em a n ym o r e# e l i f sh e r e. . .* / : # e l s e / *T h eo p t i o n a l# e l s eb l o c ki ss e l e c t e di fn o n eo ft h ep r e v i o u s# i fo r # e l i fb l o c k sa r es e l e c t e d* / : : # e n d i f/ *T h ee n do ft h e# i fb l o c k* /
#ifdef,#ifndef
The #ifdefcommandissimilarto # i f ,exceptthatthecodeblockfollowingitisselectedifamacronameisdefined.Inthisrespect,
# i f d e fN A M E
isequivalentto
# i fd e f i n e dN A M E
The #ifndefcommandissimilarto #ifdef,exceptthatthetestisreversed:

# i f n d e fN A M E
isequivalentto
# i f! d e f i n e dN A M E
UsefulPreprocessorMacrosforDebugging
ANSICdefinessomeusefulpreprocessormacrosandvariables, [7][8]alsocalled"magicconstants",include: __FILE__=>Thenameofthecurrentfile,asastringliteral __LINE__=>Currentlineofthesourcefile,asanumericliteral __DATE__=>Currentsystemdate,asastring __TIME__=>Currentsystemtime,asastring __TIMESTAMP__=>Dateandtime(nonstandard) __cplusplus=>undefinedwhenyourCcodeisbeingcompiledbyaCcompiler199711LwhenyourCcodeisbeingcompiledbyaC++compilercompliantwith1998C++standard. __func__=>Currentfunctionnameofthesourcefile,asastring(partofC99) __PRETTY_FUNCTION__=>"decorated"Currentfunctionnameofthesourcefile,asastring(inGCCnonstandard) Compiletimeassertions
50/118
10/24/13
Somepeople[9]defineapreprocessormacrotoallowcompiletimeassertions,somethinglike:
# d e f i n eC O M P I L E _ T I M E _ A S S E R T ( p r e d )s w i t c h ( 0 ) { c a s e0 : c a s ep r e d : ; } C O M P I L E _ T I M E _ A S S E R T (B O O L E A NC O N D I T I O N) ;
The s t a t i c _ a s s e r t . h p p Boostlibrarydefinesasimilarmacro.Somecompilersdefinea s t a t i c _ a s s e r t keywordusedinthesameway. [10] Suchcompiletimeassertionscanhelpyoudebugfasterthanusingonlyruntimeassert()statements,becausethecompiletimeassertionsarealltestedatcompiletime,whileitispossiblethatatestrunofaprogrammayfailtoexercisesomeruntime assert()statements. XMacros OnelittleknownusagepatternoftheCpreprocessorisknownas"XMacros". [11][12][13][14]AnXMacroisaheaderfileormacro.Commonlytheseusetheextension".def"insteadofthetraditional".h".Thisfilecontainsalistofsimilarmacrocalls,which canbereferredtoas"componentmacros".Theincludefileisthenreferencedrepeatedlyinthefollowingpattern.Here,theincludefileis"xmacro.def"anditcontainsalistofcomponentmacrosofthestyle"foo(x,y,z)".
# d e f i n ef o o ( x ,y ,z )d o S o m e t h i n g W i t h ( x ,y ,z ) ; # i n c l u d e" x m a c r o . d e f " # u n d e ff o o # d e f i n ef o o ( x ,y ,z )d o S o m e t h i n g E l s e W i t h ( x ,y ,z ) ; # i n c l u d e" x m a c r o . d e f " # u n d e ff o o ( e t c . . . )
ThemostcommonusageofXMacrosistoestablishalistofCobjectsandthenautomaticallygeneratecodeforeachofthem.Someimplementationsalsoperformany # u n d e f stheyneedinsidetheXMacro,asopposedtoexpectingthecallertoundefine them. Commonsetsofobjectsareasetofglobalconfigurationsettings,asetofmembersofastruct,alistofpossibleXMLtagsforconvertinganXMLfiletoaquicklytraversabletree,orthebodyofanenumdeclarationotherlistsarepossible. OncetheXMacrohasbeenprocessedtocreatethelistofobjects,thecomponentmacroscanberedefinedtogenerate,forinstance,accessorand/ormutatorfunctions.Structureserializinganddeserializingarealsocommonlydone. HereisanexampleofanXMacrothatestablishesastructandautomaticallycreatesserialize/deserializefunctions.Forsimplicity,thisexampledoesn'taccountforendiannessorbufferoverflows. File star.def:

E X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( x ,i n t ) E X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( y ,i n t ) E X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( z ,i n t ) E X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( r a d i u s ,d o u b l e ) # u n d e fE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R
File star_table.c:
t y p e d e fs t r u c t{ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )t y p em e m b e r ; # i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " }s t a r S t r u c t ; v o i ds e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,u n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ m e m c p y ( b u f f e r ,& ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ,s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; # i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " } v o i dd e s e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( s t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ m e m c p y ( & ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ,b u f f e r ,s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; # i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " }
Handlersforindividualdatatypesmaybecreatedandaccessedusingtokenconcatenation(" # # ")andquoting(" # ")operators.Forexample,thefollowingmightbeaddedtotheabovecode:

# d e f i n ep r i n t _ i n t ( v a l ) p r i n t f ( " % d " ,v a l ) # d e f i n ep r i n t _ d o u b l e ( v a l )p r i n t f ( " % g " ,v a l ) v o i dp r i n t _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ){ / *p r i n t _ # # t y p ew i l lb er e p l a c e dw i t hp r i n t _ i n to rp r i n t _ d o u b l e* / # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ p r i n t f ( " % s :" ,# m e m b e r ) ;\ p r i n t _ # # t y p e ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ;\ p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ;
51/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " }
Notethatinthisexampleyoucanalsoavoidthecreationofseparatehandlerfunctionsforeachdatatypeinthisexamplebydefiningtheprintformatforeachsupportedtype,withtheadditionalbenefitofreducingtheexpansioncodeproducedbythis headerfile:
# d e f i n eF O R M A T _ ( t y p e )F O R M A T _ # # t y p e # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ i n t " % d " # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ d o u b l e" % g " v o i dp r i n t _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ){ / *F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )w i l lb er e p l a c e dw i t hF O R M A T _ i n to rF O R M A T _ d o u b l e* / # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ p r i n t f ( " % s :"F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )" \ n " ,# m e m b e r ,s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; # i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " }
Thecreationofaseparateheaderfilecanbeavoidedbycreatingasinglemacrocontainingwhatwouldbethecontentsofthefile.Forinstance,theabovefile"star.def"couldbereplacedwiththismacroatthebeginningof: File star_table.c:

# d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R\ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( x ,i n t )\ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( y ,i n t )\ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( z ,i n t )\ E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( r a d i u s ,d o u b l e )
andthenallcallsto # i n c l u d e" s t a r . d e f " couldbereplacedwithasimple E X P A N D _ S T A R statement.Therestoftheabovefilewouldbecome:

t y p e d e fs t r u c t{ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )t y p em e m b e r ; E X P A N D _ S T A R # u n d e f E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R }s t a r S t r u c t ; v o i ds e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,u n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ m e m c p y ( b u f f e r ,& ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ,s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; E X P A N D _ S T A R # u n d e f E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R } v o i dd e s e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( s t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ m e m c p y ( & ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ,b u f f e r ,s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; E X P A N D _ S T A R # u n d e f E X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R }
andtheprinthandlercouldbeaddedaswellas:
# d e f i n ep r i n t _ i n t ( v a l ) p r i n t f ( " % d " ,v a l ) # d e f i n ep r i n t _ d o u b l e ( v a l )p r i n t f ( " % g " ,v a l ) v o i dp r i n t _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ){ / *p r i n t _ # # t y p ew i l lb er e p l a c e dw i t hp r i n t _ i n to rp r i n t _ d o u b l e* / # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ p r i n t f ( " % s :" ,# m e m b e r ) ;\ p r i n t _ # # t y p e ( s t a r > m e m b e r ) ;\ p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; E X P A N D _ S T A R # u n d e fE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R }
oras:
# d e f i n eF O R M A T _ ( t y p e )F O R M A T _ # # t y p e # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ i n t " % d " # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ d o u b l e" % g " v o i dp r i n t _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ){ / *F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )w i l lb er e p l a c e dw i t hF O R M A T _ i n to rF O R M A T _ d o u b l e* / # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e )\ p r i n t f ( " % s :"F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )" \ n " ,# m e m b e r ,s t a r > m e m b e r ) ; E X P A N D _ S T A R # u n d e fE X P A N D _ S T A R _ M E M B E R
52/118
10/24/13
}
Avariantwhichavoidsneedingtoknowthemembersofanyexpandedsubmacrosistoaccepttheoperatorsasanargumenttothelistmacro: File star_table.c:

/ * G e n e r i c * / # d e f i n eS T R U C T _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e ,d u m m y )t y p em e m b e r ; # d e f i n eS E R I A L I Z E _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e ,o b j ,b u f f e r )\ m e m c p y ( b u f f e r ,& ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ,s i z e o f ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ; # d e f i n eD E S E R I A L I Z E _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e ,o b j ,b u f f e r )\ m e m c p y ( & ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ,b u f f e r ,s i z e o f ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ) ;\ b u f f e r+ =s i z e o f ( o b j > m e m b e r ) ; # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ ( t y p e )F O R M A T _ # # t y p e # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ i n t " % d " # d e f i n eF O R M A T _ d o u b l e" % g " / *F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )w i l lb er e p l a c e dw i t hF O R M A T _ i n to rF O R M A T _ d o u b l e* / # d e f i n eP R I N T _ M E M B E R ( m e m b e r ,t y p e ,o b j )\ p r i n t f ( " % s :"F O R M A T _ ( t y p e )" \ n " ,# m e m b e r ,o b j > m e m b e r ) ; / * s t a r S t r u c t * / # d e f i n eE X P A N D _ S T A R ( _ ,. . . )\ _ ( x ,i n t ,_ _ V A _ A R G S _ _ )\ _ ( y ,i n t ,_ _ V A _ A R G S _ _ )\ _ ( z ,i n t ,_ _ V A _ A R G S _ _ )\ _ ( r a d i u s ,d o u b l e ,_ _ V A _ A R G S _ _ ) t y p e d e fs t r u c t{ E X P A N D _ S T A R ( S T R U C T _ M E M B E R ,) }s t a r S t r u c t ; v o i ds e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,u n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ E X P A N D _ S T A R ( S E R I A L I Z E _ M E M B E R ,s t a r ,b u f f e r ) } v o i dd e s e r i a l i z e _ s t a r ( s t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ,c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* b u f f e r ){ E X P A N D _ S T A R ( D E S E R I A L I Z E _ M E M B E R ,s t a r ,b u f f e r ) } v o i dp r i n t _ s t a r ( c o n s ts t a r S t r u c t* c o n s ts t a r ){ E X P A N D _ S T A R ( P R I N T _ M E M B E R ,s t a r ) }
Thisapproachcanbedangerousinthattheentiremacrosetisalwaysinterpretedasifitwasonasinglesourceline,whichcouldencountercompilerlimitswithcomplexcomponentmacrosand/orlongmemberlists. ThistechniquewasreportedbyLarsWirzenius[15]inawebpagedatedJanuary17,2000,inwhichhegivescredittoKennethOksanenfor"refininganddeveloping"thetechniquepriorto1997.Theotherreferencesdescribeitasamethodfromatleasta decadebeforetheturnofthecentury. 1. Severalprogrammersrecommend"usespacesforindentation.Donotusetabsinyourcode.Youshouldsetyoureditortoemitspaceswhenyouhitthetabkey."[1](http://googlestyleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml)[2] (http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabsvsspaces.html)Otherprogrammersdisagree.[3](http://diagrammesmodernes.blogspot.com/2006/04/tabversusspaces.html)[4](http://www.derkarl.org/why_to_tabs.html)Regardlessofwhetheryoupreferspacesor tabs,makesureyoukeepitconsistentwithprojectsyouareworkingon,becausemixingtabsandspacescancausecodetobecomeunreadable. 2. [5](http://www.oualline.com/vimcook.html#drawing) 3. [http://lxr.linux.no/#linux+v2.6.31/Documentation/CodingStyleLinuxKernelcodingstandard 4. "CodingConventionsforC++andJava"(http://www.macadamian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=37)"alltheblockcommentsillustratedinthisdocumenthavenoprettystarsontherightsideoftheblockcomment. Thisdeliberatechoicewasmadebecausealigningthoseprettystarsisalargewasteoftimeanddiscouragesthemaintenanceofinlinecomments.", 5. wiki:BigBlocksOfAsterisks,"Codecraft"(http://books.google.com/books? id=i4zCzpkrt4sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=programming+comment+block+waste+time+lining+up&source=bl&ots=TUpTMIHBnh&sig=NeZm23WPmvnw2aKMnIRUeQoHmJg&hl=en&ei=pri3SevGIYGyNMn9jd4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result) byPeteGoodliffepage82,Falvotech"CProgrammingStyleGuide"(http://www.falvotech.com/content/publications/conventions/c/),FedoraDirectoryServerCodingStyle(http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Coding_Style)
Libraries
A libraryinCisagroupoffunctionsanddeclarations,exposedforusebyotherprograms.Thelibrarythereforeconsistsofan interfaceexpressedina . h file(namedthe"header")andan implementationexpressedina . c file.This . c filemightbe precompiledorotherwiseinaccessible,oritmightbeavailabletotheprogrammer.(Note:LibrariesmaycallfunctionsinotherlibrariessuchastheStandardCormathlibrariestodovarioustasks.) Theformatofalibraryvarieswiththeoperatingsystemandcompileroneisusing.Forexample,intheUnixandLinuxoperatingsystems,alibraryconsistsofoneormore objectfiles,whichconsistofobjectcodethatisusuallytheoutputofacompiler(if thesourcelanguageisCorsomethingsimilar)oranassembler(ifthesourcelanguageisassemblylanguage).Theseobjectfilesarethenturnedintoalibraryintheformofanarchivebythe ararchiver(aprogramthattakesfilesandstoresthemina biggerfilewithoutregardtocompression).Thefilenameforthelibraryusuallystartswith"lib"andendswith".a"e.g.the libc.afilecontainstheStandardClibraryandthe"libm.a"themathematicsroutines,whichthelinkerwouldthenlinkin.Other
53/118
10/24/13
operatingsystemssuchasMicrosoftWindowsusea".lib"extensionforlibrariesandan".obj"extensionforobjectfiles. We'regoingtouseasanexampleafunctiontoparseargumentsfromthecommandline.Argumentsonthecommandlinecouldbebythemselves:
i
haveanoptionalargumentthatisconcatenated(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concatenate)totheletter:
i o p t a r g
orhavetheargumentinaseparateargvelement:
io p t a r g
Inordertoparseallthesetypesofarguments,wehavewrittenthefollowing"getopt.c"file:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # i n c l u d e" g e t o p t . h " / *v a r i a b l e s* / i n to p t e r r=1 ; i n to p t i n d=1 ; i n to p t o p t ; c h a r* o p t a r g ; / *f o rf p r i n t f ( )a n dE O F* / / *f o rs t r c h r ( )* / / *c o n s i s t e n c yc h e c k* / / *g e t o p tp r i n t se r r o r si ft h i si so n* / / *t o k e np o i n t e r* / / *o p t i o nc h a r a c t e rp a s s e db a c kt ou s e r* / / *f l a ga r g u m e n t( o rv a l u e )* /
/ *f u n c t i o n* / / *r e t u r no p t i o nc h a r a c t e r ,E O Fi fn om o r eo r?i fp r o b l e m . T h ea r g u m e n t st ot h ef u n c t i o n : a r g c ,a r g v-t h ea r g u m e n t st ot h em a i n ( )f u n c t i o n .A na r g u m e n to f" " s t o p st h ep r o c e s s i n g . o p t s-as t r i n gc o n t a i n i n gt h ev a l i do p t i o nc h a r a c t e r s . a no p t i o nc h a r a c t e rf o l l o w e db yac o l o n( : )i n d i c a t e st h a t t h eo p t i o nh a sar e q u i r e da r g u m e n t . * / i n t g e t o p t( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* * a r g v ,c h a r* o p t s ) { s t a t i ci n ts p=1 ; / *c h a r a c t e ri n d e xi n t oc u r r e n tt o k e n* / r e g i s t e rc h a r* c p ; / *p o i n t e ri n t oc u r r e n tt o k e n* / i f( s p= =1 ) { / *c h e c kf o rm o r ef l a g l i k et o k e n s* / i f( o p t i n d> =a r g c| |a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ 0 ]! =' '| |a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ 1 ]= =' \ 0 ' ) r e t u r nE O F ; e l s ei f( s t r c m p( a r g v [ o p t i n d ] ," " )= =0 ) { o p t i n d + + ; r e t u r nE O F ; } } o p t o p t=a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ s p ] ; i f( o p t o p t= =' : '| |( c p=s t r c h r( o p t s ,o p t o p t ) )= =N U L L ) { i f( o p t e r r ) f p r i n t f( s t d e r r ," % s :i n v a l i do p t i o n-' % c ' \ n " ,a r g v [ 0 ] ,o p t o p t ) ; / *i fn oc h a r a c t e r sl e f ti nt h i st o k e n ,m o v et on e x tt o k e n* / i f( a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ + + s p ]= =' \ 0 ' ) { o p t i n d + + ; s p=1 ; } r e t u r n' ? ' ; } i f( * + + c p= =' : ' ) { / *i fav a l u ei se x p e c t e d ,g e ti t* / i f( a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ s p+1 ]! =' \ 0 ' ) / *f l a gv a l u ei sr e s to fc u r r e n tt o k e n* / o p t a r g=a r g v [ o p t i n d + + ]+( s p+1 ) ; e l s ei f( + + o p t i n d> =a r g c ) { i f( o p t e r r ) f p r i n t f( s t d e r r ," % s :o p t i o nr e q u i r e sa na r g u m e n t-' % c ' \ n " , a r g v [ 0 ] ,o p t o p t ) ; s p=1 ;
54/118
10/24/13
r e t u r n' ? ' ; } e l s e / *f l a gv a l u ei sn e x tt o k e n* / o p t a r g=a r g v [ o p t i n d + + ] ; s p=1 ; } e l s e { / *s e tu pt ol o o ka tn e x tc h a ri nt o k e n ,n e x tt i m e* / i f( a r g v [ o p t i n d ] [ + + s p ]= =' \ 0 ' ) { / *n om o r ei nc u r r e n tt o k e n ,s os e t u pn e x tt o k e n* / s p=1 ; o p t i n d + + ; } o p t a r g=0 ; } r e t u r no p t o p t ; } / *E N DO FF I L E* /
Theinterfacewouldbethefollowing"getopt.h"file:
# i f n d e fG E T O P T _ H # d e f i n eG E T O P T _ H / *e x p o r t e dv a r i a b l e s* / e x t e r ni n to p t e r r ,o p t i n d ,o p t o p t ; e x t e r nc h a r* o p t a r g ; / *e x p o r t e df u n c t i o n* / i n tg e t o p t ( i n t ,c h a r* * ,c h a r* ) ; # e n d i f / *E N DO FF I L E* /
Ataminimum,aprogrammerhastheinterfacefiletofigureouthowtousealibrary,although,ingeneral,thelibraryprogrammeralsowrotedocumentationonhowtousethelibrary.Intheabovecase,thedocumentationshouldsaythattheprovided arguments * * a r g v and * o p t s bothshouldn'tbenullpointers(orwhywouldyoubeusingthe g e t o p t functionanyway?).Specifically,ittypicallystateswhateachparameterisforandwhatreturnvaluescanbeexpectedinwhichconditions.Programmersthat usealibrary,arenormallynotinterestedintheimplementationofthelibraryunlesstheimplementationhasabug,inwhichcasehewouldwanttocomplainsomehow. Boththeimplementationofthegetoptslibrary,andprogramsthatusethelibraryshouldstate # i n c l u d e" g e t o p t . h " ,inordertorefertothecorrespondinginterface.Nowthelibraryis"linked"totheprogramtheonethatcontainsthemain()function.The programmayrefertodozensofinterfaces. Insomecases,justplacing # i n c l u d e" g e t o p t . h " mayappearcorrectbutwillstillfailtolinkproperly.Thisindicatesthatthelibraryisnotinstalledcorrectly,ortheremaybesomeadditionalconfigurationrequired.Youwillhavetocheckeitherthecompiler's documentationorlibrary'sdocumentationonhowtoresolvethisissue.
Whattoputinheaderfiles
Asageneralrule,headerscontainanythingthatshouldbeexported,or"seen"bytheothermodulesinaprogram.Thisincludesmacrodefinitions(preprocessor # d e f i n e s)structure,union,andenumerationdeclarationstypedefdeclarationsexternal functiondeclarationsandglobalvariabledeclarations.Intheabove g e t o p t . h examplefile,onefunctiondeclaration(g e t o p t )andfourglobalvariables(o p t i n d , o p t o p t , o p t a r g ,and o p t e r r )aredefined. The # i f n d e fG E T O P T _ H / # d e f i n eG E T O P T _ H trickiscolloquiallycalled includeguards.Thisisusedsothatifthe g e t o p t . h filewereincludedmorethanonceinatranslationunit,theunitwouldonlyseethecontentsonce.
Furtherreading
CFAQ:"I'mwonderingwhattoputin.cfilesandwhattoputin.hfiles.(Whatdoes".h"mean,anyway?)"(http://cfaq.com/cpp/hfiles.html) PIClistthread:"GlobalvariablesinprojectswithmanyCfiles."(http://www.piclist.com/techref/postbot.asp?by=time&id=piclist\2007\10\25\073430a&tgt=post)
Standardlibraries
The Cstandardlibraryisastandardizedcollectionofheaderfilesandlibraryroutinesusedtoimplementcommonoperations,suchasinput/outputandcharacterstringhandling.Unlikeotherlanguages(suchasCOBOL,Fortran,andPL/I)Cdoesnot includebuiltinkeywordsforthesetasks,sonearlyallCprogramsrelyonthestandardlibrarytofunction.
History
TheCprogramminglanguagepreviouslydidnotprovideanyelementaryfunctionalities,suchasI/Ooperations.Overtime,usercommunitiesofCsharedideasandimplementationstoprovidethatfunctionality.Theseideasbecamecommon,andwere eventuallyincorporatedintothedefinitionofthestandardizedCprogramminglanguage.Thesearenowcalledthe Cstandardlibraries. BothUnixandCwerecreatedatAT&T'sBellLaboratoriesinthelate1960sandearly1970s.Duringthe1970stheCprogramminglanguagebecameincreasinglypopular,withmanyuniversitiesandorganizationsbeginningtocreatetheirownvariationsof thelanguagefortheirownprojects.Bythestartofthe1980scompatibilityproblemsbetweenthevariousCimplementationsbecameapparent.In1983theAmericanNationalStandardsInstitute(ANSI)formedacommitteetoestablishastandard specificationofCknownas"ANSIC".Thisworkculminatedinthecreationofthesocalled C89standardin1989.Partoftheresultingstandardwasasetofsoftwarelibrariescalledthe ANSICstandardlibrary. LaterrevisionsoftheCstandardhaveaddedseveralnewrequiredheaderfilestothelibrary.Supportforthesenewextensionsvariesbetweenimplementations.
55/118
10/24/13
Theheaders <iso646.h>, <wchar.h>,and <wctype.h>wereaddedwithNormativeAddendum1(hereafterabbreviatedas NA1),anadditiontotheCStandardratifiedin1995. Theheaders <complex.h>, <fenv.h>, <inttypes.h>, <stdbool.h>, <stdint.h>,and <tgmath.h>wereaddedwith C99,arevisiontotheCStandardpublishedin1999.
Design
Thedeclarationofeachfunctioniskeptinaheaderfile,whiletheactualimplementationoffunctionsareseparatedintoalibraryfile.Thenamingandscopeofheadershavebecomecommonbuttheorganizationoflibrariesstillremainsdiverse.The standardlibraryisusuallyshippedalongwithacompiler.SinceCcompilersoftenprovideextrafunctionalitiesthatarenotspecifiedinANSIC,astandardlibrarywithaparticularcompilerismostlyincompatiblewithstandardlibrariesofothercompilers. MuchoftheCstandardlibraryhasbeenshowntohavebeenwelldesigned.Afewparts,withthebenefitofhindsight,areregardedasmistakes.Thestringinputfunctions g e t s ( ) (andtheuseof s c a n f ( ) toreadstringinput)arethesourceofmanybuffer overflows,andmostprogrammingguidesrecommendavoidingthisusage.Anotheroddityis s t r t o k ( ) ,afunctionthatisdesignedasaprimitivelexicalanalyserbutishighly"fragile"anddifficulttouse.
ANSIStandard
TheANSICstandardlibraryconsistsof24Cheaderfileswhichcanbeincludedintoaprogrammer'sprojectwithasingledirective.Eachheaderfilecontainsoneormorefunctiondeclarations,datatypedefinitionsandmacros.Thecontentsofthese headerfilesfollows. Incomparisontosomeotherlanguages(forexampleJava)thestandardlibraryisminuscule.Thelibraryprovidesabasicsetofmathematicalfunctions,stringmanipulation,typeconversions,andfileandconsolebasedI/O.Itdoesnotincludeastandard setof"containertypes"liketheC++StandardTemplateLibrary,letalonethecompletegraphicaluserinterface(GUI)toolkits,networkingtools,andprofusionofotherfunctionalitythatJavaprovidesasstandard.Themainadvantageofthesmallstandard libraryisthatprovidingaworkingANSICenvironmentismucheasierthanitiswithotherlanguages,andconsequentlyportingCtoanewplatformisrelativelyeasy. Manyotherlibrarieshavebeendevelopedtosupplyequivalentfunctionalitytothatprovidedbyotherlanguagesintheirstandardlibrary.Forinstance,theGNOMEdesktopenvironmentprojecthasdevelopedtheGTK+graphicstoolkitandGLib,alibrary ofcontainerdatastructures,andtherearemanyotherwellknownexamples.Thevarietyoflibrariesavailablehasmeantthatsomesuperiortoolkitshaveproventhemselvesthroughhistory.Theconsiderabledownsideisthattheyoftendonotwork particularlywelltogether,programmersareoftenfamiliarwithdifferentsetsoflibraries,andadifferentsetofthemmaybeavailableonanyparticularplatform.
ANSIClibraryheaderfiles
<assert.h> Containstheassertmacro,usedtoassistwithdetectinglogicalerrorsandothertypesofbugindebuggingversionsofaprogram.
<complex.h> Asetoffunctionsformanipulatingcomplexnumbers.(Newwith C99) <ctype.h> <errno.h> <fenv.h> <float.h> Thisheaderfilecontainsfunctionsusedtoclassifycharactersbytheirtypesortoconvertbetweenupperandlowercaseinawaythatisindependentoftheusedcharacterset(typicallyASCIIoroneofitsextensions,although implementationsutilizingEBCDICarealsoknown). Fortestingerrorcodesreportedbylibraryfunctions. Forcontrollingfloatingpointenvironment.(Newwith C99) Containsdefinedconstantsspecifyingtheimplementationspecificpropertiesofthefloatingpointlibrary,suchastheminimumdifferencebetweentwodifferentfloatingpointnumbers(_EPSILON),themaximumnumberofdigitsof accuracy(_DIG)andtherangeofnumberswhichcanberepresented(_MIN,_MAX).
<inttypes.h> Forpreciseconversionbetweenintegertypes.(Newwith C99) <iso646.h> <limits.h> <locale.h> <math.h> <setjmp.h> <signal.h> <stdarg.h> ForprogramminginISO646variantcharactersets.(Newwith NA1) Containsdefinedconstantsspecifyingtheimplementationspecificpropertiesoftheintegertypes,suchastherangeofnumberswhichcanberepresented(_MIN,_MAX). Forsetlocale()andrelatedconstants.Thisisusedtochooseanappropriatelocale. Forcomputingcommonmathematicalfunctions seeFurthermathorC++Programming/Code/StandardCLibrary/Mathfordetails. setjmpandlongjmp,whichareusedfornonlocalexits Forcontrollingvariousexceptionalconditions Foraccessingavaryingnumberofargumentspassedtofunctions.
<stdbool.h> Forabooleandatatype.(Newwith C99) <stdint.h> <stddef.h> <stdio.h> <stdlib.h> <string.h> <tgmath.h> Fordefiningvariousintegertypes.(Newwith C99) Fordefiningseveralusefultypesandmacros. ProvidesthecoreinputandoutputcapabilitiesoftheClanguage.Thisfileincludesthevenerable p r i n t f function. Forperformingavarietyofoperations,includingconversion,pseudorandomnumbers,memoryallocation,processcontrol,environment,signalling,searching,andsorting. Formanipulatingseveralkindsofstrings. Fortypegenericmathematicalfunctions.(Newwith C99) Forconvertingbetweenvarioustimeanddateformats. <wchar.h> <wctype.h> Formanipulatingwidestreamsandseveralkindsofstringsusingwidecharacterskeytosupportingarangeoflanguages.(Newwith NA1) Forclassifyingwidecharacters.(Newwith NA1)
56/118
10/24/13
Commonsupportlibraries
Whilenotstandardized,Cprogramsmaydependonaruntimelibraryofroutineswhichcontaincodethecompilerusesatruntime.Thecodethatinitializestheprocessfortheoperatingsystem,forexample,beforecalling m a i n ( ) ,isimplementedintheC RunTimeLibraryforagivenvendor'scompiler.TheRunTimeLibrarycodemighthelpwithotherlanguagefeatureimplementations,likehandlinguncaughtexceptionsorimplementingfloatingpointcode. TheCstandardlibraryonlydocumentsthatthespecificroutinesmentionedinthisarticleareavailable,andhowtheybehave.Becausethecompilerimplementationmightdependontheseadditionalimplementationlevelfunctionstobeavailable,itis likelythevendorspecificroutinesarepackagedwiththeCStandardLibraryinthesamemodule,becausethey'rebothlikelytobeneededbyanyprogrambuiltwiththeirtoolset. ThoughoftenconfusedwiththeCStandardLibrarybecauseofthispackaging,theCRuntimeLibraryisnotastandardizedpartofthelanguageandisvendorspecific.
Compilerbuiltinfunctions
Somecompilers(forexample,GCC)providebuiltinversionsofmanyofthefunctionsintheCstandardlibrarythatis,theimplementationsofthefunctionsarewrittenintothecompiledobjectfile,andtheprogramcallsthebuiltinversionsinsteadofthe functionsintheClibrarysharedobjectfile.Thisreducesfunctioncalloverhead,especiallyiffunctioncallsarereplacedwithinlinevariants,andallowsotherformsofoptimization(asthecompilerknowsthecontrolflowcharacteristicsofthebuiltin variants),butmaycauseconfusionwhendebugging(forexample,thebuiltinversionscannotbereplacedwithinstrumentedvariants).
POSIXstandardlibrary
POSIX,(alongwiththeSingleUnixSpecification),specifiesanumberofroutinesthatshouldbeavailableoverandabovethoseintheCstandardlibrarypropertheseareoftenimplementedalongsidetheCstandardlibraryfunctionality,withvarying degreesofcloseness.Forexample,glibcimplementsfunctionssuchasforkwithinlibc.so,butbeforeNPTLwasmergedintoglibcitconstitutedaseparatelibrarywithitsownlinkerflag.Often,thisPOSIXspecifiedfunctionalitywillberegardedaspartof thelibrarytheClibrarypropermaybeidentifiedastheANSIorISOClibrary.
FileIO
Introduction
The s t d i o . h headerdeclaresabroadassortmentoffunctionsthatperforminputandoutputtofilesanddevicessuchastheconsole.ItwasoneoftheearliestheaderstoappearintheClibrary.Itdeclaresmorefunctionsthananyotherstandardheaderand alsorequiresmoreexplanationbecauseofthecomplexmachinerythatunderliesthefunctions. Thedeviceindependentmodelofinputandoutputhasseendramaticimprovementovertheyearsandhasreceivedlittlerecognitionforitssuccess.FORTRANIIwastoutedasamachineindependentlanguageinthe1960s,yetitwasessentially impossibletomoveaFORTRANprogrambetweenarchitectureswithoutsomechange.InFORTRANII,younamedthedeviceyouweretalkingtorightintheFORTRANstatementinthemiddleofyourFORTRANcode.So,yousaid R E A DI N P U TT A P E5 ona tapeorientedIBM7090but R E A DC A R D toreadacardimageonothermachines.FORTRANIVhadmoregeneric R E A D and W R I T E statements,specifyinga logicalunitnumber(LUN)insteadofthedevicename.TheeraofdeviceindependentI/Ohaddawned. Peripheraldevicessuchasprintersstillhadfairlystrongnotionsaboutwhattheywereaskedtodo.Andthen, peripheralinterchangeutilitieswereinventedtohandlebizarredevices.Whencathoderaytubescameontothescene,eachmanufacturerof consolessolvedproblemssuchasconsolecursormovementinanindependentmanner,causingfurtherheadaches. ItwasintothisatmospherethatUnixwasborn.KenThompsonandDennisRitchie,thedevelopersofUnix,deservecreditforpackinganynumberofbrightideasintotheoperatingsystem.Theirapproachtodeviceindependencewasoneofthebrightest. TheANSIC < s t d i o . h > libraryisbasedontheoriginalUnixfileI/Oprimitivesbutcastsawidernettoaccommodatetheleastcommondenominatoracrossvariedsystems.
Streams
Inputandoutput,whethertoorfromphysicaldevicessuchasterminalsandtapedrives,orwhethertoorfromfilessupportedonstructuredstoragedevices,aremappedintologicaldatastreams,whosepropertiesaremoreuniformthantheirvarious inputsandoutputs.Twoformsofmappingaresupported:textstreamsandbinarystreams. Atextstreamconsistsofoneormorelines.Alineinatextstreamconsistsofzeroormorecharactersplusaterminatingnewlinecharacter.(Theonlyexceptionisthatinsomeimplementationsthelastlineofafiledoesnotrequireaterminatingnewline character.)Unixadoptedastandardinternalformatforalltextstreams.Eachlineoftextisterminatedbyanewlinecharacter.That'swhatanyprogramexpectswhenitreadstext,andthat'swhatanyprogramproduceswhenitwritestext.(Thisisthe mostbasicconvention,andifitdoesn'tmeettheneedsofatextorientedperipheralattachedtoaUnixmachine,thenthefixupoccursoutattheedgesofthesystem.Nothinginbetweenneedstochange.)Thestringofcharactersthatgointo,orcome outofatextstreammayhavetobemodifiedtoconformtospecificconventions.Thisresultsinapossibledifferencebetweenthedatathatgointoatextstreamandthedatathatcomeout.Forinstance,insomeimplementationswhenaspacecharacter precedesanewlinecharacterintheinput,thespacecharactergetsremovedoutoftheoutput.Ingeneral,whenthedataonlyconsistsofprintablecharactersandcontrolcharacterslikehorizontaltabandnewline,theinputandoutputofatextstreamare equal. Comparedtoatextstream,abinarystreamisprettystraightforward.Abinarystreamisanorderedsequenceofcharactersthatcantransparentlyrecordinternaldata.Datawrittentoabinarystreamshallalwaysequalthedatathatgetsreadoutunder thesameimplementation.Binarystreams,however,mayhaveanimplementationdefinednumberofnullcharactersappendedtotheendofthestream.Therearenofurtherconventionswhichneedtobeconsidered. NothinginUnixpreventstheprogramfromwritingarbitrary8bitbinarycodestoanyopenfile,orreadingthembackunchangedfromanadequaterepository.Thus,Unixobliteratedthelongstandingdistinctionbetweentextstreamsandbinarystreams.
StandardStreams
WhenaCprogramstartsitsexecutiontheprogramautomaticallyopensthreestandardstreamsnamed s t d i n , s t d o u t ,and s t d e r r .TheseareattachedforeveryCprogram. Thefirststandardstreamisusedforinputbufferingandtheothertwoareusedforoutput.Thesestreamsaresequencesofbytes. Considerthefollowingprogram:
/ *Ae x a m p l ep r o g r a m .* / i n tm a i n ( ) { i n tv a r ; s c a n f( " % d " ,& v a r ) ;/ *u s es t d i nf o rs c a n n i n ga ni n t e g e rf r o mk e y b o a r d .* / p r i n t f( " % d " ,v a r ) ;/ *u s es t d o u tf o rp r i n t i n gac h a r a c t e r .* /
57/118
10/24/13
r e t u r n0 ; } / *e n dp r o g r a m .* /
Bydefault s t d i n pointstothekeyboardand s t d o u t and s t d e r r pointtothescreen.ItispossibleunderUnixandmaybepossibleunderotheroperatingsystemstoredirectinputfromoroutputtoafileorboth.
F I L E pointers
The < s t d i o . h > headercontainsadefinitionforatype F I L E (usuallyviaa t y p e d e f )whichiscapableofprocessingalltheinformationneededtoexercisecontroloverastream,includingitsfilepositionindicator,apointertotheassociatedbuffer(ifany),anerror indicatorthatrecordswhetheraread/writeerrorhasoccurred,andanendoffileindicatorthatrecordswhethertheendofthefilehasbeenreached. Itisconsideredbadmannerstoaccessthecontentsof F I L E directlyunlesstheprogrammeriswritinganimplementationof < s t d i o . h > anditscontents.Betteraccesstothecontentsof F I L E isprovidedviathefunctionsin < s t d i o . h > .Itcanbesaidthatthe F I L E typeisanearlyexampleofobjectorientedprogramming.
OpeningandClosingFiles
Toopenandclosefiles,the < s t d i o . h > libraryhasthreefunctions: f o p e n , f r e o p e n ,and f c l o s e .
OpeningFiles
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > F I L E* f o p e n ( c o n s tc h a r* f i l e n a m e ,c o n s tc h a r* m o d e ) ; F I L E* f r e o p e n ( c o n s tc h a r* f i l e n a m e ,c o n s tc h a r* m o d e ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
f o p e n and f r e o p e n opensthefilewhosenameisinthestringpointedtoby f i l e n a m e andassociatesastreamwithit.Bothreturnapointertotheobjectcontrollingthestream,oriftheopenoperationfailsanullpointer.Theerrorandendoffileindicatorsare
cleared,andiftheopenoperationfailserrorisset. f r e o p e n differsfrom f o p e n inthatthefilepointedtoby s t r e a m isclosedfirstwhenalreadyopenandanycloseerrorsareignored.

m o d e forbothfunctionspointstoastringconsistingofoneofthefollowingsequences:
r w a r b w b a b r + w + a + r + bo rr b + w + bo rw b + a + bo ra b +
o p e nat e x tf i l ef o rr e a d i n g t r u n c a t et oz e r ol e n g t ho rc r e a t eat e x tf i l ef o rw r i t i n g a p p e n d ;o p e no rc r e a t et e x tf i l ef o rw r i t i n ga te n d o f f i l e o p e nb i n a r yf i l ef o rr e a d i n g t r u n c a t et oz e r ol e n g t ho rc r e a t eab i n a r yf i l ef o rw r i t i n g a p p e n d ;o p e no rc r e a t eb i n a r yf i l ef o rw r i t i n ga te n d o f f i l e o p e nt e x tf i l ef o ru p d a t e( r e a d i n ga n dw r i t i n g ) t r u n c a t et oz e r ol e n g t ho rc r e a t eat e x tf i l ef o ru p d a t e a p p e n d ;o p e no rc r e a t et e x tf i l ef o ru p d a t e o p e nb i n a r yf i l ef o ru p d a t e( r e a d i n ga n dw r i t i n g ) t r u n c a t et oz e r ol e n g t ho rc r e a t eab i n a r yf i l ef o ru p d a t e a p p e n d ;o p e no rc r e a t eb i n a r yf i l ef o ru p d a t e
Openingafilewithreadmode('r 'asthefirstcharacterinthe m o d e argument)failsifthefiledoesnotexistorcannotberead. Openingafilewithappendmode('a 'asthefirstcharacterinthe m o d e argument)causesallsubsequentwritestothefiletobeforcedtothethencurrentendoffile,regardlessofinterveningcallstothe f s e e k function.Insomeimplementations,openinga binaryfilewithappendmode('b 'asthesecondorthirdcharacterintheabovelistof m o d e arguments)mayinitiallypositionthefilepositionindicatorforthestreambeyondthelastdatawritten,becauseofnullcharacterpadding. Whenafileisopenedwithupdatemode('+ 'asthesecondorthirdcharacterintheabovelistof m o d e argumentvalues),bothinputandoutputmaybeperformedontheassociatedstream.However,outputmaynotbedirectlyfollowedbyinputwithoutan interveningcalltothe f f l u s h functionortoafilepositioningfunction(f s e e k , f s e t p o s ,or r e w i n d ),andinputmaynotbedirectlyfollowedbyoutputwithoutaninterveningcalltoafilepositioningfunction,unlesstheinputoperationencountersendoffile. Opening(orcreating)atextfilewithupdatemodemayinsteadopen(orcreate)abinarystreaminsomeimplementations. Whenopened,astreamisfullybufferedifandonlyifitcanbedeterminednottorefertoaninteractivedevice.
ClosingFiles
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf c l o s e ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f c l o s e functioncausesthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m tobeflushedandtheassociatedfiletobeclosed.Anyunwrittenbuffereddataforthestreamaredeliveredtothehostenvironmenttobewrittentothefileanyunreadbuffereddataarediscarded. Thestreamisdisassociatedfromthefile.Iftheassociatedbufferwasautomaticallyallocated,itisdeallocated.Thefunctionreturnszeroifthestreamwassuccessfullyclosedor E O F ifanyerrorsweredetected.
Otherfileaccessfunctions
Thef f l u s h function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf f l u s h ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
58/118
10/24/13
If s t r e a m pointstoanoutputstreamoranupdatestreaminwhichthemostrecentoperationwasnotinput,the f f l u s h functioncausesanyunwrittendataforthatstreamtobedeferredtothehostenvironmenttobewrittentothefile.Thebehavioroffflush isundefinedforinputstream. If s t r e a m isanullpointer,the f f l u s h functionperformsthisflushingactiononallstreamsforwhichthebehaviorisdefinedabove. The f f l u s h functionsreturns E O F ifawriteerroroccurs,otherwisezero. Thereasonforhavinga f f l u s h functionisbecausestreamsinCcanhavebufferedinput/outputthatis,functionsthatwritetoafileactuallywritetoabufferinsidethe F I L E structure.Ifthebufferisfilledtocapacity,thewritefunctionswillcall f f l u s h to actually"write"thedatathatisinthebuffertothefile.Because f f l u s h isonlycalledeveryonceinawhile,callstotheoperatingsystemtodoarawwriteareminimized.
Thes e t b u f function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > v o i ds e t b u f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c h a r* b u f ) ;
Exceptthatitreturnsnovalue,the s e t b u f functionisequivalenttothe s e t v b u f functioninvokedwiththevalues _ I O F B F for m o d e and B U F S I Z for s i z e ,or(if b u f isanullpointer)withthevalue _ I O N B F for m o d e .
Thes e t v b u f function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n ts e t v b u f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c h a r* b u f ,i n tm o d e ,s i z e _ ts i z e ) ;
The s e t v b u f functionmaybeusedonlyafterthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m hasbeenassociatedwithanopenfileandbeforeanyotheroperationisperformedonthestream.Theargument m o d e determineshowthestreamwillbebuffered,asfollows: _ I O F B F causesinput/outputtobefullybuffered _ I O L B F causesinput/outputtobelinebuffered _ I O N B F causesinput/outputtobeunbuffered.If b u f isnotanullpointer,thearrayitpointstomaybeusedinsteadofabufferassociatedbythe s e t v b u f function.(The buffermusthavealifetimeatleastasgreatastheopenstream,sothestreamshouldbeclosedbeforeabufferthathasautomaticstoragedurationisdeallocateduponblockexit.)Theargument s i z e specifiesthesizeofthearray.Thecontentsofthe arrayatanytimeareindeterminate. The s e t v b u f functionreturnszeroonsuccess,ornonzeroifaninvalidvalueisgivenfor m o d e oriftherequestcannotbehonored.
FunctionsthatModifytheFilePositionIndicator
The s t d i o . h libraryhasfivefunctionsthataffectthefilepositionindicatorbesidesthosethatdoreadingorwriting: f g e t p o s , f s e e k , f s e t p o s , f t e l l ,and r e w i n d . The f s e e k and f t e l l functionsareolderthan f g e t p o s and f s e t p o s .
Thef g e t p o s andf s e t p o s functions

# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf g e t p o s ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,f p o s _ t* p o s ) ; i n tf s e t p o s ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c o n s tf p o s _ t* p o s ) ;
The f g e t p o s functionstoresthecurrentvalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m intheobjectpointedtoby p o s .Thevaluestoredcontainsunspecifiedinformationusablebythe f s e t p o s functionforrepositioningthestreamtoits positionatthetimeofthecalltothe f g e t p o s function. Ifsuccessful,the f g e t p o s functionreturnszeroonfailure,the f g e t p o s functionreturnsnonzeroandstoresanimplementationdefinedpositivevaluein e r r n o . The f s e t p o s functionsetsthefilepositionindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m accordingtothevalueoftheobjectpointedtoby p o s ,whichshallbeavalueobtainedfromanearliercalltothe f g e t p o s functiononthesamestream. Asuccessfulcalltothe f s e t p o s functionclearstheendoffileindicatorforthestreamandundoesanyeffectsofthe u n g e t c functiononthesamestream.Afteran f s e t p o s call,thenextoperationonanupdatestreammaybeeitherinputoroutput. Ifsuccessful,the f s e t p o s functionreturnszeroonfailure,the f s e t p o s functionreturnsnonzeroandstoresanimplementationdefinedpositivevaluein e r r n o .
Thef s e e k andf t e l l functions

# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf s e e k ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,l o n gi n to f f s e t ,i n tw h e n c e ) ; l o n gi n tf t e l l ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f s e e k functionsetsthefilepositionindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m . Forabinarystream,thenewposition,measuredincharactersfromthebeginningofthefile,isobtainedbyadding o f f s e t tothepositionspecifiedby w h e n c e .Threemacrosin s t d i o . h called S E E K _ S E T , S E E K _ C U R ,and S E E K _ E N D expandtouniquevalues.Iftheposition specifiedby w h e n c e is S E E K _ S E T ,thespecifiedpositionisthebeginningofthefileif w h e n c e is S E E K _ E N D ,thespecifiedpositionistheendofthefileandif w h e n c e is S E E K _ C U R ,thespecifiedpositionisthecurrentfileposition.Abinarystreamneednotmeaningfully support f s e e k callswitha w h e n c e valueof S E E K _ E N D . Foratextstream,either o f f s e t shallbezero,or o f f s e t shallbeavaluereturnedbyanearliercalltothe f t e l l functiononthesamestreamand w h e n c e shallbe S E E K _ S E T . The f s e e k functionreturnsnonzeroonlyforarequestthatcannotbesatisfied.
59/118
10/24/13
The f t e l l functionobtainsthecurrentvalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Forabinarystream,thevalueisthenumberofcharactersfromthebeginningofthefileforatextstream,itsfilepositionindicatorcontains unspecifiedinformation,usablebythe f s e e k functionforreturningthefilepositionindicatorforthestreamtoitspositionatthetimeofthe f t e l l callthedifferencebetweentwosuchreturnvaluesisnotnecessarilyameaningfulmeasureofthenumberof characterswrittenorread. Ifsuccessful,the f t e l l functionreturnsthecurrentvalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestream.Onfailure,the f t e l l functionreturns 1 L andstoresanimplementationdefinedpositivevaluein e r r n o .
Ther e w i n d function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > v o i dr e w i n d ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The r e w i n d functionsetsthefilepositionindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m tothebeginningofthefile.Itisequivalentto

( v o i d ) f s e e k ( s t r e a m ,0 L ,S E E K _ S E T )
exceptthattheerrorindicatorforthestreamisalsocleared.
ErrorHandlingFunctions
Thec l e a r e r r function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > v o i dc l e a r e r r ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The c l e a r e r r functionclearstheendoffileanderrorindicatorsforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m .
Thef e o f function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf e o f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f e o f functionteststheendoffileindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m andreturnsnonzeroifandonlyiftheendoffileindicatorissetfor s t r e a m ,otherwiseitreturnszero.
Thef e r r o r function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf e r r o r ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f e r r o r functionteststheerrorindicatorforthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m andreturnsnonzeroifandonlyiftheerrorindicatorissetfor s t r e a m ,otherwiseitreturnszero.
Thep e r r o r function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > v o i dp e r r o r ( c o n s tc h a r* s ) ;
The p e r r o r functionmapstheerrornumberintheintegerexpression e r r n o toanerrormessage.Itwritesasequenceofcharacterstothestandarderrorstreamthus:first,if s isnotanullpointerandthecharacterpointedtoby s isnotthenullcharacter,the stringpointedtoby s followedbyacolon(: )andaspacethenanappropriateerrormessagestringfollowedbyanewlinecharacter.Thecontentsoftheerrormessagearethesameasthosereturnedbythe s t r e r r o r functionwiththeargument e r r n o ,which areimplementationdefined.
OtherOperationsonFiles
The s t d i o . h libraryhasavarietyoffunctionsthatdosomeoperationonfilesbesidesreadingandwriting.
Ther e m o v e function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tr e m o v e ( c o n s tc h a r* f i l e n a m e ) ;
The r e m o v e functioncausesthefilewhosenameisthestringpointedtoby f i l e n a m e tobenolongeraccessiblebythatname.Asubsequentattempttoopenthatfileusingthatnamewillfail,unlessitiscreatedanew.Ifthefileisopen,thebehaviorofthe r e m o v e functionisimplementationdefined. The r e m o v e functionreturnszeroiftheoperationsucceeds,nonzeroifitfails.
60/118
10/24/13
Ther e n a m e function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tr e n a m e ( c o n s tc h a r* o l d _ f i l e n a m e ,c o n s tc h a r* n e w _ f i l e n a m e ) ;
The r e n a m e functioncausesthefilewhosenameisthestringpointedtoby o l d _ f i l e n a m e tobehenceforthknownbythenamegivenbythestringpointedtoby n e w _ f i l e n a m e .Thefilenamed o l d _ f i l e n a m e isnolongeraccessiblebythatname.Ifafilenamedbythe stringpointedtoby n e w _ f i l e n a m e existspriortothecalltothe r e n a m e function,thebehaviorisimplementationdefined. The r e n a m e functionreturnszeroiftheoperationsucceeds,nonzeroifitfails,inwhichcaseifthefileexistedpreviouslyitisstillknownbyitsoriginalname.
Thet m p f i l e function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > F I L E* t m p f i l e ( v o i d ) ;
The t m p f i l e functioncreatesatemporarybinaryfilethatwillautomaticallyberemovedwhenitisclosedoratprogramtermination.Iftheprogramterminatesabnormally,whetheranopentemporaryfileisremovedisimplementationdefined.Thefileis openedforupdatewith " w b + " mode. The t m p f i l e functionreturnsapointertothestreamofthefilethatitcreated.Ifthefilecannotbecreated,the t m p f i l e functionreturnsanullpointer.
Thet m p n a m function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > c h a r* t m p n a m ( c h a r* s ) ;
The t m p n a m functiongeneratesastringthatisavalidfilenameandthatisnotthenameofanexistingfile. The t m p n a m functiongeneratesadifferentstringeachtimeitiscalled,upto T M P _ M A X times.(T M P _ M A X isamacrodefinedin s t d i o . h .)Ifitiscalledmorethan T M P _ M A X times,thebehaviorisimplementationdefined. Theimplementationshallbehaveasifnolibraryfunctioncallsthe t m p n a m function. Iftheargumentisanullpointer,the t m p n a m functionleavesitsresultinaninternalstaticobjectandreturnsapointertothatobject.Subsequentcallstothe t m p n a m functionmaymodifythesameobject.Iftheargumentisnotanullpointer,itisassumedto pointtoanarrayofatleast L _ t m p n a m characters(L _ t m p n a m isanothermacroin s t d i o . h )the t m p n a m functionwritesitsresultinthatarrayandreturnstheargumentasitsvalue. Thevalueofthemacro T M P _ M A X mustbeatleast25.
ReadingfromFiles
CharacterInputFunctions
The f g e t c function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf g e t c ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f g e t c functionobtainsthenextcharacter(ifpresent)asan u n s i g n e dc h a r convertedtoan i n t ,fromtheinputstreampointedtoby s t r e a m ,andadvancestheassociatedfilepositionindicatorforthestream(ifdefined). The f g e t c functionreturnsthenextcharacterfromtheinputstreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Ifthestreamisatendoffile,theendoffileindicatorforthestreamissetand f g e t c returns E O F (E O F isanegativevaluedefinedin < s t d i o . h > ,usually ( 1 ) ).Ifareaderror occurs,theerrorindicatorforthestreamissetand f g e t c returns E O F . The f g e t s function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > c h a r* f g e t s ( c h a r* s ,i n tn ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f g e t s functionreadsatmostonelessthanthenumberofcharactersspecifiedby n fromthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m intothearraypointedtoby s .Noadditionalcharactersarereadafteranewlinecharacter(whichisretained)orafterendoffile.A nullcharacteriswrittenimmediatelyafterthelastcharacterreadintothearray. The f g e t s functionreturns s ifsuccessful.Ifendoffileisencounteredandnocharactershavebeenreadintothearray,thecontentsofthearrayremainunchangedandanullpointerisreturned.Ifareaderroroccursduringtheoperation,thearraycontents areindeterminateandanullpointerisreturned. Warning:Differentoperatingsystemsmayusedifferentcharactersequencestorepresenttheendoflinesequence.Forexample,somefilesystemsusetheterminator \ r \ n intextfiles f g e t s mayreadthoselines,removingthe \ n butkeepingthe \ r asthe lastcharacterof s .Thisexpuriouscharactershouldberemovedinthestring s beforethestringisusedforanything(unlesstheprogrammerdoesn'tcareaboutit).Unixestypicallyuse \ n asitsendoflinesequence,MSDOSandWindowsuses \ r \ n ,and MacOSesused \ r beforeOSX.
61/118
10/24/13
/ *Ae x a m p l ep r o g r a mt h a tr e a d sf r o ms t d i na n dw r i t e st os t d o u t* / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # d e f i n eB U F F E R _ S I Z E1 0 0 i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { c h a rb u f f e r [ B U F F E R _ S I Z E ] ;/ *ar e a db u f f e r* / w h i l e (f g e t s( b u f f e r ,B U F F E R _ S I Z E ,s t d i n )! =N U L L ) { p r i n t f ( " % s " , b u f f e r ) ; } r e t u r n0 ; } / *e n dp r o g r a m .* /
The g e t c function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tg e t c ( F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The g e t c functionisequivalentto f g e t c ,exceptthatitmaybeimplementedasamacro.Ifitisimplementedasamacro,the s t r e a m argumentmaybeevaluatedmorethanonce,sotheargumentshouldneverbeanexpressionwithsideeffects(i.e.havean assignment,increment,ordecrementoperators,orbeafunctioncall). The g e t c functionreturnsthenextcharacterfromtheinputstreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Ifthestreamisatendoffile,theendoffileindicatorforthestreamissetand g e t c returns E O F (E O F isanegativevaluedefinedin < s t d i o . h > ,usually ( 1 ) ).Ifareaderror occurs,theerrorindicatorforthestreamissetand g e t c returns E O F . The g e t c h a r function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tg e t c h a r ( v o i d ) ;
The g e t c h a r functionisequivalentto g e t c withtheargument s t d i n . The g e t c h a r functionreturnsthenextcharacterfromtheinputstreampointedtoby s t d i n .If s t d i n isatendoffile,theendoffileindicatorfor s t d i n issetand g e t c h a r returns E O F (E O F isanegativevaluedefinedin < s t d i o . h > ,usually ( 1 ) ).Ifareaderroroccurs,the errorindicatorfor s t d i n issetand g e t c h a r returns E O F . The g e t s function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > c h a r* g e t s ( c h a r* s ) ;
The g e t s functionreadscharactersfromtheinputstreampointedtoby s t d i n intothearraypointedtoby s untilanendoffileisencounteredoranewlinecharacterisread.Anynewlinecharacterisdiscarded,andanullcharacteriswrittenimmediately afterthelastcharacterreadintothearray. The g e t s functionreturns s ifsuccessful.Iftheendoffileisencounteredandnocharactershavebeenreadintothearray,thecontentsofthearrayremainunchangedandanullpointerisreturned.Ifareaderroroccursduringtheoperation,thearray contentsareindeterminateandanullpointerisreturned. Thisfunctionanddescriptionisonlyincludedhereforcompleteness.MostCprogrammersnowadaysshyawayfromusing g e t s ,asthereisnowayforthefunctiontoknowhowbigthebufferisthattheprogrammerwantstoreadinto.Commandment#5of HenrySpencer's TheTenCommandmentsforCProgrammers(AnnotatedEdition)reads,"Thoushaltcheckthearrayboundsofallstrings(indeed,allarrays),forsurelywherethoutypest foosomeonesomedayshalltype supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Itmentions g e t s intheannotation:"AsdemonstratedbythedeedsoftheGreatWorm,aconsequenceofthiscommandmentisthatrobustproductionsoftwareshouldnevermakeuseof g e t s ( ) ,foritistrulyatooloftheDevil.Thyinterfacesshouldalways informthyservantsoftheboundsofthyarrays,andservantswhospurnsuchadviceorquietlyfailtofollowitshouldbedispatchedforthwithtotheLandOfRm,wheretheycandonofurtherharmtothee." The u n g e t c function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tu n g e t c ( i n tc ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The u n g e t c functionpushesthecharacterspecifiedby c (convertedtoan u n s i g n e dc h a r )backontotheinputstreampointedtobystream.Thepushedbackcharacterswillbereturnedbysubsequentreadsonthatstreaminthereverseorderoftheirpushing.A successfulinterveningcall(withthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m )toafilepositioningfunction(f s e e k , f s e t p o s ,or r e w i n d )discardsanypushedbackcharactersforthestream.Theexternalstoragecorrespondingtothestreamisunchanged. Onecharacterofpushbackisguaranteed.Ifthe u n g e t c functioniscalledtoomanytimesonthesamestreamwithoutaninterveningreadorfilepositioningoperationonthatstream,theoperationmayfail. Ifthevalueof c equalsthatofthemacro E O F ,theoperationfailsandtheinputstreamisunchanged.
Asuccessfulcalltothe u n g e t c functionclearstheendoffileindicatorforthestream.Thevalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreamafterreadingordiscardingallpushedbackcharactersshallbethesameasitwasbeforethecharacterswerepushed
62/118
10/24/13
Asuccessfulcalltothe u n g e t c functionclearstheendoffileindicatorforthestream.Thevalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreamafterreadingordiscardingallpushedbackcharactersshallbethesameasitwasbeforethecharacterswerepushed back.Foratextstream,thevalueofitsfilepositionindicatorafterasuccessfulcalltothe u n g e t c functionisunspecifieduntilallpushedbackcharactersarereadordiscarded.Forabinarystream,itsfilepositionindicatorisdecrementedbyeachsuccessful calltothe u n g e t c functionifitsvaluewaszerobeforeacall,itisindeterminateafterthecall. The u n g e t c functionreturnsthecharacterpushedbackafterconversion,or E O F iftheoperationfails.
EOFpitfall
Amistakewhenusing f g e t c , g e t c ,or g e t c h a r istoassigntheresulttoavariableoftype c h a r beforecomparingitto E O F .Thefollowingcodefragmentsexhibitthismistake,andthenshowthecorrectapproach(usingtypeint): Mistake
c h a rc ; w h i l e( ( c=g e t c h a r ( ) )! =E O F ) p u t c h a r ( c ) ; i n tc ; w h i l e( ( c=g e t c h a r ( ) )! =E O F ) p u t c h a r ( c ) ;
Correction
Considerasysteminwhichthetype c h a r is8bitswide,representing256differentvalues. g e t c h a r mayreturnanyofthe256possiblecharacters,anditalsomayreturn E O F toindicateendoffile,foratotalof257differentpossiblereturnvalues. When g e t c h a r 'sresultisassignedtoa c h a r ,whichcanrepresentonly256differentvalues,thereisnecessarilysomelossofinformationwhenpacking257itemsinto256slots,theremustbeacollision.The E O F value,whenconvertedto c h a r ,becomes indistinguishablefromwhicheveroneofthe256characterssharesitsnumericalvalue.Ifthatcharacterisfoundinthefile,theaboveexamplemaymistakeitforanendoffileindicatoror,justasbad,iftype c h a r isunsigned,thenbecause E O F isnegative, itcanneverbeequaltoanyunsigned c h a r ,sotheaboveexamplewillnotterminateatendoffile.Itwillloopforever,repeatedlyprintingthecharacterwhichresultsfromconverting E O F to c h a r . However,thisloopingfailuremodedoesnotoccurifthechardefinitionissigned(Cmakesthesignednessofthedefaultchartypeimplementationdependent), [16]assumingthecommonlyused E O F valueof1.However,thefundamentalissueremainsthat ifthe E O F valueisdefinedoutsideoftherangeofthe c h a r type,whenassignedtoa c h a r thatvalueisslicedandwillnolongermatchthefull E O F valuenecessarytoexittheloop.Ontheotherhand,if E O F iswithinrangeof c h a r ,thisguaranteesacollision between E O F andacharvalue.Thus,regardlessofhowsystemtypesaredefined,neveruse c h a r typeswhentestingagainst E O F . Onsystemswhere i n t and c h a r arethesamesize(i.e.,systemsincompatiblewithminimallythePOSIXandC99standards),eventhe"good"examplewillsufferfromtheindistinguishabilityof E O F andsomecharacter'svalue.Theproperwaytohandlethis situationistocheck f e o f and f e r r o r after g e t c h a r returns E O F .If f e o f indicatesthatendoffilehasnotbeenreached,and f e r r o r indicatesthatnoerrorshaveoccurred,thenthe E O F returnedby g e t c h a r canbeassumedtorepresentanactualcharacter.These extrachecksarerarelydone,becausemostprogrammersassumethattheircodewillneverneedtorunononeofthese"big c h a r "systems.Anotherwayistouseacompiletimeassertiontomakesurethat U I N T _ M A X>U C H A R _ M A X ,whichatleastpreventsa programwithsuchanassumptionfromcompilinginsuchasystem.
Directinputfunction:thef r e a d function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > s i z e _ tf r e a d ( v o i d* p t r ,s i z e _ ts i z e ,s i z e _ tn m e m b ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f r e a d functionreads,intothearraypointedtoby p t r ,upto n m e m b elementswhosesizeisspecifiedby s i z e ,fromthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Thefilepositionindicatorforthestream(ifdefined)isadvancedbythenumberofcharacterssuccessfully read.Ifanerroroccurs,theresultingvalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreamisindeterminate.Ifapartialelementisread,itsvalueisindeterminate. The f r e a d functionreturnsthenumberofelementssuccessfullyread,whichmaybelessthan n m e m b ifareaderrororendoffileisencountered.If s i z e or n m e m b iszero, f r e a d returnszeroandthecontentsofthearrayandthestateofthestreamremain unchanged.
Formattedinputfunctions:thes c a n f familyoffunctions
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf s c a n f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ; i n ts c a n f ( c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ; i n ts s c a n f ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ;
The f s c a n f functionreadsinputfromthestreampointedtoby s t r e a m ,undercontrolofthestringpointedtoby f o r m a t thatspecifiestheadmissiblesequencesandhowtheyaretobeconvertedforassignment,usingsubsequentargumentsaspointerstothe objectstoreceiveconvertedinput.Ifthereareinsufficientargumentsfortheformat,thebehaviorisundefined.Iftheformatisexhaustedwhileargumentsremain,theexcessargumentsareevaluated(asalways)butareotherwiseignored. Theformatshallbeamultibytecharactersequence,beginningandendinginitsinitialshiftstate.Theformatiscomposedofzeroormoredirectives:oneormorewhitespacecharactersanordinarymultibytecharacter(neither % orawhitespace character)oraconversionspecification.Eachconversionspecificationisintroducedbythecharacter % .Afterthe % ,thefollowingappearinsequence: Anoptionalassignmentsuppressingcharacter * . Anoptionalnonzerodecimalintegerthatspecifiesthemaximumfieldwidth. Anoptional h , l (ell)or L indicatingthesizeofthereceivingobject.Theconversionspecifiers d , i ,and n shallbeprecededby h ifthecorrespondingargumentisapointerto s h o r ti n t ratherthanapointerto i n t ,orby l ifitisapointerto l o n gi n t . Similarly,theconversionspecifiers o , u ,and x shallbeprecededby h ifthecorrespondingargumentisapointerto u n s i g n e ds h o r ti n t ratherthan u n s i g n e di n t ,orby l ifitisapointerto u n s i g n e dl o n gi n t .Finally,theconversionspecifiers e , f ,and g shallbe precededby l ifthecorrespondingargumentisapointerto d o u b l e ratherthanapointerto f l o a t ,orby L ifitisapointerto l o n gd o u b l e .Ifan h , l ,or L appearswithanyotherformatspecifier,thebehaviorisundefined. Acharacterthatspecifiesthetypeofconversiontobeapplied.Thevalidconversionspecifiersaredescribedbelow.
The f s c a n f functionexecuteseachdirectiveoftheformatinturn.Ifadirectivefails,asdetailedbelow,the f s c a n f functionreturns.Failuresaredescribedasinputfailures(duetotheunavailabilityofinputcharacters)ormatchingfailures(duetoinappropriate
63/118
10/24/13
The f s c a n f functionexecuteseachdirectiveoftheformatinturn.Ifadirectivefails,asdetailedbelow,the f s c a n f functionreturns.Failuresaredescribedasinputfailures(duetotheunavailabilityofinputcharacters)ormatchingfailures(duetoinappropriate input). Adirectivecomposedofwhitespacecharacter(s)isexecutedbyreadinginputuptothefirstnonwhitespacecharacter(whichremainsunread)oruntilnomorecharactersremainunread. Adirectivethatisanordinarymultibytecharacterisexecutedbyreadingthenextcharactersofthestream.Ifoneofthecharactersdiffersfromonecomprisingthedirective,thedirectivefails,andthedifferingandsubsequentcharactersremainunread. Adirectivethatisaconversionspecificationdefinesasetofmatchinginputsequences,asdescribedbelowforeachspecifier.Aconversionspecificationisexecutedinthefollowingsteps: Inputwhitespacecharacters(asspecifiedbythe i s s p a c e function)areskipped,unlessthespecificationincludesa [ , c ,or n specifier.(Thewhitespacecharactersarenotcountedagainstthespecifiedfieldwidth.) Aninputitemisreadfromthestream,unlessthespecificationincludesan n specifier.Aninputitemisdefinedasthelongestmatchingsequencesofinputcharacters,unlessthatexceedsaspecifiedfieldwidth,inwhichcaseitistheinitialsubsequenceof thatlengthinthesequence.Thefirstcharacter,ifany,aftertheinputitemremainsunread.Ifthelengthoftheinputitemiszero,theexecutionofthedirectivefailsthisconditionisamatchingfailure,unlessanerrorpreventedinputfromthestream,in whichcaseitisaninputfailure. Exceptinthecaseofa % specifier,theinputitem(or,inthecaseofa % n directive,thecountofinputcharacters)isconvertedtoatypeappropriatetotheconversionspecifier.Iftheinputitemisnotamatchingsequence,theexecutionofthedirectivefails thisconditionisamatchingfailure.Unlessassignmentsuppressionwasindicatedbya * ,theresultoftheconversionisplacedintheobjectpointedtobythefirstargumentfollowingthe f o r m a t argumentthathasnotalreadyreceivedaconversionresult.If thisobjectdoesnothaveanappropriatetype,oriftheresultoftheconversioncannotberepresentedinthespaceprovided,thebehaviorisundefined. Thefollowingconversionspecifiersarevalid:
d
Matchesanoptionallysigneddecimalinteger,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectsequenceofthe s t r t o l functionwiththevalue10forthe b a s e argument.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertointeger.

i
Matchesanoptionallysignedinteger,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectsequenceofthe s t r t o l functionwiththevalue0forthe b a s e argument.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertointeger.

o
Matchesanoptionallysignedoctalinteger,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectsequenceofthe s t r t o u l functionwiththevalue8forthe b a s e argument.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertounsignedinteger.

u
Matchesanoptionallysigneddecimalinteger,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectsequenceofthe s t r t o u l functionwiththevalue10forthe b a s e argument.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertounsignedinteger.

x
Matchesanoptionallysignedhexadecimalinteger,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectsequenceofthe s t r t o u l functionwiththevalue16forthe b a s e argument.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertounsignedinteger.

e , f , g
Matchesanoptionallysignedfloatingpointnumber,whoseformatisthesameasexpectedforthesubjectstringofthe s t r t o d function.Thecorrespondingargumentwillbeapointertofloating.
s
Matchesasequenceofnonwhitespacecharacters.(Nospecialprovisionsaremadeformultibytecharacters.)Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertotheinitialcharacterofanarraylargeenoughtoacceptthesequenceandaterminating nullcharacter,whichwillbeaddedautomatically.
[
Matchesanonemptysequenceofcharacters(nospecialprovisionsaremadeformultibytecharacters)fromasetofexpectedcharacters(the scanset ).Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertotheinitialcharacterofanarraylargeenough toacceptthesequenceandaterminatingnullcharacter,whichwillbeaddedautomatically.Theconversionspecifierincludesallsubsequentcharactersinthe f o r m a t string,uptoandincludingthematchingrightbracket(] ).Thecharactersbetween thebrackets(the scanlist )comprisethescanset,unlessthecharacteraftertheleftbracketisacircumflex(^ ),inwhichcasethescansetcontainsallthecharactersthatdonotappearinthescanlistbetweenthecircumflexandtherightbracket.Ifthe conversionspecifierbeginswith [ ] or [ ^ ] ,therightbracketcharacterisinthescanlistandthenextrightbracketcharacteristhematchingrightbracketthatendsthespecificationotherwise,thefirstrightbracketcharacteristheonethatendsthe specification.Ifa characterisinthescanlistandisnotthefirst,northesecondwherethefirstcharacterisa ^ ,northelastcharacter,thebehaviorisimplementationdefined.
c
Matchesasequenceofcharacters(nospecialprovisionsaremadeformultibytecharacters)ofthenumberspecifiedbythefieldwidth(1ifnofieldwidthispresentinthedirective).Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertotheinitial characterofanarraylargeenoughtoacceptthesequence.Nonullcharacterisadded.
p
Matchesanimplementationdefinedsetofsequences,whichshouldbethesameasthesetofsequencesthatmaybeproducedbythe % p conversionofthe f p r i n t f function.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointerto v o i d .Theinterpretation oftheinputthenisimplementationdefined.Iftheinputitemisavalueconvertedearlierduringthesameprogramexecution,thepointerthatresultsshallcompareequaltothatvalueotherwisethebehaviorofthe % p conversionisundefined.

n
Noinputisconsumed.Thecorrespondingargumentshallbeapointertointegerintowhichistobewrittenthenumberofcharactersreadfromtheinputstreamsofarbythiscalltothe f s c a n f function.Executionofa % n directivedoesnotincrement theassignmentcountreturnedatthecompletionofexecutionofthe f s c a n f function.

%
Matchesasingle % noconversionorassignmentoccurs.Thecompleteconversionspecificationshallbe % % .
64/118
10/24/13
Ifaconversionspecificationisinvalid,thebehaviorisundefined.
Theconversionspecifiers E , G ,and X arealsovalidandbehavethesameas,respectively, e , g ,and x . Ifendoffileisencounteredduringinput,conversionisterminated.Ifendoffileoccursbeforeanycharactersmatchingthecurrentdirectivehavebeenread(otherthanleadingwhitespace,wherepermitted),executionofthecurrentdirectiveterminates withaninputfailureotherwise,unlessexecutionofthecurrentdirectiveisterminatedwithamatchingfailure,executionofthefollowingdirective(ifany)isterminatedwithaninputfailure. Ifconversionterminatesonaconflictinginputcharacter,theoffendinginputcharacterisleftunreadintheinputstream.Trailingwhitespace(includingnewlinecharacters)isleftunreadunlessmatchedbyadirective.Thesuccessofliteralmatchesand suppressedassignmentsisnotdirectlydeterminableotherthanviathe % n directive. The f s c a n f functionreturnsthevalueofthemacro E O F ifaninputfailureoccursbeforeanyconversion.Otherwise,the f s c a n f functionreturnsthenumberofinputitemsassigned,whichcanbefewerthanprovidedfor,orevenzero,intheeventofanearly matchingfailure. The s c a n f functionisequivalentto f s c a n f withtheargument s t d i n interposedbeforetheargumentsto s c a n f .Itsreturnvalueissimilartothatof f s c a n f . The s s c a n f functionisequivalentto f s c a n f ,exceptthattheargument s specifiesastringfromwhichtheinputistobeobtained,ratherthanfromastream.Reachingtheendofthestringisequivalenttoencounteringtheendoffileforthe f s c a n f function.If copyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.
WritingtoFiles
CharacterOutputFunctions
The f p u t c function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf p u t c ( i n tc ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f p u t c functionwritesthecharacterspecifiedby c (convertedtoan u n s i g n e dc h a r )tothestreampointedtoby s t r e a m atthepositionindicatedbytheassociatedfilepositionindicator(ifdefined),andadvancestheindicatorappropriately.Ifthefilecannot supportpositioningrequests,orifthestreamisopenedwithappendmode,thecharacterisappendedtotheoutputstream.Thefunctionreturnsthecharacterwritten,unlessawriteerroroccurs,inwhichcasetheerrorindicatorforthestreamissetand f p u t c returns E O F . The f p u t s function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf p u t s ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f p u t s functionwritesthestringpointedtoby s tothestreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Theterminatingnullcharacterisnotwritten.Thefunctionreturns E O F ifawriteerroroccurs,otherwiseitreturnsanonnegativevalue. The p u t c function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tp u t c ( i n tc ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The p u t c functionisequivalentto f p u t c ,exceptthatifitisimplementedasamacro,itmayevaluate s t r e a m morethanonce,sotheargumentshouldneverbeanexpressionwithsideeffects.Thefunctionreturnsthecharacterwritten,unlessawriteerror occurs,inwhichcasetheerrorindicatorforthestreamissetandthefunctionreturns E O F . The p u t c h a r function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tp u t c h a r ( i n tc ) ;
The p u t c h a r functionisequivalentto p u t c withthesecondargument s t d o u t .Itreturnsthecharacterwritten,unlessawriteerroroccurs,inwhichcasetheerrorindicatorfor s t d o u t issetandthefunctionreturns E O F . The p u t s function
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tp u t s ( c o n s tc h a r* s ) ;
The p u t s functionwritesthestringpointedtoby s tothestreampointedtoby s t d o u t ,andappendsanewlinecharactertotheoutput.Theterminatingnullcharacterisnotwritten.Thefunctionreturns E O F ifawriteerroroccursotherwise,itreturnsa nonnegativevalue.
Directoutputfunction:thef w r i t e function
65/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > s i z e _ tf w r i t e ( c o n s tv o i d* p t r ,s i z e _ ts i z e ,s i z e _ tn m e m b ,F I L E* s t r e a m ) ;
The f w r i t e functionwrites,fromthearraypointedtoby p t r ,upto n m e m b elementswhosesizeisspecifiedby s i z e tothestreampointedtoby s t r e a m .Thefilepositionindicatorforthestream(ifdefined)isadvancedbythenumberofcharacterssuccessfully written.Ifanerroroccurs,theresultingvalueofthefilepositionindicatorforthestreamisindeterminate.Thefunctionreturnsthenumberofelementssuccessfullywritten,whichwillbelessthan n m e m b onlyifawriteerrorisencountered.
Formattedoutputfunctions:thep r i n t f familyoffunctions
# i n c l u d e< s t d a r g . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tf p r i n t f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ; i n tp r i n t f ( c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ; i n ts p r i n t f ( c h a r* s ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,. . . ) ; i n tv f p r i n t f ( F I L E* s t r e a m ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,v a _ l i s ta r g ) ; i n tv p r i n t f ( c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,v a _ l i s ta r g ) ; i n tv s p r i n t f ( c h a r* s ,c o n s tc h a r* f o r m a t ,v a _ l i s ta r g ) ;
Note:SomelengthspecifiersandformatspecifiersarenewinC99.Thesemaynotbeavailableinoldercompilersandversionsofthestdiolibrary,whichadheretotheC89/C90standard.Whereverpossible,thenewoneswillbemarkedwith(C99). The f p r i n t f functionwritesoutputtothestreampointedtoby s t r e a m undercontrolofthestringpointedtoby f o r m a t thatspecifieshowsubsequentargumentsareconvertedforoutput.Ifthereareinsufficientargumentsfortheformat,thebehavioris undefined.Iftheformatisexhaustedwhileargumentsremain,theexcessargumentsareevaluated(asalways)butareotherwiseignored.The f p r i n t f functionreturnswhentheendoftheformatstringisencountered. Theformatshallbeamultibytecharactersequence,beginningandendinginitsinitialshiftstate.Theformatiscomposedofzeroormoredirectives:ordinarymultibytecharacters(not % ),whicharecopiedunchangedtotheoutputstreamandconversion specifications,eachofwhichresultsinfetchingzeroormoresubsequentarguments,convertingthem,ifapplicable,accordingtothecorrespondingconversionspecifier,andthenwritingtheresulttotheoutputstream. Eachconversionspecificationisintroducedbythecharacter % .Afterthe % ,thefollowingappearinsequence: Zeroormoreflags(inanyorder)thatmodifythemeaningoftheconversionspecification. Anoptionalminimumfieldwidth.Iftheconvertedvaluehasfewercharactersthanthefieldwidth,itispaddedwithspaces(bydefault)ontheleft(orright,iftheleftadjustmentflag,describedlater,hasbeengiven)tothefieldwidth.Thefieldwidth takestheformofanasterisk * (describedlater)oradecimalinteger.(Notethat0istakenasaflag,notasthebeginningofafieldwidth.) Anoptionalprecisionthatgivestheminimumnumberofdigitstoappearforthe d , i , o , u , x ,and X conversions,thenumberofdigitstoappearafterthedecimalpointcharacterfor a , A , e , E , f ,and F conversions,themaximumnumberofsignificant digitsforthe g and G conversions,orthemaximumnumberofcharacterstobewrittenfromastringin s conversions.Theprecisiontakestheformofaperiod(. )followedeitherbyanasterisk * (describedlater)orbyanoptionaldecimalintegerif onlytheperiodisspecified,theprecisionistakenaszero.Ifaprecisionappearswithanyotherconversionspecifier,thebehaviorisundefined.Floatingpointnumbersare roundedtofittheprecisioni.e. p r i n t f ( " % 1 . 1 f \ n " ,1 . 1 9 ) ; produces 1 . 2 . Anoptionallengthmodifierthatspecifiesthesizeoftheargument. Aconversionspecifiercharacterthatspecifiesthetypeofconversiontobeapplied. Asnotedabove,afieldwidth,orprecision,orboth,maybeindicatedbyanasterisk.Inthiscase,an i n t argumentsuppliesthefieldwidthorprecision.Theargumentsspecifyingfieldwidth,orprecision,orboth,shallappear(inthatorder)beforethe argument(ifany)tobeconverted.Anegativefieldwidthargumentistakenasa flagfollowedbyapositivefieldwidth.Anegativeprecisionargumentistakenasiftheprecisionwereomitted. Theflagcharactersandtheirmeaningsare:
Theresultoftheconversionisleftjustifiedwithinthefield.(Itisrightjustifiedifthisflagisnotspecified.)
+
Theresultofasignedconversionalwaysbeginswithaplusorminussign.(Itbeginswithasignonlywhenanegativevalueisconvertedifthisflagisnotspecified.Theresultsofallfloatingconversionsofanegativezero,andofnegativevalues thatroundtozero,includeaminussign.) space Ifthefirstcharacterofasignedconversionisnotasign,orifasignedconversionresultsinnocharacters,aspaceisprefixedtotheresult.Ifthespaceand + flagsbothappear,thespaceflagisignored.

#
Theresultisconvertedtoan"alternativeform".For o conversion,itincreasestheprecision,ifandonlyifnecessary,toforcethefirstdigitoftheresulttobeazero(ifthevalueandprecisionareboth0,asingle0isprinted).For x (or X )conversion,a nonzeroresulthas 0 x (or 0 X )prefixedtoit.For a , A , e , E , f , F , g ,and G conversions,theresultalwayscontainsadecimalpointcharacter,evenifnodigitsfollowit.(Normally,adecimalpointcharacterappearsintheresultoftheseconversionsonlyifa digitfollowsit.)For g and G conversions,trailingzerosarenotremovedfromtheresult.Forotherconversions,thebehaviorisundefined.
0
For d , i , o , u , x , X , a , A , e , E , f , F , g ,and G conversions,leadingzeros(followinganyindicationofsignorbase)areusedtopadtothefieldwidthnospacepaddingisperformed.Ifthe 0 and flagsbothappear,the 0 flagisignored.For d , i , o , u , x ,and

X conversions,ifaprecisionisspecified,the 0 flagisignored.Forotherconversions,thebehaviorisundefined.
Thelengthmodifiersandtheirmeaningsare:
h h
(C99)Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa s i g n e dc h a r or u n s i g n e dc h a r argument(theargumentwillhavebeenpromotedaccordingtotheintegerpromotions,butitsvalueshallbeconvertedto s i g n e dc h a r or u n s i g n e d

c h a r beforeprinting)orthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa s i g n e dc h a r argument. h
66/118
10/24/13
Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa s h o r ti n t or u n s i g n e ds h o r ti n t argument(theargumentwillhavebeenpromotedaccordingtotheintegerpromotions,butitsvalueshallbeconvertedto s h o r ti n t or u n s i g n e ds h o r t

i n t beforeprinting)orthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa s h o r ti n t argument. l (ell)
Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa l o n gi n t or u n s i g n e dl o n gi n t argumentthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa l o n gi n t argument(C99)thatafollowing c conversionspecifierappliesto a w i n t _ t argument(C99)thatafollowing s conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa w c h a r _ t argumentorhasnoeffectonafollowing a , A , e , E , f , F , g ,or G conversionspecifier.
l l (ellell)
(C99)Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa l o n gl o n gi n t or u n s i g n e dl o n gl o n gi n t argumentorthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa l o n gl o n gi n t argument.

j
(C99)Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoan i n t m a x _ t or u i n t m a x _ t argumentorthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoan i n t m a x _ t argument.

z
(C99)Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa s i z e _ t orthecorrespondingsignedintegertypeargumentorthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoasignedintegertypecorrespondingto s i z e _ t argument.

t
(C99)Specifiesthatafollowing d , i , o , u , x ,or X conversionspecifierappliestoa p t r d i f f _ t orthecorrespondingunsignedintegertypeargumentorthatafollowing n conversionspecifierappliestoapointertoa p t r d i f f _ t argument.

L
Specifiesthatafollowing a , A , e , E , f , F , g ,or G conversionspecifierappliestoa l o n gd o u b l e argument. Ifalengthmodifierappearswithanyconversionspecifierotherthanasspecifiedabove,thebehaviorisundefined. Theconversionspecifiersandtheirmeaningsare:

d , i
The i n t argumentisconvertedtosigneddecimalinthestyle [ ]dddd.Theprecisionspecifiestheminimumnumberofdigitstoappearifthevaluebeingconvertedcanberepresentedinfewerdigits,itisexpandedwithleadingzeros.Thedefault precisionis1.Theresultofconvertingazerovaluewithaprecisionofzeroisnocharacters.

o , u , x , X
The u n s i g n e di n t argumentisconvertedtounsignedoctal(o ),unsigneddecimal(u ),orunsignedhexadecimalnotation(x or X )inthestyle ddddtheletters a b c d e f areusedfor x conversionandtheletters A B C D E F for X conversion.Theprecisionspecifies theminimumnumberofdigitstoappearifthevaluebeingconvertedcanberepresentedinfewerdigits,itisexpandedwithleadingzeros.Thedefaultprecisionis1.Theresultofconvertingazerovaluewithaprecisionofzeroisnocharacters.
f , F
A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinga(finite)floatingpointnumberisconvertedtodecimalnotationinthestyle [ ]ddd. ddd,wherethenumberofdigitsafterthedecimalpointcharacterisequaltotheprecisionspecification.Iftheprecisionismissing,it istakenas6iftheprecisioniszeroandthe # flagisnotspecified,nodecimalpointcharacterappears.Ifadecimalpointcharacterappears,atleastonedigitappearsbeforeit.Thevalueisroundedtotheappropriatenumberofdigits. (C99)A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinganinfinityisconvertedinoneofthestyles [ ]i n f or [ ]i n f i n i t y whichstyleisimplementationdefined.AdoubleargumentrepresentingaNaNisconvertedinoneofthestyles [ ]n a n or [ ]n a n ( ncharsequence) whichstyle,andthemeaningofany ncharsequence,isimplementationdefined.The F conversionspecifierproduces I N F , I N F I N I T Y ,or N A N insteadof i n f , i n f i n i t y ,or n a n ,respectively.(WhenappliedtoinfiniteandNaNvalues,the , + ,and space flagshavetheirusualmeaningthe # and 0 flagshavenoeffect.)
e , E
A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinga(finite)floatingpointnumberisconvertedinthestyle [ ]d. ddde dd,wherethereisonedigit(whichisnonzeroiftheargumentisnonzero)beforethedecimalpointcharacterandthenumberofdigitsafteritisequal totheprecisioniftheprecisionismissing,itistakenas6iftheprecisioniszeroandthe # flagisnotspecified,nodecimalpointcharacterappears.Thevalueisroundedtotheappropriatenumberofdigits.The E conversionspecifierproducesa numberwith E insteadof e introducingtheexponent.Theexponentalwayscontainsatleasttwodigits,andonlyasmanymoredigitsasnecessarytorepresenttheexponent.Ifthevalueiszero,theexponentiszero. (C99)A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinganinfinityorNaNisconvertedinthestyleofan f or F conversionspecifier.
g , G
A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinga(finite)floatingpointnumberisconvertedinstyle f or e (orinstyle F or E inthecaseofa G conversionspecifier),withtheprecisionspecifyingthenumberofsignificantdigits.Iftheprecisioniszero,itistakenas1. Thestyleuseddependsonthevalueconvertedstyle e (or E )isusedonlyiftheexponentresultingfromsuchaconversionislessthan4orgreaterthanorequaltotheprecision.Trailingzerosareremovedfromthefractionalportionoftheresult unlessthe # flagisspecifiedadecimalpointcharacterappearsonlyifitisfollowedbyadigit. (C99)A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinganinfinityorNaNisconvertedinthestyleofan f or F conversionspecifier.
a , A
(C99)Adoubleargumentrepresentinga(finite)floatingpointnumberisconvertedinthestyle [ ]0 x h. hhhhp d,wherethereisonehexadecimaldigit(whichisnonzeroiftheargumentisanormalizedfloatingpointnumberandisotherwise unspecified)beforethedecimalpointcharacter(Binaryimplementationscanchoosethehexadecimaldigittotheleftofthedecimalpointcharactersothatsubsequentdigitsaligntonibble[4bit]boundaries.)andthenumberofhexadecimaldigits afteritisequaltotheprecisioniftheprecisionismissingand F L T _ R A D I X isapowerof2,thentheprecisionissufficientforanexactrepresentationofthevalueiftheprecisionismissingand F L T _ R A D I X isnotapowerof2,thentheprecisionis sufficienttodistinguish(Theprecision pissufficienttodistinguishvaluesofthesourcetypeif16p1> bnwhere bis F L T _ R A D I X and nisthenumberofbasebdigitsinthesignificandofthesourcetype.Asmaller pmightsufficedependingonthe implementation'sschemefordeterminingthedigittotheleftofthedecimalpointcharacter.)valuesoftype d o u b l e ,exceptthattrailingzerosmaybeomittediftheprecisioniszeroandthe # flagisnotspecified,nodecimalpointcharacterappears.
67/118
10/24/13
Theletters a b c d e f areusedfor a conversionandtheletters A B C D E F for A conversion.The A conversionspecifierproducesanumberwith X and P insteadof x and p .Theexponentalwayscontainsatleastonedigit,andonlyasmanymoredigitsas necessarytorepresentthedecimalexponentof2.Ifthevalueiszero,theexponentiszero. A d o u b l e argumentrepresentinganinfinityorNaNisconvertedinthestyleofan f or F conversionspecifier.
c
Ifno l lengthmodifierispresent,the i n t argumentisconvertedtoan u n s i g n e dc h a r ,andtheresultingcharacteriswritten. (C99)Ifan l lengthmodifierispresent,the w i n t _ t argumentisconvertedasifbyan l s conversionspecificationwithnoprecisionandanargumentthatpointstotheinitialelementofatwoelementarrayof w c h a r _ t ,thefirstelementcontainingthe

w i n t _ t argumenttothe l c conversionspecificationandthesecondanullwidecharacter. s
Ifno l lengthmodifierispresent,theargumentshallbeapointertotheinitialelementofanarrayofcharactertype.(Nospecialprovisionsaremadeformultibytecharacters.)Charactersfromthearrayarewrittenupto(butnotincluding)the terminatingnullcharacter.Iftheprecisionisspecified,nomorethanthatmanycharactersarewritten.Iftheprecisionisnotspecifiedorisgreaterthanthesizeofthearray,thearrayshallcontainanullcharacter. (C99)Ifan l lengthmodifierispresent,theargumentshallbeapointertotheinitialelementofanarrayof w c h a r _ t type.Widecharactersfromthearrayareconvertedtomultibytecharacters(eachasifbyacalltothe w c r t o m b function,withthe conversionstatedescribedbyan m b s t a t e _ t objectinitializedtozerobeforethefirstwidecharacterisconverted)uptoandincludingaterminatingnullwidecharacter.Theresultingmultibytecharactersarewrittenupto(butnotincluding)the terminatingnullcharacter(byte).Ifnoprecisionisspecified,thearrayshallcontainanullwidecharacter.Ifaprecisionisspecified,nomorethanthatmanycharacters(bytes)arewritten(includingshiftsequences,ifany),andthearrayshallcontain anullwidecharacterif,toequalthemultibytecharactersequencelengthgivenbytheprecision,thefunctionwouldneedtoaccessawidecharacteronepasttheendofthearray.Innocaseisapartialmultibytecharacterwritten.(Redundantshift sequencesmayresultifmultibytecharactershaveastatedependentencoding.)
p
Theargumentshallbeapointerto v o i d .Thevalueofthepointerisconvertedtoasequenceofprintablecharacters,inanimplementationdefinedmanner.
n
Theargumentshallbeapointertosignedintegerintowhichiswrittenthenumberofcharacterswrittentotheoutputstreamsofarbythiscallto f p r i n t f .Noargumentisconverted,butoneisconsumed.Iftheconversionspecificationincludesany flags,afieldwidth,oraprecision,thebehaviorisundefined.

%
A % characteriswritten.Noargumentisconverted.Thecompleteconversionspecificationshallbe % % . Ifaconversionspecificationisinvalid,thebehaviorisundefined.Ifanyargumentisnotthecorrecttypeforthecorrespondingcoversionspecification,thebehaviorisundefined. Innocasedoesanonexistentorsmallfieldwidthcausetruncationofafieldiftheresultofaconversioniswiderthanthefieldwidth,thefieldisexpandedtocontaintheconversionresult. For a and A conversions,if F L T _ R A D I X isapowerof2,thevalueiscorrectlyroundedtoahexadecimalfloatingnumberwiththegivenprecision. Itisrecommendedpracticethatif F L T _ R A D I X isnotapowerof2,theresultshouldbeoneofthetwoadjacentnumbersinhexadecimalfloatingstylewiththegivenprecision,withtheextrastipulationthattheerrorshouldhaveacorrectsignforthecurrent roundingdirection. Itisrecommendedpracticethatfor e , E , f , F , g ,and G conversions,ifthenumberofsignificantdecimaldigitsisatmost D E C I M A L _ D I G ,thentheresultshouldbecorrectlyrounded.(Forbinarytodecimalconversion,theresultformat'svaluesarethenumbers representablewiththegivenformatspecifier.Thenumberofsignificantdigitsisdeterminedbytheformatspecifier,andinthecaseoffixedpointconversionbythesourcevalueaswell.)Ifthenumberofsignificantdecimaldigitsismorethan D E C I M A L _ D I G butthesourcevalueisexactlyrepresentablewith D E C I M A L _ D I G digits,thentheresultshouldbeanexactrepresentationwithtrailingzeros.Otherwise,thesourcevalueisboundedbytwoadjacentdecimalstrings L<U,bothhaving D E C I M A L _ D I G significantdigits thevalueoftheresultantdecimalstring Dshouldsatisfy LDU,withtheextrastipulationthattheerrorshouldhaveacorrectsignforthecurrentroundingdirection. The f p r i n t f functionreturnsthenumberofcharacterstransmitted,oranegativevalueifanoutputorencodingerroroccurred. The p r i n t f functionisequivalentto f p r i n t f withtheargument s t d o u t interposedbeforetheargumentsto p r i n t f .Itreturnsthenumberofcharacterstransmitted,oranegativevalueifanoutputerroroccurred. The s p r i n t f functionisequivalentto f p r i n t f ,exceptthattheargument s specifiesanarrayintowhichthegeneratedinputistobewritten,ratherthantoastream.Anullcharacteriswrittenattheendofthecharacterswrittenitisnotcountedaspartofthe returnedsum.Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturnsthenumberofcharacterswritteninthearray,notcountingtheterminatingnullcharacter. The v f p r i n t f functionisequivalentto f p r i n t f ,withthevariableargumentlistreplacedby a r g ,whichshallhavebeeninitializedbythe v a _ s t a r t macro(andpossiblysubsequent v a _ a r g calls).The v f p r i n t f functiondoesnotinvokethe v a _ e n d macro.Thefunction returnsthenumberofcharacterstransmitted,oranegativevalueifanoutputerroroccurred. The v p r i n t f functionisequivalentto p r i n t f ,withthevariableargumentlistreplacedby a r g ,whichshallhavebeeninitializedbythe v a _ s t a r t macro(andpossiblysubsequent v a _ a r g calls).The v p r i n t f functiondoesnotinvokethe v a _ e n d macro.Thefunction returnsthenumberofcharacterstransmitted,oranegativevalueifanoutputerroroccurred. The v s p r i n t f functionisequivalentto s p r i n t f ,withthevariableargumentlistreplacedby a r g ,whichshallhavebeeninitializedbythe v a _ s t a r t macro(andpossiblysubsequent v a _ a r g calls).The v s p r i n t f functiondoesnotinvokethe v a _ e n d macro.Ifcopying takesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturnsthenumberofcharacterswrittenintothearray,notcountingtheterminatingnullcharacter.
References
1. Severalprogrammersrecommend"usespacesforindentation.Donotusetabsinyourcode.Youshouldsetyoureditortoemitspaceswhenyouhitthetabkey."[1](http://googlestyleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml)[2] (http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabsvsspaces.html)Otherprogrammersdisagree.[3](http://diagrammesmodernes.blogspot.com/2006/04/tabversusspaces.html)[4](http://www.derkarl.org/why_to_tabs.html)Regardlessofwhetheryoupreferspacesor tabs,makesureyoukeepitconsistentwithprojectsyouareworkingon,becausemixingtabsandspacescancausecodetobecomeunreadable. 2. [5](http://www.oualline.com/vimcook.html#drawing)
68/118
10/24/13
3. [http://lxr.linux.no/#linux+v2.6.31/Documentation/CodingStyleLinuxKernelcodingstandard 4. "CodingConventionsforC++andJava"(http://www.macadamian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=37)"alltheblockcommentsillustratedinthisdocumenthavenoprettystarsontherightsideoftheblockcomment. Thisdeliberatechoicewasmadebecausealigningthoseprettystarsisalargewasteoftimeanddiscouragesthemaintenanceofinlinecomments.", 5. wiki:BigBlocksOfAsterisks,"Codecraft"(http://books.google.com/books? id=i4zCzpkrt4sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=programming+comment+block+waste+time+lining+up&source=bl&ots=TUpTMIHBnh&sig=NeZm23WPmvnw2aKMnIRUeQoHmJg&hl=en&ei=pri3SevGIYGyNMn9jd4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result) byPeteGoodliffepage82,Falvotech"CProgrammingStyleGuide"(http://www.falvotech.com/content/publications/conventions/c/),FedoraDirectoryServerCodingStyle(http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Coding_Style)
Beginningexercises
Variables
Naming
1. Canavariablenamestartwithanumber?can't 2. Canavariablenamestartwithatypographicalsymbolcan't(e.g.#,*,_)? 3. GiveanexampleofaCvariablenamethatwould not work.Whydoesn'titwork? Solution 1. No,thenameofavariablemustbeginwithaletter(lowercaseoruppercase),oranunderscore. 2. Onlytheunderscorecanbeused. 3. forexample, #nm*rtisnotallowedbecause#and*arenotthevalidcharactersforthenameofavariable.
# i n c l u d e < s t d i o . h > m a i n ( ) { i n ta , b , c , m a x ; c l r s c r ( ) ; p r i n t f ( " \ n e n t e rt h r e en u m b e r s" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d% d% d " , & a , & b , & c ) ; m a x = a ; i f ( m a x < b ) m a x = b ; i f ( m a x < c ) m a x = c ; p r i n t f ( " \ n l a r g e s t = % d\ n " , m a x ) ; g e t c h ( ) ; }
DataTypes
1. ListatleastthreedatatypesinC 1. Onyourcomputer,howmuchmemorydoeseachrequire? 2. Whichonescanbeusedinplaceofanother?Why? 1. Arethereanylimitationsontheseuses? 2. Ifso,whatarethey? 3. Isitnecessarytodoanythingspecialtousethealternative? 2. Canthenameweuseforadatatype(e.g.'int','float')beusedasavariable? Solution 3datatypes: longint, shortint, float. Onmycomputer: longint:4byte shortint:2bytes float:4bytes wecannotuse'int'or'float'asavariable'sname.
Assignment
1. Howwouldyouassignthevalue3.14toavariablecalledpi?
69/118
10/24/13
2. Isitpossibletoassignan int toa double? 1. Isthereversepossible?
Solution Thestandardwayofassigning3.14topiis:
d o u b l ep i ; p i = 3 . 1 4 ;
Sincepiisaconstant,goodprogrammingconventiondictatestomakeitunchangeableduringruntime.Extracreditifyouuseoneofthefollowingtwolines:
c o n s tf l o a tp i=3 . 1 4 ; # d e f i n ep i3 . 1 4
Yes,forexample:
i n ta = 6 7 ; d o u b l eb ; b = a ;
Yes,butacastisnecessaryandthedoubleistruncated:
d o u b l ea = 8 9 ; i n tb ; b = ( i n t )a ;
Referencing
1. Acommonmistakefornewstudentsisreversingtheassignmentstatement.Supposeyouwanttoassignthevaluestoredinthevariable"pi"toanothervariable,say"pi2": 1. Whatisthecorrectstatement? 2. Whatisthereverse?IsthisavalidCstatement(evenifitgivesincorrectresults)? 3. Whatifyouwantedtoassignaconstantvalue(like3.1415)to"pi2": a.Whatwouldthecorrectstatementlooklike? b.WouldthereversebeavalidorinvalidCstatement? Solution 1. p i 2=p i ; 2. Thereverse, p i=p i 2 ; isavalidCstatementif p i isnotaconstant. 3. a. p i 2=3 . 1 4 1 5 ; b.Thereverse: 3 . 1 4 1 5=p i 2 ; isnotvalidsinceitisimpossibletoassignavaluetoaliteral.
SimpleI/O
Input
1. scanf()isaverypowerfulfunction.Describesomefeaturesthatmakeitsoversatile. 2. Writethescanf()functioncallthatwillreadintothevariable"var":
70/118
10/24/13
1. afloat 2. anint 3. adouble
Solution
s c a n f ( " % f " , & v a r ) ; / / r e a df l o a ti n t ov a r s c a n f ( " % d " , & v a r ) ; / / r e a di n ti n t ov a r s c a n f ( " % l f " ,& v a r ) ; / / r e a dd o u b l ei n t ov a r
Stringmanipulation
1.Writeaprogramthatpromptstheuserforastring,andprintsitsreverse. Solution Onepossiblesolutioncouldbe:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { c h a rs [ 8 1 ] ;/ /As t r i n go fu p t o8 0c h a r s+' \ 0 ' i n ti ; p u t s ( " P l e a s ew r i t eas t r i n g :" ) ; f g e t s ( s ,8 1 ,s t d i n ) ; p u t s ( " Y o u rs e n t e n c ei nr e v e r s e :" ) ; f o r( i =s t r l e n ( s ) 1 ;i> =0 ;i ) { i f( s [ i ]= =' \ n ' ) c o n t i n u e ;/ /d o n ' tw r i t en e w l i n e e l s e p u t c h a r ( s [ i ] ) ; } p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
2.Writeaprogramthatpromptstheuserforasentence,andprintseachwordonitsownline. Solution Onepossiblesolutioncouldbe:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n tm a i n ( v o i d ) { c h a rs [ 8 1 ] ,w o r d [ 8 1 ] ; i n tn =0 ,i d x =0 ; p u t s ( " P l e a s ew r i t eas e n t e n c e : " ) ; f g e t s ( s ,8 1 ,s t d i n ) ; / *% sm a t c h e sas e q u e n c eo fn o n w h i t e s p a c ec h a r a c t e r ,w h i c hi sa * f a i rd e f i n i t i o no f" w o r d "i nt h i sc o n t e x t . *% nm a t c h e sn o t h i n g ,b u ts t o r e st h en u m b e ro fc h a r a c t e r st h a th a v e * b e e np r o c e s s e d .i . e .i fsi s" H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ,t h e nw o r da n dn * w i l lb e" H e l l o , "a n d6r e s p e c t i v e l yi nt h ef i r s ti t e r a t i o n .I n * t h es e c o n di t e r a t i o nt h e yw i l lb e" W o r l d ! "a n d7( 6c h a r s+ * t h es p a c ei nf r o n to ft h ew o r d ) . * / w h i l e(s s c a n f ( & s [ i d x ] ," % s % n " ,w o r d ,& n )>0) { i d x+ =n ; p u t s ( w o r d ) ; }
71/118
10/24/13
r e t u r n0 ; }
Loops
1.Writeafunctionthatoutputsarightisoscelestriangleofheightandwidth n,so n=3wouldlooklike
* * * * * *
Solution Onepossiblesolution:
v o i di s o s c e l e s ( i n tn ) { i n tx , y ; f o r( y =0 ;y<n ;y + + ) { f o r( x =0 ;x< =y ;x + + ) p u t c h a r ( ' * ' ) ; p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; } }
2.Writeafunctionthatoutputsasidewaystriangleofheight 2n1andwidth n,sotheoutputfor n=4wouldbe:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
v o i ds i d e w a y s ( i n tn ) { i n tx , y ; f o r( y =0 ;y<n ;y + + ) { f o r( x =0 ;x< =y ;x + + ) p u t c h a r ( ' * ' ) ; p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; } f o r( y =n 1 ;y>0 ;y ) { f o r( x =0 ;x<y ;x + + ) p u t c h a r ( ' * ' ) ; p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; } }
orlikethis(allmath)
v o i ds i d e w a y s ( i n tn ) { i n ti = 0 , j = 0 ; f o r ( i = 1 ; i < 2 * n ; i + + ) { f o r ( j = 1 ; j < = ( n ( a b s ( n i ) ) ) ; j + + ) {
72/118
10/24/13
p r i n t f ( " * " ) ; } p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; } }
3.Writeafunctionthatoutputsarightsideuptriangleofheight nandwidth 2n1theoutputfor n=6wouldbe:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
v o i dr i g h t _ s i d e _ u p ( i n tn ) { i n tx , y ; f o r( y =1 ;y< =n ;y + + ) { f o r( x =0 ;x<n y ;x + + ) p u t c h a r ( '' ) ; f o r( x =( n y ) ;x<( n y ) + ( 2 * y 1 ) ;x + + ) p u t c h a r ( ' * ' ) ; p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; } }
ProgramFlow
1.Buildaprogramwherecontrolpassesfrommaintofourdifferentfunctionswith4calls. 2.Nowmakeawhileloopinmainwiththefunctioncallsinsideit.Askforinputatthebeginningoftheloop.EndthewhileloopiftheuserhitsQ 3.Nextaddconditionalstocallthefunctionswhentheuserentersnumbers,so1goestofunction1,2goestofunction2,etc. 4.Havefunction1callfunctiona,whichcallsfunctionb,whichcallsfunctionc 5.Drawoutadiagramofprogramflow,witharrowstoindicatewherecontrolgoes
Functions
1.Writeafunctiontocheckifanintegerisnegativethedeclarationshouldlooklikeboolis_positive(inti) 2.Writeafunctiontoraiseafloatingpointnumbertoanintegerpower,soforexampletowhenyouuseit floata=raise_to_power(2,3)//agets8 floatb=raise_to_power(9,2)//bgets81 floatraise_to_power(floatf,intpower)//makethisyourdeclaration
Math
1.Writeafunctiontocalculateifanumberisprime.Return1ifitisprimeand0ifitisnotaprime. Solution Onepossiblesolutionusinganaveprimalitytest:
/ /t oc o m p i l e :g c cW a l lp r i m e . cl mop r i m e
73/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e< m a t h . h > / /f o rt h es q u a r er o o tf u n c t i o ns q r t ( ) # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n ti s _ p r i m e ( i n tn ) ; i n tm a i n ( ) { p r i n t f ( " W r i t ea ni n t e g e r :" ) ; i n tv a r ; s c a n f ( " % d " ,& v a r ) ; i f( i s _ p r i m e ( v a r ) = = 1 ){ p r i n t f ( " Ap r i m e \ n " ) ; }e l s e{ p r i n t f ( " N o tap r i m e \ n " ) ; } r e t u r n1 ; } i n ti s _ p r i m e ( i n tn ) { i n tx ; i n ts q =s q r t ( n ) + 1 ; / /C h e c k i n gt h et r i v i a lc a s e sf i r s t i f(n<2) r e t u r n0 ; i f(n= =2| |n= =3) r e t u r n1 ; / /C h e c k i n gi fni sd i v i s i b l eb y2o ro d dn u m b e r sb e t w e e n3a n dt h e / /s q u a r er o o to fn . i f(n%2= =0) r e t u r n0 ; f o r( x =3 ;x< =s q ;x+ =2 ) { i f(n%x= =0) r e t u r n0 ; } r e t u r n1 ; }
2.Writeafunctiontodeterminethenumberofprimenumbersbelown. 3.WriteafunctiontofindthesquarerootbyusingNewton'smethod. 4.Writefunctionstoevaluatethetrigonometricfunctions: 5.Trytowritearandomnumbergenerator. 6.Writeafunctiontodeterminetheprimenumberbetween2and100:
Recursion
Mergesort 1.WriteaCprogramtogeneratearandomintegerarraywithagivenlengthn,andsortitrecursivelyusingtheMergesortalgorithm. Themergesortalgorithmisarecursivealgorithm. sortingaoneelementarrayiseasy. sortingtwooneelementarrays,requiresthemergeoperation.Themergeoperationlooksattwosortedarraysaslists,andcomparestheheadofthelist,andwhicheverheadissmaller,thiselementisputonthesortedlistandtheheadofthatlistis tickedoff,sothenextelementbecomestheheadofthatlist.Thisisdoneuntiloneofthelistsisexhausted,andtheotherlististhencopiedontotheendofthesortedlist. therecursionoccurs,becausemergingtwooneelementarraysproducesonetwoelementsortedarray,whichcanbemergedwithanothertwoelementsortedarrayproducedthesameway.Thisproducesasorted4elementarray,andthesameapplies foranother4elementsortedarray. sothebasicmergesort,istocheckthesizeoflisttobesorted,andifitisgreaterthanone,dividethearrayintotwo,andcallmergesortagainonthetwohalves.Afterwards,mergethetwohalvesinatemporaryspaceofequalsize,andthencopy backthefinalsortedarrayontotheoriginalarray. Solution Onepossiblesolution,afterreadingonlinedescriptionsofrecursivemergesort,e.g.Dasgupta:
/ /t oc o m p i l e :g c cW a l lr m e r g e s o r t . cl mor m e r g e s o r t
74/118
10/24/13
/ * = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = N a m e :r m e r g e s o r t . c A u t h o r :A n o n V e r s i o n :0 . 1 C o p y r i g h t :( C ) 2 0 1 3u n d e rC C B y S A3 . 0L i c e n s e D e s c r i p t i o n:R e c u r s i v eM e r g eS o r t ,A n s i s t y l e = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = * / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / / c o n s ti n tM A X=2 0 0 ; c o n s ti n tM A X=2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ; i n t* b ; i n tp r i n t O f f=0 ; / /t h i sd e b u g g i n gp r i n to u to ft h ea r r a yh e l p st os h o w / /w h a ti sg o i n go n . v o i dp r i n t A r r a y ( c h a r *l a b e l ,i n t *a ,i n ts z ){ i n th=s z /2 ; i n ti ; i f( p r i n t O f f )r e t u r n ; p r i n t f ( " \ n % s : \ n " ,l a b e l ) ; f o r( i=0 ;i<h ;+ + i){ p r i n t f ( " % d % c " ,a [ i ] , / /a d di nan e w l i n ee v e r y2 0n u m b e r s ((i! =0& &i%2 0= =0) ?' \ n ' :'')) ; } p r i n t f ( "|" ) ; f o r( ; i<s z ;+ + i ){ p r i n t f ( " % d % c " ,a [ i ] , ((i! =0& &i%2 0= =0) ?' \ n ' :'')) ; } p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; } v o i dm e r g e s o r t ( i n t *a ,i n tm){ p r i n t A r r a y ( " B E F O R E " ,a ,m ) ; i f( m>2 ){ / /i fg r e a t e rt h a n2e l e m e n t s ,t h e nr e c u r s i v e m e r g e s o r t ( a ,m/2 ) ; m e r g e s o r t ( a+m/2 ,m-m/2 ) ; }e l s ei f( m= =2& &a [ 0 ]>a [ 1 ] ){ / /i fe x a c t l y2e l e m e n t sa n dn e e ds w a p p i n g ,s w a p i n tt=a [ 1 ] ; a [ 1 ]=a [ 0 ] ; a [ 0 ]=t ; g o t oe n d ; } / /1o rg r e a t e rt h a n2e l e m e n t sw h i c hh a v eb e e nr e c u r s i v e l ys o r t e d / /d i v i d et h ea r r a yi n t oal e f ta n dr i g h ta r r a y / /m e r g ei n t ot h ea r r a ybw i t hi n d e xl . i n tn=m / 2 ; i n to=m-n ; i n ti=0 ,j=n ; i n tl=0 ; / /ii sl e f t ,ji sr i g h t; / /ls h o u l de q u a lmt h es i z eo ft h ea r r a y w h i l e( i<n ){ i f(j> =m ){ / /t h er i g h ta r r a yh a sf i n i s h e d ,s oc o p yt h er e m a i n i n gl e f ta r r a y f o r ( ;i<n ;+ + i ){ b [ l + + ]=a [ i ] ; } / /t h em e r g eo p e r a t i o ni st oc o p yt h es m a l l e rc u r r e n te l e m e n ta n d / /i n c r e m e n tt h ei n d e xo ft h ep a r e n ts u b a r r a y . }e l s ei f ( a [ i ]<a [ j ]){
75/118
10/24/13
b [ l + + ]=a [ i + + ] ; }e l s e{ b [ l + + ]=a [ j + + ] ; } } w h i l e(j<m ){ / /c o p yt h er e m a i n i n gr i g h ta r r a y,i fa n y b [ l + + ]=a [ j + + ] ; } m e m c p y ( a ,b ,s i z e o f ( i n t )*l) ; e n d : p r i n t A r r a y ( " A F T E R " ,a ,m ) ; r e t u r n ; } v o i dr a n d _ i n i t ( i n t *a ,i n tn ){ i n ti ; f o r( i=0 ;i<n ;+ + i){ a [ i ]=r a n d ( )%M A X ; } } i n tm a i n ( v o i d ){ p u t s ( " ! ! ! H e l l oW o r l d ! ! ! " ) ;/ *p r i n t s! ! ! H e l l oW o r l d ! ! !* / / / / / / / i n tN=2 0 ; i n tN=1 0 0 0 ; i n tN=1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ; i n tN=1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ; / /s t i l lc a n ' tm a k eas t a c ko v e r f l o wo nu b u n t u , 4 G B ,p h e n o m p r i n t O f f=1 ; i n t* a ; b=c a l l o c (N ,s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ; a=c a l l o c (N ,s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ; r a n d _ i n i t ( a ,N ) ; m e r g e s o r t ( a ,N ) ; p r i n t O f f=0 ; p r i n t A r r a y ( " L A S T " ,a ,N ) ; f r e e ( a ) ; f r e e ( b ) ; r e t u r nE X I T _ S U C C E S S ; } / *H a v i n gf a i l e dt ot r a n s l a t em yc o n c e p to fn o n r e c u r s i v em e r g es o r t , *It a c k l e dt h ee a s i e rc a s eo fr e c u r s i v em e r g es o r t . *T h en e x tt a s ki st ot r a n s l a t et h er e c u r s i v ev e r s i o nt oan o n r e c u r s i v e *v e r s i o n .T h i sc o u l db ed o n eb yr e p l a c i n gc a l l st om e r g e s o r t ,w i t h *p u s h e so n t oas t a c ko f *t u p l e so f(< a r r a ys t a r ta d d r e s s > ,< n u m b e ro fe l e m e n t st op r o c e s s >) * / / *T h ec e n t r a li d e ao fm e r g i n g ,i st h a tt w os o r t e dl i s t sc a nb e *m e r g e di n t oo n es o r t e dl i s t ,b yc o m p a r i n gt h et o po fe a c hl i s ta n d *m o v i n gt h el o w e s tv a l u e de l e m e n to n t ot h ee n do ft h en e wl i s t . * T h eo t h e rl i s tw h i c hh a st h eh i g h e rv a l u e de l e m e n tk e e p si t st o p * e l e m e n tu n c h a n g e d .W h e nal i s ti se x h a u s t e d ,c o p yt h er e m a i n i n go t h e rl i s t * o n t ot h ee n do ft h en e wl i s t . * / / *T h er e c u r s i v ep a r t ,i st od e f e ra n yw o r ki ns o r t i n ga nu n s o r t e dl i s t , *b yd i v i d i n gi ti n t ot w ol i s t su n t i lt h e r ei so n l y1o rt w oe l e m e n t s , *a n di ft h e r ea r et w oe l e m e n t s ,s o r tt h e md i r e c t l yb ys w a p p i n gi f *t h ef i r s te l e m e n ti sl a r g e rt h a nt h es e c o n de l e m e n t . * *A f t e rr e t u r n i n gf r o mar e c u r s i v ec a l l ,m e r g et h el i s t s ,w h i c hw i l l *b e g i nw i t ho n eo rt w oe l e m e n ts o r t e dl i s t s .T h er e s u l ti sas o r t e dl i s t *w h i c hw i l lb er e t u r n e dt ot h ep a r e n to ft h er e c u r s i v ec a l l ,a n dc a n *b eu s e df o rm e r g i n g . * / / *T h ef o l l o w i n gi sa ni m a g i n a r yd i s c u s s i o na b o u tw h a tap r o g r a m m e r *m i g h tb et h i n k i n ga b o u tw h e np r o g r a m m i n g : * *V i s u a l i s i n gr e c u r s i o ni nt e r m so faZ 8 0a s s e m b l yl a n g u a g e ,w h i c h
76/118
10/24/13
*i ss i m i l i a rt om o s ta s s e m b l yl a n g u a g e s ,t h e r ei sad a t as t a c k( D S )a n d *ac a l ls t a c k( C S )p o i n t e r ,a n de a c hr e c u r s i v ec a l lt om e r g e s o r t *p u s h e st h er e t u r na d d r e s s,w h i c hi st h ep r o g r a ma d d r e s so ft h ei n s t r u c t i o n *a f t e rt h ec a l l,o n t ot h es t a c kp o i n t e dt ob yC Sa n dC Si si n c r e m e n t e d , *a n dt h ea d d r e s so ft h ea r r a ys t a r ta n di n t e g e rw h i c hi st h es u b a r r a yl e n g t h *o n t ot h ed a t as t a c kp o i n t e dt ob yD S ,w h i c hw i l lb ei n c r e m e n t e dt w i c e . * *I ft h en u m b e ro fr e c u r s i v e,a c t i v ec a l l se x c e e dt h ea l l o w a b l es p a c ef o re i t h e rt h ec a l ls t a c k *o rt h ed a t as t a c k ,t h e nt h ep r o g r a mw i l lc r a s h,o rap r o c e s ss p a c ep r o t e c t i o n *v i o l a t i o ni n t e r r u p ts i g n a lw i l lb es e n tb yt h eC P U ,a n dt h ei n t e r r u p tv e c t o r *f o rt h a ts i g n a lw i l lj u m pt h ep r o c e s s o r ' sc u r r e n ti n s t r u c t i o np o i n t e rt ot h e *i n t e r r u p th a n d l i n gr o u t i n e . * /
Binaryheaps 2. Binaryheaps: Abinarymaxheaporminheap,isanorderedstructurewheresomenodesareguaranteedgreaterthanothernodes,e.g.theparentvstwochildren.Abinaryheapcanbestoredinanarray,where, givenaposition i (theparent), i*2istheleftchild,and i*2+1istherightchild. (Carraysbeginatposition0,but0*2=0,and0*2+1=1,whichisincorrect,sostarttheheapatposition1,oradd1forparenttochildcalculations,andsubtract1forchildtoparentcalculations). trytomodelthisusingwithapencilandpaper,using10randomunsortednumbers,andinsertingeachofthemintoa"heapsort"arrayof10elements. Toinsertintoaheap, endaddand swapparentifhigher,untilparenthigher. Todeletethetopofaheap,move endtotop,and deferhigherchildor siftdown,untilnochildishigher. tryitonapenandpaperthenumbers10,4,6,3,5,11. penandpapersolution 10,4,6,3,5,11>10 4,6,3,5,11>10,4:4isendadded,noswapparentbecause4<10. 6,3,5,11>10,4,6:6isendadded,noswapparentbecause6<10. 3,5,11>10,4,6,3:3isendadded,3isposition4,divideby2=2,4atposition2,noswapparentbecause4>3. 5,11>10,4,6,3,5:5isendadded,5isposition5,dividedby2=2,4atposition2,swapparentas4<55atposition2,noswapparentbecause5<10atposition1. 10,5,6,3,4 11>10,5,6,3,4,11:11isendadded,11isposition6,divideby2=3,swap6with11,11isposition3,swap11with10,stopasnoparent. 11,5,10,3,4,6 11haschildren5,105haschildren3and410haschild6.Parentalways>child.
theanswerwas11,5,10,3,4,6. EXERCISE:Nowtryremovingeachtopelementof11,5,10,3,4,6,usingendtotopandsiftdown(orswaphigherchild)togetthenumbers indescendingorder. penandpapersolution 11leaves*,5,10,3,4,6>6,5,10,3,4> siftdown>choosegreaterchild5(2*n+0)or10(2*n+1)>is6>10?no>swap10and6> 10,5,*6,3,4>4isgreatestchildasno+1child.is6>4?yes,stop. 10leaves*,5,6,3,4>*4,5,6,3>isleft(0)orright(+1)childgreater>+1isgreateris4>+1child?no,swap 6,5,*4,3>*4hasnochildrensostop. 6leaves*,5,4,3>*3,5,4>+0childisgreater>is3>5?no,soswap>5,*3,4,*3hasnochildsostop. is
77/118
10/24/13
5leavesso3,4>*4,3>+0childgreatestasnorightchild>is4>3?no,soexit 4leaves3. 3leaves*. numbersextractedindescendingorder11,10,6,5,4,3.
apriorityqueueallowselementstobeinsertedwithapriority,andextractedaccordingtopriority.(Thiscanhappenusefully,iftheelementhasapairedstructure,onepartisthekey,andtheotherpartthedata.Otherwise,itisjustamechanism forsorting). EXERCISE:Usingtheabovetechniqueofinsertback/challengeparent,anddeletefront/lasttofront/deferhigherchild,implementeitherheapsortorapriorityqueue. Dijsktra'salgorithm Dijsktra'salgorithmisasearchingalgorithmusingapriorityqueue.Itbeginswithinsertingthestartnodewithapriorityvalueof0.AllothernodesareinsertedwithpriorityvaluesoflargeN.Eachnodehasanadjacencylistofothernodes,acurrent distancetostartnode,andpreviouspointertopreviousnodeusedtocalculatecurrentnode.Alternativetoanadjacencylist,isanadjacencymatrix,whichneedsnxnbooleanadjacencies. Theagorithmbasicallyiteratesoverthepriorityqueue,removingthefrontnode,examiningtheadjacentnodes,andupdatingwithadistanceequaltothesumofthefrontnodesdistanceforeachadjacentnode,andthedistancegivenbytheadjacency informationforanadjacentnode. Aftereachnode'supdate,theextraoperation "updatepriority"isusedonthatnode: whilethenode'sdistanceislessthanit'sparentsnode(forthispriorityqueue,parentshavelesserdistancesthanthechildren),thenodeisswappedwiththeparent. Afterthis, whilethenodeisgreaterdistancethanoneormoreofitschildren,itisswappedwiththeleastdistantchild,sotheleastdistantchildbecomesparentofitsgreaterdistantsibling,andparenttothegreaterdistantcurrentnode. Withupdatingthepriority,theadjacentnodetothecurrentnodehasabackpointerchangedtothecurrentnode. Thealgorithmendswhenthetargetnodebecomesthecurrentnoderemoved,andthepathtothestartnodecanberecordedinanarraybyfollowingbackpointers,andthendoingsomethinglikeaquicksortpartitiontoreversetheorderofthearray,to givetheshortestpathtotargetnodefromthestartnode. Quicksort 3.WriteaCprogramtorecursivelysortusingtheQuicksortpartitionexchangealgorithm. youcanusethe"driver",ortherandomnumbertestdatafromQ1.onmergesort.Thisis"reuse",whichisencouragedingeneral. anadvantageofreuseislesswritingtime,debuggingtime,testingtime. theconceptofpartitionexchangeisthatapartitionelementis(randomly)selected,andeverythingthatneedssortedisputinto3equivalance classes:thoseelementslessthanthepartitionvalue,thepartitionelement,andeverythingabove(andequalto)thepartitionelement. thiscanbedonewithoutallocatingmorespacethanonetemporaryelementspaceforswappingtwoelements.e.gatemporaryintegerforintegerdata. However,wherethepartitionelementshouldbeusingtheoriginalarrayspaceisnotknown. Thisisusuallyimplementedwithputtingthepartitionontheendofthearraytobesorted,andthenputtingtwopointers,oneatthestartofthearray, andoneattheelementnexttothepartitionelement,andrepeatedlyscanningtheleftpointerright,andtherightpointerleft. theleftscanstopswhenanelementequaltoorgreaterthanthepartitionisfound,andtherightscanstopsforasmallerelementthanthepartitionvalue, andtheseareswapped,whichusesthetemporaryextraspace. theleftscanwillalwaysstopifitreachesthepartitionelement,whichisthelastelementthismeanstheentirearrayislessthanpartitionvalue. therightscancouldreachthefirstelement,iftheentirearrayisgreaterthanthepartition,andthisneedstobetestedfor,elsethescandoesn'tstop. theouterloopexitswhenthenleftandrightpointerscross.Testingforpointercrossingandouterloopexit shouldoccurbeforeswapping,otherwisetherightpointermaybeswappingalessthanpartitionelementpreviouslyscannedbytheleftpointer. finally,thepartitionelementneedstobeputbetweentheleftandrightpartitions,oncethepointerscross. Atpointercrossing,theleftpointermaybestoppedatthepartitionelement'slastpositioninthearray,andtherightpointernotprogressedpastthe elementjustbeforethelastelement.Thishappenswhenalltheelementsarelessthanthepartition. iftherightpointerischosentoswapwiththepartition,thenanincorrectstateresultswherethelastelementoftheleftarraybecomeslessthanthepartitionelementvalue. iftheleftpointerischosentoswapwiththepartition,thentheleftarraywillbelessthanthepartition,andpartitionwillhaveswappedwithanelementwithvaluegreaterthanthepartitionorthepartitionitself.
78/118
10/24/13
Thecornercaseofquicksortinga2element outoforderarrayhastobeexamined. Theleftpointerstopsonthefirst outoforderelement.Therightpointerbeginsonthefirst outoforderelement,buttheouterloopexitsbecausethisistheleftmostelement.Thepartitionelementisthenswappedwiththeleftpointer'sfirstelement, andthetwoelementsarenow inorder. Inthecaseofa2element inorderarray,theleftmostpointerskipsthefirstelementwhichislessthanthepartition,andstopsonthepartition.Therightpointerbeginsonthefirstelementandexitsbecauseitisthefirstposition.Thepointershave crossedsotheouterloopexits.Thepartitionswapswithitself,sotheinorderingispreserved. Afterdoingaswap,theleftpointershouldbeincrementedandrightpointerdecremented,sothesamepositionsaren'tscannedagain,becauseanendlessloopcanresult(possiblywhentheleftpointerexitswhentheelementisequaltoorgreater thanthepartition,andtherightelementisequaltothepartitionvalue).Oneimplementation,Sedgewick,startsthepointerswiththeleftpointerminusoneandrightpointer theplusonetheintendedinitialscanpositions,andusethepreincrementandpredecrementoperatorse.g.(++i,i). Solution Onepossiblesolution,canbetoadaptthiswordsortinguseofquicksorttosortintegers.Otherwise,anexercisewouldbetorewritenongenericqsortfunctionsofqsortsimp,partition,andswapforintegers.
/ * *q s o r t s i m p . h * * C r e a t e do n :1 7 / 0 3 / 2 0 1 3 * A u t h o r :a n o n y m o u s * / # i f n d e fQ S O R T S I M P _ H _ # d e f i n eQ S O R T S I M P _ H _ # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > v o i dq s o r t s i m p (v o i d *a ,s i z e _ te l e m _ s z ,i n tl e n ,i n t ( * c m p )( v o i d * , v o i d * )) ; v o i ds h u t d o w n _ q s o r t s i m p ( ) ; # e n d i f/ *Q S O R T S I M P _ H _* / / / / * q s o r t s i m p . c * a u t h o r:a n o n y m o u s * / # i n c l u d e" q s o r t s i m p . h " # i n c l u d e < s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e < s t r i n g . h > s t a t i cv o i d*s w a p _ b u f= 0 ; s t a t i ci n tb u f s z=0 ; v o i ds w a p (v o i d *a ,i n ti ,i n tj ,s i z e _ te l e m _ s z ){ i f( i = = j ) r e t u r n ; i f( b u f s z= =0| |b u f s z<e l e m _ s z ){ s w a p _ b u f=r e a l l o c ( s w a p _ b u f ,e l e m _ s z ) ; b u f s z = e l e m _ s z ; } m e m c p y (s w a p _ b u f ,a + i * e l e m _ s z ,e l e m _ s z ) ; m e m c p y (a + i * e l e m _ s z ,a + j * e l e m _ s z ,e l e m _ s z ) ; m e m c p y (a + j * e l e m _ s z ,s w a p _ b u f ,e l e m _ s z ) ; } v o i ds h u t d o w n _ q s o r t s i m p ( ){ i f( s w a p _ b u f ){ f r e e ( s w a p _ b u f ) ; } } i n tp a r t i t i o n (v o i d *a ,s i z e _ te l e m _ s z ,i n tl e n ,i n t( * c m p ) ( v o i d * , v o i d * )){ i n ti=1 ; i n tj=l e n 1 ; v o i d *v=a+j*e l e m _ s z ; f o r ( ; ; ){ w h i l e (( * c m p ) ( a++ + i*e l e m _ s z,v )<0 ) ; w h i l e(( * c m p ) ( v ,a+j*e l e m _ s z )<0)i f( j = = 0 )b r e a k; i f (i > = j ) b r e a k ; s w a p ( a ,i ,j ,e l e m _ s z ) ; } s w a p (a ,i ,l e n 1 ,e l e m _ s z ) ; r e t u r ni ; } v o i dq s o r t s i m p (v o i d *a ,s i z e _ te l e m _ s z ,i n tl e n ,i n t ( * c m p )( v o i d * , v o i d * )){ i f(l e n>2 ){ i n tp=p a r t i t i o n ( a ,e l e m _ s z ,l e n ,c m p ) ;
79/118
10/24/13
q s o r t s i m p (a ,e l e m _ s z ,p ,c m p ) ; q s o r t s i m p (a + ( p + 1 ) * e l e m _ s z ,e l e m _ s z ,l e n-p1 ,c m p) ; } }
/ / / * N a m e :w o r d s _ q u i c k s o r t . c A u t h o r :a n o n y m o u s V e r s i o n : C o p y r i g h t : D e s c r i p t i o n:q u i c ks o r tt h ew o r d si nm o b yd i c ki nC ,A n s i s t y l e = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = * / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< c t y p e . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # i n c l u d e" q s o r t s i m p . h " v o i dp r i n t A r r a y ( c o n s tc h a r *a [ ] ,i n tn ){ i n ti ; f o r ( i = 0 ;i<n ;+ + i ){ i f ( i ! = 0& &i %5= =0 ){ p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; } i f( i % 1 0 0 0 0 0 0= = 0 ){ f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r , " p r i n t e d% dw o r d s \ n " ,i ) ; } p r i n t f ( " % s " ,a [ i ] ) ; } p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; } c o n s ti n tM A X C H A R S = 2 5 0 ; c h a r* *w o r d l i s t = 0 ; i n tn w o r d s = 0 ; i n tr e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k ; c o n s ts i z e _ tN W O R D S _ P E R _ B L O C K=1 0 0 0 ; / / c o n s tc h a r *s p a c e s = "\ t \ n \ r " ; / / i n l i n ei s s p a c e ( c o n s tc h a rc h ){ / / i n ti = 0 ; / / w h i l e ( s p a c e s [ i ] ! = ' \ 0 ' ){ / / i f ( s p a c e s [ i + + ]= =c h ) / / r e t u r n1 ; / / } / / r e t u r n0 ; / / } v o i df r e e M e m ( ){ i n ti=n w o r d s ; w h i l e ( i>0){ f r e e ( w o r d l i s t [ i ] ) ; } f r e e ( w o r d l i s t ) ; } s t a t i cc h a r*f n a m e = " ~ / D o w n l o a d s / b o o k s / p g 2 7 0 1 m o b y d i c k . t x t " ; v o i dg e t W o r d s ( ){ c h a rb u f f e r [ M A X C H A R S ] ; F I L E *f=f o p e n ( f n a m e , " r " ) ; i n ts t a t e = 0 ; i n tc h ; i n ti ; w h i l e( ( c h = f g e t c ( f ) ) ! = E O F ){ i f( i s a l n u m ( c h )& &s t a t e = = 0 ){ s t a t e = 1 ; i = 0 ; b u f f e r [ i + + ] = c h ; }e l s ei f( i s a l n u m ( c h ) & &i<M A X C H A R S 1 ){ b u f f e r [ i + + ] = c h ; }e l s ei f( s t a t e= =1 ){ s t a t e= 0 ; b u f f e r [ i + + ] =' \ 0 ' ; c h a r *d y n b u f=m a l l o c ( i ) ; i n tj ; f o r ( j = 0 ;j<i ;+ + j ){
80/118
10/24/13
d y n b u f [ j ]=b u f f e r [ j ] ; } i = 0 ; i f( w o r d l i s t= =0){
w o r d l i s t=c a l l o c ( N W O R D S _ P E R _ B L O C K ,s i z e o f ( c h a r * ) ) ; r e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k=N W O R D S _ P E R _ B L O C K ; }e l s ei f(r e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k= =0 ){ w o r d l i s t=r e a l l o c ( w o r d l i s t ,( N W O R D S _ P E R _ B L O C K+n w o r d s ) *s i z e o f ( c h a r * ) ) ; r e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k=N W O R D S _ P E R _ B L O C K ; f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r , " a l l o c a t e db l o c k% d,n w o r d s=% d \ n " ,r e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k ,n w o r d s ) ; } w o r d l i s t [ n w o r d s + + ] =d y n b u f ; r e m a i n i n g _ b l o c k ; } } f c l o s e ( f ) ; } v o i dt e s t P r i n t A r r a y ( ){ i n ti ; f o r ( i = 0 ;i<n w o r d s ; + + i ){ p r i n t f ( " % s|" ,w o r d l i s t [ i ] ) ; } p u t c h a r ( ' \ n ' ) ; p r i n t f ( " s t o r e d% dw o r d s .\ n " , n w o r d s ) ; } i n tc m p _ s t r _ 1 (v o i d *a ,v o i d* b ){ i n tr=s t r c a s e c m p (* ( ( c h a r * * ) a ) , * ( ( c h a r * * ) b ) ) ; r e t u r nr ; } i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r *a r g v [ ] ){ i f( a r g c>1 ){ f n a m e=a r g v [ 1 ] ; } g e t W o r d s ( ) ; t e s t P r i n t A r r a y ( ) ; q s o r t s i m p ( w o r d l i s t ,s i z e o f ( c h a r * ) ,n w o r d s ,& c m p _ s t r _ 1 ) ; t e s t P r i n t A r r a y ( ) ; s h u t d o w n _ q s o r t s i m p ( ) ; f r e e M e m ( ) ; p u t s ( " ! ! ! H e l l oW o r l d ! ! ! " ) ;/ *p r i n t s! ! ! H e l l oW o r l d ! ! !* / r e t u r nE X I T _ S U C C E S S ; }
IndepthCideas Arrays
ArraysinCacttostorerelateddataunderasinglevariablenamewithanindex,alsoknownasa subscript .Itiseasiesttothinkofanarrayassimplyalistororderedgroupingforvariablesofthesametype.Assuch,arraysoftenhelpaprogrammer organizecollectionsofdataefficientlyandintuitively. Laterwewillconsidertheconceptofa pointer,fundamentaltoC,whichextendsthenatureofthearray(arraycanbetermedasaconstantpointer).Fornow,wewillconsiderjusttheirdeclarationandtheiruse.
Arrays
Ifwewantan2Darrayofsixintegers(ornumbers),wewriteinC:
i n tn u m b e r s [ 3 ] [ 2 ] ;
ForaSIXcharacterarraycalledletters,
c h a rl e t t e r s [ 6 ] ;
andsoon.
81/118
10/24/13
Ifwewishtoinitializeaswedeclare,wewrite:
i n tp o i n t [ 6 ] = { 0 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 } ;
Thoughwhenthearrayisinitializedasinthiscase,thearraydimensionmaybeomitted,andthearraywillbeautomaticallysizedtoholdtheinitialdata:
i n tp o i n t [ ] = { 0 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 } ;
Thisisveryusefulinthatthesizeofthearraycanbecontrolledbysimplyaddingorremovinginitializerelementsfromthedefinitionwithouttheneedtoadjustthedimension. Ifthedimensionisspecified,butnotallelementsinthearrayareinitialized,theremainingelementswillcontainavalueof0.Thisisveryuseful,especiallywhenwehaveverylargearrays.
i n tn u m b e r s [ 2 0 0 0 ] = { 2 4 5 } ;
Theaboveexamplesetsthefirstvalueofthearrayto245,andtherestto0. Ifwewanttoaccessavariablestoredinanarray,forexamplewiththeabovedeclaration,thefollowingcodewillstorea1inthevariable x
i n tx ; x=p o i n t [ 2 ] ;
ArraysinCareindexedstartingat0,asopposedtostartingat1.Thefirstelementofthearrayaboveis p o i n t [ 0 ] .Theindextothelastvalueinthearrayisthearraysizeminusone.Intheexampleabovethesubscriptsrunfrom0through5.Cdoesnot guaranteeboundscheckingonarrayaccesses.Thecompilermaynotcomplainaboutthefollowing(thoughthebestcompilersdo):

c h a ry ; i n tz=9 ; c h a rp o i n t [ 6 ]={1 ,2 ,3 ,4 ,5 ,6} ; / / e x a m p l e so fa c c e s s i n go u t s i d et h ea r r a y .Ac o m p i l ee r r o ri sn o ta l w a y sr a i s e d y=p o i n t [ 1 5 ] ; y=p o i n t [ 4 ] ; y=p o i n t [ z ] ;
Duringprogramexecution,anoutofboundsarrayaccessdoesnotalwayscausearuntimeerror.Yourprogrammayhappilycontinueafterretrievingavaluefrompoint[1].Toalleviateindexingproblems,thesizeof()expressioniscommonlyusedwhen codingloopsthatprocessarrays.
i n ti x ; s h o r ta n A r r a y [ ] ={3 ,6 ,9 ,1 2 ,1 5} ; f o r( i x = 0 ;i x <( s i z e o f ( a n A r r a y ) / s i z e o f ( s h o r t ) ) ;+ + i x ){ D o S o m e t h i n g W i t h ( " % d " ,a n A r r a y [ i x ]) ; }
Noticeintheaboveexample,thesizeofthearraywasnotexplicitlyspecified.Thecompilerknowstosizeitat5becauseofthefivevaluesintheinitializerlist.Addinganadditionalvaluetothelistwillcauseittobesizedtosix,andbecauseofthesizeof expressioninthe f o r loop,thecodeautomaticallyadjuststothischange.Goodprogrammingpracticeistodeclareavariable size,andstorethenumberofelementsinthearrayinit. size=sizeof(anArray)/sizeof(short) Calsosupportsmultidimensionalarrays(or,rather,arraysofarrays).Thesimplesttypeisatwodimensionalarray.Thiscreatesarectangulararrayeachrowhasthesamenumberofcolumns.Togetachararraywith3rowsand5columnswewriteinC

c h a rt w o _ d [ 3 ] [ 5 ] ;
Toaccess/modifyavalueinthisarrayweneedtwosubscripts:
c h a rc h ; c h=t w o _ d [ 2 ] [ 4 ] ;
or
t w o _ d [ 0 ] [ 0 ]=' x ' ;
Similarly,amultidimensionalarraycanbeinitializedlikethis:
i n tt w o _ d [ 2 ] [ 3 ]={ {5 ,2 ,1} , {6 ,7 ,8} } ;
82/118
10/24/13
Theamountofcolumnsmustbeexplicitlystatedhowever,thecompilerwillfindtheappropriateamountofrowsbasedontheinitializerlist. Therearealsoweirdnotationspossible:
i n ta [ 1 0 0 ] ; i n ti=0 ; i f( a [ i ] = = i [ a ] ) { p r i n t f ( " H e l l ow o r l d ! \ n " ) ; }
a[i]andi[a]refertothesamelocation.(ThisisexplainedlaterinthenextChapter.)
Strings
Chasnostringhandlingfacilitiesbuiltinconsequently,stringsaredefinedasarraysofcharacters.Callowsacharacterarraytoberepresentedbyacharacterstringratherthanalistofcharacters, withthenullterminatingcharacterautomaticallyaddedtotheend.Forexample,tostorethestring"Merkkijono",wewouldwrite
c h a rs t r i n g [ ]=" M e r k k i j o n o " ;
String"Merkkijono"storedinmemory
or
c h a rs t r i n g [ ]={ ' M ' ,' e ' ,' r ' ,' k ' ,' k ' ,' i ' ,' j ' ,' o ' ,' n ' ,' o ' ,' \ 0 ' } ;
Inthefirstexample,thestringwillhaveanullcharacterautomaticallyappendedtotheendbythecompilerbyconvention,libraryfunctionsexpectstringstobeterminatedbyanullcharacter.Thelatterdeclarationindicatesindividualelements,andas suchthenullterminatorneedstobeaddedmanually. Stringsdonotalwayshavetobelinkedtoanexplicitvariable.Asyouhaveseenalready,astringofcharacterscanbecreateddirectlyasanunnamedstringthatisuseddirectly(aswiththeprintffunctions.) Tocreateanextralongstring,youwillhavetosplitthestringintomultiplesections,byclosingthefirstsectionwithaquote,andrecommencingthestringonthenextline(alsostartingandendinginaquote):

c h a rs t r i n g [ ]=" T h i si sav e r y ,v e r yl o n g" " s t r i n gt h a tr e q u i r e st w ol i n e s . " ;
Whilestringsmayalsospanmultiplelinesbyputtingthebackslashcharacterattheendoftheline,thismethodisdeprecated. Thereisausefullibraryofstringhandlingroutineswhichyoucanusebyincludinganotherheaderfile.
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / / n e wh e a d e rf i l e
Thisstandardstringlibrarywillallowvarioustaskstobeperformedonstrings,andisdiscussedintheStringschapter.
Pointersandarrays
A pointerisavaluethatdesignatestheaddress(i.e.,thelocationinmemory),ofsomevalue.Therearefourfundamentalthingsyouneedtoknowaboutpointers: Howtodeclarethem Howtoassigntothem Howtoreferencethevaluetowhichthepointerpoints(knownas dereferencing)and Howtheyrelatetoarrays We'llalsodiscusstherelationshipofpointerswithtextstringsandthemoreadvancedconceptoffunctionpointers. Pointersarevariablesthatholdamemorylocation.Onecanaccessthevalueofthevariablepointedtousingthedereferencingoperator'* '.Pointerscanreferenceanydatatype,evenfunctions. ThevastmajorityofarraysinCaresimplelists,alsocalled"1dimensionalarrays".Wewillbrieflycovermultidimensionalarraysinalaterchapter.
Declaringpointers
Considerthefollowingsnippetofcodewhichdeclarestwopointers:
Pointerapointingvariableb.Note thatbstoresnumber,whereasa storesaddressofbinmemory (1462)
y S t r u c t{ 1 . s t r u c tM _ a N u m b e r 2 . i n t m ; u m 2 3 . f l o a tn ; 4 . } ;
83/118
10/24/13
5 . J 2 6 . i n t *p ; y S t r u c t*p A n I t e m 7 . s t r u c tM ;
Lines14defineastructure.Line6declaresavariablewhichpointstoan i n t ,andline7declaresavariablewhichpointstosomethingwithstructureMyStruct.Sotodeclareavariableassomethingwhichpointstosometype,ratherthancontainssome type,theasterisk(* )isplacedbeforethevariablename. Inthefollowing,line1declares v a r 1 asapointertoalongand v a r 2 asalongandnotapointertoalong.Inline2, p 3 isdeclaredasapointertoapointertoanint.
a r 1 a r 2 1 .l o n g * v ,v ; 3 2 . i n t * *p ;
Pointertypesareoftenusedasparameterstofunctioncalls.Thefollowingshowshowtodeclareafunctionwhichusesapointerasanargument.SinceCpassesfunctionargumentsbyvalue,inordertoallowafunctiontomodifyavaluefromthecalling routine,apointertothevaluemustbepassed.Pointerstostructuresarealsousedasfunctionargumentsevenwhennothinginthestructwillbemodifiedinthefunction.Thisisdonetoavoidcopyingthecompletecontentsofthestructureontothestack. Moreaboutpointersasfunctionargumentslater.

i n tM y F u n c t i o n (s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* p S t r u c t) ;
Assigningvaluestopointers
Sofarwe'vediscussedhowtodeclarepointers.Theprocessofassigningvaluestopointersisnext.Toassignapointertheaddressofavariable,the & or'addressof'operatorisused.
i n t m y I n t ; i n t * p P o i n t e r ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t d v o r a k ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t * p K e y b o a r d ; p P o i n t e r=& m y I n t ; p K e y b o a r d=& d v o r a k ;
Here,pPointerwillnowreferencemyIntandpKeyboardwillreferencedvorak. Pointerscanalsobeassignedtoreferencedynamicallyallocatedmemory.Themalloc()andcalloc()functionsareoftenwhatareusedtodothis.
# i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > / *. . .* / s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* p K e y b o a r d ; / *. . .* / p K e y b o a r d=m a l l o c ( s i z e o f* p K e y b o a r d ) ;
Themallocfunctionreturnsapointertodynamicallyallocatedmemory(orNULLifunsuccessful).ThesizeofthismemorywillbeappropriatelysizedtocontaintheMyStructstructure. Thefollowingisanexampleshowingonepointerbeingassignedtoanotherandofapointerbeingassignedareturnvaluefromafunction.
s t a t i cs t r u c tM y S t r u c tv a l 1 ,v a l 2 ,v a l 3 ,v a l 4 ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* A S i l l y F u n c t i o n (i n tb) { s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* m y R e t u r n ; i f( b= =1 )m y R e t u r n=& v a l 1 ; e l s ei f( b = = 2 )m y R e t u r n=& v a l 2 ; e l s ei f( b = = 3 )m y R e t u r n=& v a l 3 ; e l s em y R e t u r n=& v a l 4 ; r e t u r nm y R e t u r n ; } s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* s t r P o i n t e r ; i n t * c ,* d ; i n t j ; c=& j ; / *p o i n t e ra s s i g n e du s i n g&o p e r a t o r* / d=c ; / *a s s i g no n ep o i n t e rt oa n o t h e r * / s t r P o i n t e r=A S i l l y F u n c t i o n (3) ;/ *p o i n t e rr e t u r n e df r o maf u n c t i o n .* /
Whenreturningapointerfromafunction,donotreturnapointerthatpointstoavaluethatislocaltothefunctionorthatisapointertoafunctionargument.Pointerstolocalvariablesbecomeinvalidwhenthefunctionexits.Intheabovefunction,the valuereturnedpointstoastaticvariable.Returningapointertodynamicallyallocatedmemoryisalsovalid.
84/118
10/24/13
Pointerdereferencing
Toaccessavaluetowhichapointerpoints,the * operatorisused.Anotheroperator,the > operatorisusedinconjunctionwithpointerstostructures.Here'sashortexample.
i n t c ,d ; i n t * p j ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c ta s t r u c t ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* b b ; c =1 0 ; p j =& c ; d =* p j ; p j =& d ; * p j=1 2 ; / *p jp o i n t st oc* / / *di sa s s i g n e dt h ev a l u et ow h i c hp jp o i n t s ,1 0* / / *n o wp o i n t st od* / / *di sn o w1 2* / Thepointerp pointstothevariablea .
b b=& a s t r u c t ; ( * b b ) . m _ a N u m b e r=3 ; / *a s s i g n s3t ot h em _ a N u m b e rm e m b e ro fa s t r u c t* / b b > n u m 2=4 4 . 3 ; / *a s s i g n s4 4 . 3t ot h en u m 2m e m b e ro fa s t r u c t * / * p j=b b > m _ a N u m b e r ; / *e q i v a l e n tt od=a s t r u c t . m _ a N u m b e r ; * /
Theexpression b b > m _ a N u m b e r isentirelyequivalentto ( * b b ) . m _ a N u m b e r .Theybothaccessthe m _ a N u m b e r elementofthestructurepointedtoby b b .Thereisonemorewayofdereferencingapointer,whichwillbediscussedinthefollowingsection. Whendereferencingapointerthatpointstoaninvalidmemorylocation,anerroroftenoccurswhichresultsintheprogramterminating.Theerrorisoftenreportedasasegmentationerror.Acommoncauseofthisisfailuretoinitializeapointerbefore tryingtodereferenceit. Cisknownforgivingyoujustenoughropetohangyourself,andpointerdereferencingisaprimeexample.Youarequitefreetowritecodethataccessesmemoryoutsidethatwhichyouhaveexplicitlyrequestedfromthesystem.Andmanytimes,that memorymayappearasavailabletoyourprogramduetothevagariesofsystemmemoryallocation.However,evenif99executionsallowyourprogramtorunwithoutfault,that100thexecutionmaybethetimewhenyour"memorypilfering"iscaughtby thesystemandtheprogramfails.Becarefultoensurethatyourpointeroffsetsarewithintheboundsofallocatedmemory! Thedeclaration v o i d* s o m e P o i n t e r ; isusedtodeclareapointerofsomenonspecifiedtype.Youcanassignavaluetoavoidpointer,butyoumustcastthevariabletopointtosomespecifiedtypebeforeyoucandereferenceit.Pointerarithmeticisalsonot validwith v o i d* pointers.
PointersandArrays
Uptonow,we'vecarefullybeenavoidingdiscussingarraysinthecontextofpointers.Theinteractionofpointersandarrayscanbeconfusingbutherearetwofundamentalstatementsaboutit: Avariabledeclaredasanarrayofsometypeactsasapointertothattype.Whenusedbyitself,itpointstothefirstelementofthearray. Apointercanbeindexedlikeanarrayname. Thefirstcaseoftenisseentooccurwhenanarrayispassedasanargumenttoafunction.Thefunctiondeclarestheparameterasapointer,buttheactualargumentmaybethenameofanarray.Thesecondcaseoftenoccurswhenaccessing dynamicallyallocatedmemory.Let'slookatexamplesofeach.Inthefollowingcode,thecalltocalloc()effectivelyallocatesanarrayofstructMyStructitems.
f l o a tK r a z y F u n c t i o n (s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* p a r m 1 ,i n tp 1 s i z e ,i n tb b) { i n ti x ;/ / d e c l a r i n ga ni n t e g e rv a r i a b l e / / f o r( i x = 0 ;i x < p 1 s i z e ;i x + + ){ i f( p a r m 1 [ i x ] . m _ a N u m b e r= =b b) r e t u r np a r m 1 [ i x ] . n u m 2 ; } r e t u r n0 . 0 f ; } / *. . .* / s t r u c tM y S t r u c tm y A r r a y [ 4 ] ; # d e f i n eM Y _ A R R A Y _ S I Z E( s i z e o f ( m y A r r a y ) / s i z e o f ( * m y A r r a y ) ) f l o a tv 3 ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* s e c o n d A r r a y ; i n t s o m e S i z e ; i n t i x ; / *i n i t i a l i z a t i o no fm y A r r a y. . .* / v 3=K r a z y F u n c t i o n (m y A r r a y ,M Y _ A R R A Y _ S I Z E ,4) ; / *. . .* / s e c o n d A r r a y=c a l l o c (s o m e S i z e ,s i z e o f ( m y A r r a y )) ; f o r( i x = 0 ;i x < s o m e S i z e ;i x + + ){ s e c o n d A r r a y [ i x ] . m _ a N u m b e r=i x* 2 ; s e c o n d A r r a y [ i x ] . n u m 2=. 3 0 4*i x*i x ; }
Pointersandarraynamescanprettymuchbeusedinterchangeably.Thereareexceptions.Youcannotassignanewpointervaluetoanarrayname.Thearraynamewillalwayspointtothefirstelementofthearray.Inthefunction K r a z y F u n c t i o n above,you couldhoweverassignanewvaluetoparm1,asitisjustapointertothefirstelementofmyArray.Itisalsovalidforafunctiontoreturnapointertooneofthearrayelementsfromanarraypassedasanargumenttoafunction.Afunctionshouldnever returnapointertoalocalvariable,eventhoughthecompilerwillprobablynotcomplain. Whendeclaringparameterstofunctions,declaringanarrayvariablewithoutasizeisequivalenttodeclaringapointer.Oftenthisisdonetoemphasizethefactthatthepointervariablewillbeusedinamannerequivalenttoanarray.
/ *t w oe q u i v a l e n tf u n c t i o nd e f i n i t i o n s* / i n tL i t t l e F u n c t i o n (i n t* p a r a m N) ;
85/118
10/24/13
i n tL i t t l e F u n c t i o n (i n tp a r a m N [ ]) ;
Nowwe'rereadytodiscusspointerarithmetic.Youcanaddandsubtractintegervaluesto/frompointers.IfmyArrayisdeclaredtobesometypeofarray,theexpression * ( m y A r r a y + j ) ,wherejisaninteger,isequivalentto m y A r r a y [ j ] .Soforinstanceinthe aboveexamplewherewehadtheexpressionsecondArray[i].num2,wecouldhavewrittenthatas * ( s e c o n d A r r a y + i ) . n u m 2 ormoresimply ( s e c o n d A r r a y + i ) > n u m 2 . Notethatforadditionandsubtractionofintegersandpointers,thevalueofthepointerisnotadjustedbytheintegeramount,butisadjustedbytheamountmultipliedbythesize(inbytes)ofthetypetowhichthepointerrefers.Onepointermayalsobe subtractedfromanother,providedtheypointtoelementsofthesamearray(orthepositionjustbeyondtheendofthearray).Ifyouhaveapointerthatpointstoanelementofanarray,theindexoftheelementistheresultwhenthearraynameis subtractedfromthepointer.Here'sanexample.

s t r u c tM y S t r u c ts o m e A r r a y [ 2 0 ] ; s t r u c tM y S t r u c t* p 2 ; i n ti d x ; . / *a r r a yi n i t i a l i z a t i o n. .* / . f o r( p 2=s o m e A r r a y ;p 2<s o m e A r r a y + 2 0 ; + + p 2 ){ i f( p 2 > n u m 2>t e s t V a l u e )b r e a k ; } i d x=p 2-s o m e A r r a y ;
Youmaybewonderinghowpointersandmultidimensionalarraysinteract.Let'slookatthisabitindetail.SupposeAisdeclaredasatwodimensionalarrayoffloats(f l o a tA [ D 1 ] [ D 2 ] ; )andthatpfisdeclaredapointertoafloat.Ifpfisinitializedtopointto A[0][0],then*(pf+1)isequivalenttoA[0][1]and*(pf+D2)isequivalenttoA[1][0].Theelementsofthearrayarestoredinrowmajororder.
f l o a tA [ 6 ] [ 8 ] ; f l o a t* p f ; p f=& A [ 0 ] [ 0 ] ; * ( p f + 1 )=1 . 3 ; / *a s s i g n s1 . 3t oA [ 0 ] [ 1 ]* / * ( p f + 8 )=2 . 3 ; / *a s s i g n s2 . 3t oA [ 1 ] [ 0 ]* /
Let'slookataslightlydifferentproblem.Wewanttohaveatwodimensionalarray,butwedon'tneedtohavealltherowsthesamelength.Whatwedoisdeclareanarrayofpointers.ThesecondlinebelowdeclaresAasanarrayofpointers.Eachpointer pointstoafloat.Here'ssomeapplicablecode:
f l o a t l i n e a r A [ 3 0 ] ; f l o a t* A [ 6 ] ; A [ 0 ]=l i n e a r A ; A [ 1 ]=l i n e a r A+5 ; A [ 2 ]=l i n e a r A+1 1 ; A [ 3 ]=l i n e a r A+1 5 ; A [ 4 ]=l i n e a r A+2 1 ; A [ 5 ]=l i n e a r A+2 5 ; A [ 3 ] [ 2 ]=3 . 6 6 ; A [ 3 ] [ 3 ]=1 . 4 4 ; / * 5-0=5e l e m e n t si nr o w * / / *1 1-5=6e l e m e n t si nr o w * / / *1 5-1 1=4e l e m e n t si nr o w* / / *2 1-1 5=6e l e m e n t s * / / *2 5-2 1=4e l e m e n t s * / / *3 0-2 5=5e l e m e n t s * / / *a s s i g n s3 . 6 6t ol i n e a r A [ 1 7 ] ; * / / *r e f e r st ol i n e a r A [ 1 2 ] ; n e g a t i v ei n d i c e sa r es o m e t i m e su s e f u l .B u ta v o i du s i n gt h e ma sm u c ha sp o s s i b l e .* /
Wealsonoteheresomethingcuriousaboutarrayindexing.SupposemyArrayisanarrayandidxisanintegervalue.TheexpressionmyArray[idx]isequivalenttoidx[myArray].Thefirstisequivalentto*(myArray+idx),andthesecondisequivalentto* (idx+myArray).Theseturnouttobethesame,sincetheadditioniscommutative. Pointerscanbeusedwithpreincrementorpostdecrement,whichissometimesdonewithinaloop,asinthefollowingexample.Theincrementanddecrementappliestothepointer,nottotheobjecttowhichthepointerrefers.Inotherwords,*pArray++is equivalentto*(pArray++).

l o n g m y A r r a y [ 2 0 ] ; l o n g * p A r r a y ; i n t i ; / *A s s i g nv a l u e st ot h ee n t r i e so fm y A r r a y* / p A r r a y=m y A r r a y ; f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 0 ;+ + i ){ * p A r r a y + +=5+3 * i+1 2 * i * i ; * p A r r a y + +=6+2 * i+7 * i * i ; }
PointersinFunctionArguments
Oftenweneedtoinvokeafunctionwithanargumentthatisitselfapointer.Inmanyinstances,thevariableisitselfaparameterforthecurrentfunctionandmaybeapointertosometypeofstructure.Theampersandcharacterisnotneededinthis circumstancetoobtainapointervalue,asthevariableisitselfapointer.Intheexamplebelow,thevariable p S t r u c t ,apointer,isaparametertofunction F u n c t T w o , andispassedasanargumentto F u n c t O n e .Thesecondparameterto F u n c t O n e isanint.Sincein function F u n c t T w o ,m V a l u e isapointertoanint,thepointermustfirstbedereferencedusingthe*operator,hencethesecondargumentinthecallis * m V a l u e .Thethirdparametertofunction F u n c t O n e isapointertoalong.Since p A A isitselfapointertoalong, noampersandisneededwhenitisusedasthethirdargumenttothefunction.
i n tF u n c t O n e (s t r u c tS o m e S t r u c t* p V a l u e ,i n ti V a l u e ,l o n g* l V a l u e) {
86/118
10/24/13
/ * d os o m es t u f f. . .* / r e t u r n0 ; } i n tF u n c t T w o (s t r u c ts o m e S t r u c t* p S t r u c t ,i n t* m V a l u e) { i n tj ; l o n g A n A r r a y [ 2 5 ] ; l o n g* p A A ; p A A=& A n A r r a y [ 1 3 ] ; j=F u n c t O n e (p S t r u c t ,* m V a l u e ,p A A) ; r e t u r nj ; }
PointersandTextStrings
Historically,textstringsinChavebeenimplementedasarraysofcharacters,withthelastbyteinthestringbeingazero,orthenullcharacter'\0'.MostCimplementationscomewithastandardlibraryoffunctionsformanipulatingstrings.Manyofthe morecommonlyusedfunctionsexpectthestringstobenullterminatedstringsofcharacters.TousethesefunctionsrequirestheinclusionofthestandardCheaderfile"string.h". Astaticallydeclared,initializedstringwouldlooksimilartothefollowing:
s t a t i cc o n s tc h a r* m y F o r m a t=" T o t a lA m o u n tD u e :% d " ;
Thevariable m y F o r m a t canbeviewedasanarrayof21characters.Thereisanimpliednullcharacter('\0')tackedontotheendofthestringafterthe'd'asthe21stiteminthearray.Youcanalsoinitializetheindividualcharactersofthearrayasfollows:
s t a t i cc o n s tc h a rm y F l o w e r [ ]={' P ' ,' e ' ,' t ' ,' u ' ,' n ' ,' i ' ,' a ' ,' \ 0 '} ;
Aninitializedarrayofstringswouldtypicallybedoneasfollows:
s t a t i cc o n s tc h a r* m y C o l o r s [ ]={ " R e d " ," O r a n g e " ," Y e l l o w " ," G r e e n " ," B l u e " ," V i o l e t "} ;
Theinitilizationofanespeciallylongstringcanbesplitacrosslinesofsourcecodeasfollows.
s t a t i cc h a r* l o n g S t r i n g=" H e l l o .M yn a m ei sR u d o l p ha n dIw o r ka sar e i n d e e r" " a r o u n dC h r i s t m a st i m eu pa tt h eN o r t hP o l e . M yb o s si sar e a l l ys w e l lg u y . " "H el i k e st og i v ee v e r y b o d yg i f t s . " ;
Thelibraryfunctionsthatareusedwithstringsarediscussedinalaterchapter.
PointerstoFunctions
Calsoallowsyoutocreatepointerstofunctions.Pointerstofunctionscangetrathermessy.Declaringatypedeftoafunctionpointergenerallyclarifiesthecode.Here'sanexamplethatusesafunctionpointer,andavoid*pointertoimplementwhat's knownasacallback.The D o S o m e t h i n g N i c e functioninvokesacallersuppliedfunction T a l k J i v e withcallerdata.Notethat D o S o m e t h i n g N i c e reallydoesn'tknowanythingaboutwhat d a t a P o i n t e r refersto.
t y p e d e f i n t( * M y F u n c t i o n T y p e ) (i n t ,v o i d* ) ; # d e f i n eT H E _ B I G G E S T1 0 0 i n tD o S o m e t h i n g N i c e (i n ta V a r i a b l e ,M y F u n c t i o n T y p ea F u n c t i o n ,v o i d* d a t a P o i n t e r) { i n tr v=0 ; i f( a V a r i a b l e<T H E _ B I G G E S T ){ / *i n v o k ef u n c t i o nt h r o u g hf u n c t i o np o i n t e r( o l ds t y l e )* / r v=( * a F u n c t i o n ) ( a V a r i a b l e ,d a t a P o i n t e r) ; }e l s e{ / *i n v o k ef u n c t i o nt h r o u g hf u n c t i o np o i n t e r( n e ws t y l e )* / r v=a F u n c t i o n ( a V a r i a b l e ,d a t a P o i n t e r) ; } ; r e t u r nr v ; } t y p e d e fs t r u c t{ i n t c o l o r S p e c ; c h a r * p h r a s e ; }D a t a I N e e d ; i n tT a l k J i v e (i n tm y N u m b e r ,v o i d* s o m e S t u f f) { / *r e c a s tv o i d*t op o i n t e rt y p es p e c i f i c a l l yn e e d e df o rt h i sf u n c t i o n* / D a t a I N e e d* m y D a t a=s o m e S t u f f ; / *t a l kj i v e .* / r e t u r n5 ; / *at y p e d e ff o raf u n c t i o np o i n t e r* /
87/118
10/24/13
} s t a t i cD a t a I N e e d s i l l y S t u f f={B L U E ," W h a t c h at a l k i n' b o u tW i l l i s ? "} ; / *. . .* / D o S o m e t h i n g N i c e (4 1 ,& T a l k J i v e , & s i l l y S t u f f) ;
SomeversionsofCmaynotrequireanampersandprecedingthe T a l k J i v e argumentinthe D o S o m e t h i n g N i c e call.Someimplementationsmayrequirespecificallycastingtheargumenttothe M y F u n c t i o n T y p e type,eventhoughthefunctionsignatureexacly matchesthatofthetypedef. FunctionpointerscanbeusefulforimplementingaformofpolymorphisminC.Firstonedeclaresastructurehavingaselementsfunctionpointersforthevariousoperationstothatcanbespecifiedpolymorphically.Asecondbaseobjectstructure containingapointertothepreviousstructureisalsodeclared.Aclassisdefinedbyextendingthesecondstructurewiththedataspecificfortheclass,andstaticvariableofthetypeofthefirststructure,containingtheaddressesofthefunctionsthatare associatedwiththeclass.ThistypeofpolymorphismisusedinthestandardlibrarywhenfileI/Ofunctionsarecalled. AsimilarmechanismcanalsobeusedforimplementingastatemachineinC.Astructureisdefinedwhichcontainsfunctionpointersforhandlingeventsthatmayoccurwithinstate,andforfunctionstobeinvokeduponentrytoandexitfromthestate.An instanceofthisstructurecorrespondstoastate.Eachstateisinitializedwithpointerstofunctionsappropriateforthestate.Thecurrentstateofthestatemachineisineffectapointertooneofthesestates.Changingthevalueofthecurrentstatepointer effectivelychangesthecurrentstate.Whensomeeventoccurs,theappropriatefunctioniscalledthroughafunctionpointerinthecurrentstate.
PracticaluseoffunctionpointersinC
Functionpointersaremainlyusedtoreducethecomplexityofswitchstatement.Examplewithswitchstatement:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n ta d d ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n ts u b ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n tm u l ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n td i v ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n tm a i n ( ) { i n ti ,r e s u l t ; i n ta = 1 0 ; i n tb = 5 ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e rt h ev a l u eb e t w e e n0a n d3:" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " , & i ) ; s w i t c h ( i ) { c a s e0 : r e s u l t=a d d ( a , b ) ;b r e a k ; c a s e1 : r e s u l t=s u b ( a , b ) ;b r e a k ; c a s e2 : r e s u l t=m u l ( a , b ) ;b r e a k ; c a s e3 : r e s u l t=d i v ( a , b ) ;b r e a k ; } } i n ta d d ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i + j ) ; } i n ts u b ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i j ) ; } i n tm u l ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i * j ) ; } i n td i v ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i / j ) ; }
Withoutusingaswitchstatement:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > i n ta d d ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n ts u b ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n tm u l ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n td i v ( i n ta ,i n tb ) ; i n t( * o p e r [ 4 ] ) ( i n ta ,i n tb )={ a d d ,s u b ,m u l ,d i v } ; i n tm a i n ( ) { i n ti , r e s u l t ; i n ta = 1 0 ; i n tb = 5 ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e rt h ev a l u eb e t w e e n0a n d3:" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " , & i ) ; r e s u l t=o p e r [ i ] ( a , b ) ; } i n ta d d ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i + j ) ; } i n ts u b ( i n ti ,i n tj ) {
88/118
10/24/13
r e t u r n( i j ) ; } i n tm u l ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i * j ) ; } i n td i v ( i n ti ,i n tj ) { r e t u r n( i / j ) ; }
Functionpointersmaybeusedtocreateastructmemberfunction:
t y p e d e fs t r u c t { i n t( * o p e n ) ( v o i d ) ; v o i d( * c l o s e ) ( v o i d ) ; i n t( * r e g i s t e r ) ( v o i d ) ; }d e v i c e ; i n tm y _ d e v i c e _ o p e n ( v o i d ) { / *. . .* / } v o i dm y _ d e v i c e _ c l o s e ( v o i d ) { / *. . .* / } v o i dr e g i s t e r _ d e v i c e ( v o i d ) { / *. . .* / } d e v i c ec r e a t e ( v o i d ) { d e v i c em y _ d e v i c e ; m y _ d e v i c e . o p e n=m y _ d e v i c e _ o p e n ; m y _ d e v i c e . c l o s e=m y _ d e v i c e _ c l o s e ; m y _ d e v i c e . r e g i s t e r=r e g i s t e r _ d e v i c e ; m y _ d e v i c e . r e g i s t e r ( ) ; r e t u r nm y _ d e v i c e ; }
Usetoimplementthispointer(followingcodemustbeplacedinlibrary).
s t a t i cs t r u c td e v i c e _ d a t a { / *. . .h e r eg o e sd a t ao fs t r u c t u r e. . .* / } ; s t a t i cs t r u c td e v i c e _ d a t ao b j ; t y p e d e fs t r u c t { i n t( * o p e n ) ( v o i d ) ; v o i d( * c l o s e ) ( v o i d ) ; i n t( * r e g i s t e r ) ( v o i d ) ; }d e v i c e ; s t a t i cs t r u c td e v i c e _ d a t ac r e a t e _ d e v i c e _ d a t a ( v o i d ) { s t r u c td e v i c e _ d a t am y _ d e v i c e _ d a t a ; / *. . .h e r eg o e sc o n s t r u c t o r. . .* / r e t u r nm y _ d e v i c e _ d a t a ; } / *h e r eIo m i tt h em y _ d e v i c e _ o p e n ,m y _ d e v i c e _ c l o s ea n dr e g i s t e r _ d e v i c ef u n c t i o n s* / d e v i c ec r e a t e _ d e v i c e ( v o i d ) { d e v i c em y _ d e v i c e ; m y _ d e v i c e . o p e n=m y _ d e v i c e _ o p e n ; m y _ d e v i c e . c l o s e=m y _ d e v i c e _ c l o s e ; m y _ d e v i c e . r e g i s t e r=r e g i s t e r _ d e v i c e ; m y _ d e v i c e . r e g i s t e r ( ) ; r e t u r nm y _ d e v i c e ; }
Examplesofpointerconstructs
Belowaresomeexampleconstructswhichmayaidincreatingyourpointer.
89/118
10/24/13
i n ti ; / /i n t e g e rv a r i a b l e' i ' i n t* p ; / /p o i n t e r' p 't oa ni n t e g e r i n ta [ ] ; / /a r r a y' a 'o fi n t e g e r s i n tf ( ) ; / /f u n c t i o n' f 'w i t hr e t u r nv a l u eo ft y p ei n t e g e r i n t* * p p ; / /p o i n t e r' p p 't oap o i n t e rt oa ni n t e g e r i n t( * p a ) [ ] ; / /p o i n t e r' p a 't oa na r r a yo fi n t e g e r i n t( * p f ) ( ) ; / /p o i n t e r' p f 't oaf u n c t i o nw i t hr e t u r nv a l u ei n t e g e r i n t* a p [ ] ; / /a r r a y' a p 'o fp o i n t e r st oa ni n t e g e r i n t* f p ( ) ; / /f u n c t i o n' f p 'w h i c hr e t u r n sap o i n t e rt oa ni n t e g e r i n t* * * p p p ; / /p o i n t e r' p p p 't oap o i n t e rt oap o i n t e rt oa ni n t e g e r i n t( * * p p a ) [ ] ;/ /p o i n t e r' p p a 't oap o i n t e rt oa na r r a yo fi n t e g e r s i n t( * * p p f ) ( ) ;/ /p o i n t e r' p p f 't oap o i n t e rt oaf u n c t i o nw i t hr e t u r nv a l u eo ft y p ei n t e g e r i n t* ( * p a p ) [ ] ;/ /p o i n t e r' p a p 't oa na r r a yo fp o i n t e r st oa ni n t e g e r i n t* ( * p f p ) ( ) ;/ /p o i n t e r' p f p 't of u n c t i o nw i t hr e t u r nv a l u eo ft y p ep o i n t e rt oa ni n t e g e r i n t* * a p p [ ] ; / /a r r a yo fp o i n t e r s' a p p 't h a tp o i n tt op o i n t e r st oi n t e g e rv a l u e s i n t( * a p a [ ] ) [ ] ; / /a r r a yo fp o i n t e r s' a p a 't oa r r a y so fi n t e g e r s i n t( * a p f [ ] ) ( ) ; / /a r r a yo fp o i n t e r s' a p f 't of u n c t i o n sw i t hr e t u r nv a l u e so ft y p ei n t e g e r i n t* * * f p p ( ) ; / /f u n c t i o n' f p p 'w h i c hr e t u r n sap o i n t e rt oap o i n t e rt oap o i n t e rt oa ni n t i n t( * f p a ( ) ) [ ] ; / /f u n c t i o n' f p a 'w i t hr e t u r nv a l u eo fap o i n t e rt oa r r a yo fi n t e g e r s i n t( * f p f ( ) ) ( ) ; / /f u n c t i o n' f p f 'w i t hr e t u r nv a l u eo fap o i n t e rt of u n c t i o nw h i c hr e t u r n sa ni n t e g e r
sizeof
Thesizeofoperatorisoftenusedtorefertothesizeofastaticarraydeclaredearlierinthesamefunction. Tofindtheendofanarray(examplefromwikipedia:Bufferoverflow):
/ *b e t t e r . c-d e m o n s t r a t e so n em e t h o do ff i x i n gt h ep r o b l e m* / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { c h a rb u f f e r [ 1 0 ] ; i f( a r g c<2 ) { f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," U S A G E :% ss t r i n g \ n " ,a r g v [ 0 ] ) ; r e t u r n1 ; } s t r n c p y ( b u f f e r ,a r g v [ 1 ] ,s i z e o f ( b u f f e r ) ) ; b u f f e r [ s i z e o f ( b u f f e r )-1 ]=' \ 0 ' ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Toiterateovereveryelementofanarray,use
# d e f i n eN U M _ E L E M ( x )( s i z e o f( x )/s i z e o f( * ( x ) ) ) f o r (i=0 ;i<N U M _ E L E M ( a r r a y ) ;i + +) { / *d os o m e t h i n gw i t ha r r a y [ i ]* / ; }
Notethatthe s i z e o f operatoronlyworksonthingsdefinedearlierinthesamefunction.Thecompilerreplacesitwithsomefixedconstantnumber.Inthiscase,the b u f f e r wasdeclaredasanarrayof10char'searlierinthesamefunction,andthecompiler replaces s i z e o f ( b u f f e r ) withthenumber10atcompiletime(equivalenttoushardcoding10intothecodeinplaceof s i z e o f ( b u f f e r ) ).Theinformationaboutthelengthof b u f f e r isnotactuallystoredanywhereinmemory(unlesswekeeptrackofitseparately) andcannotbeprogrammaticallyobtainedatruntimefromthearray/pointeritself. Oftenafunctionneedstoknowthesizeofanarrayitwasgivenanarraydefinedinsomeotherfunction.Forexample,

/ *b r o k e n . c-d e m o n s t r a t e saf l a w* / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # d e f i n eN U M _ E L E M ( x )( s i z e o f( x )/s i z e o f( * ( x ) ) ) i n ts u m (i n ti n p u t _ a r r a y [ ]) { i n ts u m _ s o _ f a r=0 ; i n ti ; f o r (i=0 ;i<N U M _ E L E M ( i n p u t _ a r r a y ) ;i + +)/ /W O N ' TW O R K-i n p u t _ a r r a yw a s n ' td e f i n e di nt h i sf u n c t i o n . { s u m _ s o _ f a r+ =i n p u t _ a r r a y [ i ] ; } ; r e t u r n (s u m _ s o _ f a r) ; }
90/118
10/24/13
i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { i n tl e f t _ a r r a y [ ]={1 ,2 ,3} ; i n tr i g h t _ a r r a y [ ]={1 0 ,9 ,8 ,7 ,6 ,5 ,4 ,3 ,2 ,1} ; i n tt h e _ s u m=s u m (l e f t _ a r r a y) ; p r i n t f (" t h es u mo fl e f t _ a r r a yi s :% d " ,t h e _ s u m) ; t h e _ s u m=s u m (r i g h t _ a r r a y) ; p r i n t f (" t h es u mo fr i g h t _ a r r a yi s :% d " ,t h e _ s u m) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
Unfortunately,(inCandC++)thelengthofthearraycannotbeobtainedfromanarraypassedinatruntime,because(asmentionedabove)thesizeofanarrayisnotstoredanywhere.Thecompileralwaysreplacessizeofwithaconstant.Thissum() routineneedstohandlemorethanjustoneconstantlengthofanarray. Therearesomecommonwaystoworkaroundthisfact: Writethefunctiontorequire,foreacharrayparameter,a"length"parameter(whichhastype"size_t").(Typicallyweusesizeofatthepointwherethisfunctioniscalled). Useofaconvention,suchasanullterminatedstringtomarktheendofthearray. Insteadofpassingrawarrays,passastructurethatincludesthelengthofthearray(suchas".length")aswellasthearray(orapointertothefirstelement)similartothe s t r i n g or v e c t o r classesinC++.

/ *f i x e d . c-d e m o n s t r a t e so n ew o r k a r o u n d* / # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # d e f i n eN U M _ E L E M ( x )( s i z e o f( x )/s i z e o f( * ( x ) ) ) i n ts u m (i n ti n p u t _ a r r a y [ ] ,s i z e _ tl e n g t h) { i n ts u m _ s o _ f a r=0 ; i n ti ; f o r (i=0 ;i<l e n g t h ;i + +) { s u m _ s o _ f a r+ =i n p u t _ a r r a y [ i ] ; } ; r e t u r n (s u m _ s o _ f a r) ; } i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { i n tl e f t _ a r r a y [ ]={1 ,2 ,3 ,4} ; i n tr i g h t _ a r r a y [ ]={1 0 ,9 ,8 ,7 ,6 ,5 ,4 ,3 ,2 ,1} ; i n tt h e _ s u m=s u m (l e f t _ a r r a y ,N U M _ E L E M ( l e f t _ a r r a y )) ;/ /w o r k sh e r e ,b e c a u s el e f t _ a r r a yi sd e f i n e di nt h i sf u n c t i o n p r i n t f (" t h es u mo fl e f t _ a r r a yi s :% d " ,t h e _ s u m) ; t h e _ s u m=s u m (r i g h t _ a r r a y ,N U M _ E L E M ( r i g h t _ a r r a y )) ;/ /w o r k sh e r e ,b e c a u s er i g h t _ a r r a yi sd e f i n e di nt h i sf u n c t i o n p r i n t f (" t h es u mo fr i g h t _ a r r a yi s :% d " ,t h e _ s u m) ; r e t u r n0 ; }
It'sworthmentioningthatsizeofoperatorhastwovariations: s i z e o f( t y p e ) (forinstance: s i z e o f( i n t ) or s i z e o f( s t r u c ts o m e _ s t r u c t u r e ) )and s i z e o fe x p r e s s i o n (forinstance: s i z e o fs o m e _ v a r i a b l e . s o m e _ f i e l d or s i z e o f1 ).
ExternalLinks
CReferenceCard(ANSI)(http://www.digilife.be/quickreferences/QRC/C%20Reference%20Card%20(ANSI)%202.2.pdf) "CommonPointerPitfalls"(http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/C/node10.html#SECTION001080000000000000000)byDaveMarshall "Furtherinsightsintosize_t"(http://www.embedded.com/columns/programmingpointers/201803576)byDanSaks2007 "PointerFunwithBinky"
Memorymanagement
InC,youhavealreadyconsideredcreatingvariablesforuseintheprogram.Youhavecreatedsomearraysforuse,butyoumayhavealreadynoticedsomelimitations: thesizeofthearraymustbeknownbeforehand thesizeofthearraycannotbechangedinthedurationofyourprogram DynamicmemoryallocationinCisawayofcircumventingtheseproblems.
EXAMPLE
# i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > v o i d* c a l l o c ( s i z e _ tn m e m b ,s i z e _ ts i z e ) ; v o i df r e e ( v o i d* p t r ) ; v o i d* m a l l o c ( s i z e _ ts i z e ) ; v o i d* r e a l l o c ( v o i d* p t r ,s i z e _ ts i z e ) ;
91/118
10/24/13
TheCfunction m a l l o c isthemeansofimplementingdynamicmemoryallocation.Itisdefinedinstdlib.hormalloc.h,dependingonwhatoperatingsystemyoumaybeusing.Malloc.hcontainsonlythedefinitionsforthememoryallocationfunctionsandnot therestoftheotherfunctionsdefinedinstdlib.h.Usuallyyouwillnotneedtobesospecificinyourprogram,andifbotharesupported,youshoulduse<stdlib.h>,sincethatisANSIC,andwhatwewillusehere. Thecorrespondingcalltoreleaseallocatedmemorybacktotheoperatingsystemis f r e e . Whendynamicallyallocatedmemoryisnolongerneeded, f r e e shouldbecalledtoreleaseitbacktothememorypool.Overwritingapointerthatpointstodynamicallyallocatedmemorycanresultinthatdatabecominginaccessible.Ifthishappens frequently,eventuallytheoperatingsystemwillnolongerbeabletoallocatemorememoryfortheprocess.Oncetheprocessexits,theoperatingsystemisabletofreealldynamicallyallocatedmemoryassociatedwiththeprocess. Let'slookathowdynamicmemoryallocationcanbeusedforarrays. Normallywhenwewishtocreateanarrayweuseadeclarationsuchas

i n ta r r a y [ 1 0 ] ;
Recall a r r a y canbeconsideredapointerwhichweuseasanarray.Wespecifythelengthofthisarrayis10 i n t s.After a r r a y [ 0 ] ,nineotherintegershavespacetobestoredconsecutively. Sometimesitisnotknownatthetimetheprogramiswrittenhowmuchmemorywillbeneededforsomedata.Inthiscasewewouldwanttodynamicallyallocaterequiredmemoryaftertheprogramhasstartedexecuting.Todothisweonlyneedto declareapointer,andinvoke m a l l o c whenwewishtomakespacefortheelementsinourarray, or,wecantell m a l l o c tomakespacewhenwefirstinitializethearray.Eitherwayisacceptableanduseful. Wealsoneedtoknowhowmuchaninttakesupinmemoryinordertomakeroomforitfortunatelythisisnotdifficult,wecanuseC'sbuiltin s i z e o f operator.Forexample,if s i z e o f ( i n t ) yields4,thenone i n t takesup4bytes.Naturally, 2 * s i z e o f ( i n t ) ishow muchmemoryweneedfor2 i n t s,andsoon. Sohowdowe m a l l o c anarrayoften i n t slikebefore?Ifwewishtodeclareandmakeroominonehit,wecansimplysay
i n t* a r r a y=m a l l o c ( 1 0 * s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ;
Weonlyneedtodeclarethepointer m a l l o c givesussomespacetostorethe10 i n t s,andreturnsthepointertothefirstelement,whichisassignedtothatpointer. Importantnote! m a l l o c does not initializethearraythismeansthatthearraymaycontainrandomorunexpectedvalues!Likecreatingarrayswithoutdynamicallocation,theprogrammermustinitializethearraywithsensiblevaluesbeforeusingit.Make sureyoudoso,too.(Seelaterthefunction m e m s e t forasimplemethod.) Itisnotnecessarytoimmediatelycall m a l l o c afterdeclaringapointerfortheallocatedmemory.Oftenanumberofstatementsexistbetweenthedeclarationandthecallto m a l l o c ,asfollows:
i n t* a r r a y=N U L L ; p r i n t f ( " H e l l oW o r l d ! ! ! " ) ; / *m o r es t a t e m e n t s* / a r r a y=m a l l o c ( 1 0 * s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ;/ *d e l a y e da l l o c a t i o n* / / *u s et h ea r r a y* /
Errorchecking
Whenwewanttouse m a l l o c ,wehavetobemindfulthatthepoolofmemoryavailabletotheprogrammeris finite.Assuch,wecanconceivablyrunoutofmemory!Inthiscase, m a l l o c willreturn N U L L .Inordertostoptheprogramcrashingfromhavingno morememorytouse,oneshouldalwayscheckthatmallochasnotreturned N U L L beforeattemptingtousethememorywecandothisby
i n t* p t=m a l l o c ( 3*s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ; i f ( p t= =N U L L ) { f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," O u to fm e m o r y ,e x i t i n g \ n " ) ; e x i t ( 1 ) ; }
Ofcourse,suddenlyquittingasintheaboveexampleisnotalwaysappropriate,anddependsontheproblemyouaretryingtosolveandthearchitectureyouareprogrammingfor.Forexample,iftheprogramisasmall,noncriticalapplicationthat's runningonadesktopquittingmaybeappropriate.Howeveriftheprogramissometypeofeditorrunningonadesktop,youmaywanttogivetheoperatortheoptionofsavinghistediouslyenteredinformationinsteadofjustexitingtheprogram.Amemory allocationfailureinanembeddedprocessor,suchasmightbeinawashingmachine,couldcauseanautomaticresetofthemachine.Forthisreason,manyembeddedsystemsdesignersavoiddynamicmemoryallocationaltogether.
Thec a l l o c function
The c a l l o c functionallocatesspaceforanarrayofitemsandinitilizesthememorytozeros.Thecall m A r r a y=c a l l o c (c o u n t ,s i z e o f ( s t r u c tV ) ) allocates c o u n t objects,eachofwhosesizeissufficienttocontainaninstanceofthestructure s t r u c tV .Thespaceis initializedtoallbitszero.Thefunctionreturnseitherapointertotheallocatedmemoryor,iftheallocationfails, N U L L .
Ther e a l l o c function
v o i d*r e a l l o c(v o i d*p t r ,s i z e _ ts i z e) ;
The r e a l l o c functionchangesthesizeoftheobjectpointedtoby p t r tothesizespecifiedby s i z e .Thecontentsoftheobjectshallbeunchangeduptothelesserofthenewandoldsizes.Ifthenewsizeislarger,thevalueofthenewlyallocatedportionof
92/118
10/24/13
The r e a l l o c functionchangesthesizeoftheobjectpointedtoby p t r tothesizespecifiedby s i z e .Thecontentsoftheobjectshallbeunchangeduptothelesserofthenewandoldsizes.Ifthenewsizeislarger,thevalueofthenewlyallocatedportionof theobjectisindeterminate.If p t r isanullpointer,the r e a l l o c functionbehaveslikethe m a l l o c functionforthespecifiedsize.Otherwise,if p t r doesnotmatchapointerearlierreturnedbythe c a l l o c , m a l l o c ,or r e a l l o c function,orifthespacehasbeen deallocatedbyacalltothe f r e e or r e a l l o c function,thebehaviorisundefined.Ifthespacecannotbeallocated,theobjectpointedtoby p t r isunchanged.If s i z e iszeroand p t r isnotanullpointer,theobjectpointedtoisfreed.The r e a l l o c functionreturns eitheranullpointerorapointertothepossiblymovedallocatedobject.
Thef r e e function
Memorythathasbeenallocatedusing m a l l o c , r e a l l o c ,or c a l l o c mustbereleasedbacktothesystemmemorypoolonceitisnolongerneeded.Thisisdonetoavoidperpetuallyallocatingmoreandmorememory,whichcouldresultinaneventualmemory allocationfailure.Memorythatisnotreleasedwith f r e e ishoweverreleasedwhenthecurrentprogramterminatesonmostoperatingsystems.Callsto f r e e areasinthefollowingexample.
i n t* m y S t u f f=m a l l o c (2 0*s i z e o f ( i n t ) ) ; i f( m y S t u f f! =N U L L ) { / *m o r es t a t e m e n t sh e r e* / / *t i m et or e l e a s em y S t u f f* / f r e e (m y S t u f f) ; }
freewithrecursivedatastructures
Itshouldbenotedthat f r e e isneitherintelligentnorrecursive.Thefollowingcodethatdependsontherecursiveapplicationoffreetotheinternalvariablesofastructdoesnotwork.
t y p e d e fs t r u c tB S T N o d e { i n tv a l u e ; s t r u c tB S T N o d e *l e f t ; s t r u c tB S T N o d e *r i g h t ; }B S T N o d e ; / /L a t e r :. . . B S T N o d e *t e m p=( B S T N o d e * )c a l l o c ( 1 ,s i z e o f ( B S T N o d e ) ) ; t e m p > l e f t=( B S T N o d e * )c a l l o c ( 1 ,s i z e o f ( B S T N o d e ) ) ; / /L a t e r :. . . f r e e ( t e m p ) ;/ /W R O N G !d o n ' td ot h i s !
Thestatement" f r e e ( t e m p ) ; "will notfree t e m p > l e f t ,causingamemoryleak. BecauseCdoesnothaveagarbagecollector,Cprogrammersareresponsibleformakingsurethereisa f r e e ( ) exactlyonceforeachtimethereisa m a l l o c ( ) .Ifatreehasbeenallocatedonenodeatatime,thenitneedstobefreedonenodeatatime.
Don'tfreeundefinedpointers
Furthermore,using f r e e whenthepointerinquestionwasneverallocatedinthefirstplaceoftencrashesorleadstomysteriousbugsfurtheralong. Toavoidthisproblem,alwaysinitializepointerswhentheyaredeclared.Eitheruse m a l l o c atthepointtheyaredeclared(asinmostexamplesinthischapter),orsetthemto N U L L whentheyaredeclared(asinthe"delayedallocation"exampleinthis chapter). [17]
References
Strings
A stringinCismerelyanarrayofcharacters.Thelengthofastringisdeterminedbyaterminatingnullcharacter: ' \ 0 ' .So,astringwiththecontents,say, " a b c " hasfourcharacters: ' a ' , ' b ' , ' c ' ,andtheterminatingnullcharacter. Theterminatingnullcharacterhasthevaluezero.
93/118
10/24/13
Syntax
InC,stringconstants(literals)aresurroundedbydoublequotes("),e.g."Helloworld!"andarecompiledtoanarrayofthespecified c h a r valueswithanadditionalnullterminatingcharacter(0valued)codetomarktheendofthestring.Thetypeofastring constantis c h a r* . Stringliteralsmaynotdirectlyinthesourcecodecontainembeddednewlinesorothercontrolcharacters,orsomeothercharactersofspecialmeaninginstring. Toincludesuchcharactersinastring,thebackslashescapesmaybeused,likethis: Escape Meaning
\ \ \ " \ ' \ n \ r \ b \ t \ f \ a \ v \ ? \ nnn \ x hh
Literalbackslash Doublequote Singlequote Newline(linefeed) Carriagereturn Backspace Horizontaltab Formfeed Alert(bell) Verticaltab Questionmark(usedtoescapetrigraphs) Characterwithoctalvalue nnn Characterwithhexadecimalvalue hh
Widecharacterstrings
Csupportswidecharacterstrings,definedasarraysofthetype w c h a r _ t ,16bit(atleast)values.TheyarewrittenwithanLbeforethestringlikethis
w c h a r _ t* p=L " H e l l o w o r l d ! " ;
Thisfeatureallowsstringswheremorethan256differentpossiblecharactersareneeded(althoughalsovariablelength c h a r stringscanbeused).Theyendwithazerovalued w c h a r _ t .Thesestringsarenotsupportedbythe < s t r i n g . h > functions.Insteadthey havetheirownfunctions,declaredin < w c h a r . h > .
Characterencodings
Whatcharacterencodingthe c h a r and w c h a r _ t representisnotspecifiedbytheCstandard,exceptthatthevalue0x00and0x0000specifytheendofthestringandnotacharacter.Ittheinputandoutputcodewhicharedirectlyaffectedbythecharacter encoding.Othercodeshouldnotbetooaffected.Theeditorshouldalsobeabletohandletheencodingifstringsshallbeabletowritteninthesourcecode. Therearethreemajortypesofencodings: Onebytepercharacter.NormallybasedonASCII.Thereisalimitof255differentcharactersplusthezeroterminationcharacter. Variablelength c h a r strings,whichallowsmanymorethan255differentcharacters.Suchstringsarewrittenasnormal c h a r basedarrays.TheseencodingsarenormallyASCIIbasedandexamplesareUTF8orShiftJIS. Widecharacterstrings.Theyarearraysof w c h a r _ t values.UTF16isthemostcommonsuchencoding,anditisalsovariablelength,meaningthatacharactercanbetwo w c h a r _ t .
The< s t r i n g . h > StandardHeader

Becauseprogrammersfindrawstringscumbersometodealwith,theywrotethecodeinthe < s t r i n g . h > library.Itrepresentsnotaconcerteddesigneffortbutrathertheaccretionofcontributionsmadebyvariousauthorsoveraspanofyears. First,threetypesoffunctionsexistinthestringlibrary: the m e m functionsmanipulatesequencesofarbitrarycharacterswithoutregardtothenullcharacter the s t r functionsmanipulatenullterminatedsequencesofcharacters the s t r n functionsmanipulatesequencesofnonnullcharacters.
Themorecommonlyusedstringfunctions
Theninemostcommonlyusedfunctionsinthestringlibraryare:
s t r c a t concatenatetwostrings
94/118
10/24/13
s t r c h r stringscanningoperation s t r c m p comparetwostrings s t r c p y copyastring s t r l e n getstringlength s t r n c a t concatenateonestringwithpartofanother s t r n c m p comparepartsoftwostrings s t r n c p y copypartofastring s t r r c h r stringscanningoperation
The s t r c a t function
c h a r* s t r c a t ( c h a r*r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r*r e s t r i c ts 2 ) ;
Somepeoplerecommendusing s t r n c a t ( ) or s t r l c a t ( ) insteadofstrcat,inordertoavoidbufferoverflow. The s t r c a t ( ) functionshallappendacopyofthestringpointedtoby s 2 (includingtheterminatingnullbyte)totheendofthestringpointedtoby s 1 .Theinitialbyteof s 2 overwritesthenullbyteattheendof s 1 .Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthat overlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturns s 1 . Thisfunctionisusedtoattachonestringtotheendofanotherstring.Itisimperativethatthefirststring(s 1 )havethespaceneededtostorebothstrings. Example:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > . . . s t a t i cc o n s tc h a r* c o l o r s [ ]={ " R e d " , " O r a n g e " , " Y e l l o w " , " G r e e n " , " B l u e " , " P u r p l e "} ; s t a t i cc o n s tc h a r* w i d t h s [ ]={ " T h i n " , " M e d i u m " , " T h i c k " , " B o l d "} ; . . . c h a rp e n T e x t [ 2 0 ] ; . . . i n tp e n C o l o r=3 ,p e n T h i c k n e s s=2 ; s t r c p y ( p e n T e x t ,c o l o r s [ p e n C o l o r ] ) ; s t r c a t ( p e n T e x t ,w i d t h s [ p e n T h i c k n e s s ] ) ; p r i n t f ( " M yp e ni s% s \ n " ,p e n T e x t ) ;/ /p r i n t s' M yp e ni sG r e e n T h i c k '
Beforecalling s t r c a t ( ) ,thedestinationmustcurrentlycontainanullterminatedstringorthefirstcharactermusthavebeeninitializedwiththenullcharacter(e.g. p e n T e x t [ 0 ]=' \ 0 ' ; ). Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r c a t :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r c a t* / c h a r* ( s t r c a t ) ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ) { c h a r* s=s 1 ; / *M o v ess ot h a ti tp o i n t st ot h ee n do fs 1 . * / w h i l e( * s! =' \ 0 ' ) s + + ; / *C o p yt h ec o n t e n t so fs 2i n t ot h es p a c ea tt h ee n do fs 1 . * / s t r c p y ( s ,s 2 ) ; r e t u r ns 1 ; }
The s t r c h r function
c h a r* s t r c h r ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,i n tc ) ;
The s t r c h r ( ) functionshalllocatethefirstoccurrenceof c (convertedtoa c h a r )inthestringpointedtoby s .Theterminatingnullbyteisconsideredtobepartofthestring.Thefunctionreturnsthelocationofthefoundcharacter,oranullpointerifthe characterwasnotfound. Thisfunctionisusedtofindcertaincharactersinstrings. Atonepointinhistory,thisfunctionwasnamed i n d e x .The s t r c h r name,howevercryptic,fitsthegeneralpatternfornaming. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r c h r :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r c h r* / c h a r* ( s t r c h r ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,i n tc ) { / *S c a nsf o rt h ec h a r a c t e r . W h e nt h i sl o o pi sf i n i s h e d , sw i l le i t h e rp o i n tt ot h ee n do ft h es t r i n go rt h e
95/118
10/24/13
c h a r a c t e rw ew e r el o o k i n gf o r . * / w h i l e( * s! =' \ 0 '& &* s! =( c h a r ) c ) s + + ; r e t u r n(( * s= =c )?( c h a r* )s:N U L L) ; }
The s t r c m p function
i n ts t r c m p ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) ;
Arudimentaryformofstringcomparisonisdonewiththestrcmp()function.Ittakestwostringsasargumentsandreturnsavaluelessthanzeroifthefirstislexographicallylessthanthesecond,avaluegreaterthanzeroifthefirstislexographically greaterthanthesecond,orzeroifthetwostringsareequal.Thecomparisonisdonebycomparingthecoded(ascii)valueofthechararacters,characterbycharacter. Thissimpletypeofstringcomparisonisnowadaysgenerallyconsideredunacceptablewhensortinglistsofstrings.Moreadvancedalgorithmsexistthatarecapableofproducinglistsindictionarysortedorder.Theycanalsofixproblemssuchasstrcmp() consideringthestring"Alpha2"greaterthan"Alpha12".(Inthepreviousexample,"Alpha2"comparesgreaterthan"Alpha12"because'2'comesafter'1'inthecharacterset.)Whatwe'resayingis,don'tusethis s t r c m p ( ) aloneforgeneralstringsortinginany commercialorprofessionalcode. The s t r c m p ( ) functionshallcomparethestringpointedtoby s 1 tothestringpointedtoby s 2 .Thesignofanonzeroreturnvalueshallbedeterminedbythesignofthedifferencebetweenthevaluesofthefirstpairofbytes(bothinterpretedastype u n s i g n e d c h a r )thatdifferinthestringsbeingcompared.Uponcompletion, s t r c m p ( ) shallreturnanintegergreaterthan,equalto,orlessthan0,ifthestringpointedtoby s 1 isgreaterthan,equalto,orlessthanthestringpointedtoby s 2 ,respectively. Sincecomparingpointersbythemselvesisnotpracticallyusefulunlessoneiscomparingpointerswithinthesamearray,thisfunctionlexicallycomparesthestringsthattwopointerspointto. Thisfunctionisusefulincomparisons,e.g.
i f( s t r c m p ( s ," w h a t e v e r " )= =0 )/ *d os o m e t h i n g* / ;
Thecollatingsequenceusedby s t r c m p ( ) isequivalenttothemachine'snativecharacterset.Theonlyguaranteeabouttheorderisthatthedigitsfrom ' 0 ' to ' 9 ' areinconsecutiveorder. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r c m p :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r c m p* / i n t( s t r c m p ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) { u n s i g n e dc h a ru c 1 ,u c 2 ; / *M o v es 1a n ds 2t ot h ef i r s td i f f e r i n gc h a r a c t e r s i ne a c hs t r i n g ,o rt h ee n d so ft h es t r i n g si ft h e y a r ei d e n t i c a l . * / w h i l e( * s 1! =' \ 0 '& &* s 1= =* s 2 ){ s 1 + + ; s 2 + + ; } / *C o m p a r et h ec h a r a c t e r sa su n s i g n e dc h a ra n d r e t u r nt h ed i f f e r e n c e . * / u c 1=( * ( u n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 1 ) ; u c 2=( * ( u n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 2 ) ; r e t u r n( ( u c 1u c 2 ) ) ; }
The s t r c p y function
c h a r* s t r c p y ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ) ;
Somepeoplerecommendalwaysusing s t r n c p y ( ) insteadofstrcpy,toavoidbufferoverflow. The s t r c p y ( ) functionshallcopytheCstringpointedtoby s 2 (includingtheterminatingnullbyte)intothearraypointedtoby s 1 .Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturns s 1 .Thereisnovalueused toindicateanerror:iftheargumentsto s t r c p y ( ) arecorrect,andthedestinationbufferislargeenough,thefunctionwillneverfail. Example:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *. . .* / s t a t i cc o n s tc h a r* p e n T y p e = " r o u n d " ; / *. . .* / c h a rp e n T e x t [ 2 0 ] ; / *. . .* / s t r c p y ( p e n T e x t ,p e n T y p e ) ;
Important:Youmustensurethatthedestinationbuffer(s 1 )isabletocontainallthecharactersinthesourcearray,includingtheterminatingnullbyte.Otherwise, s t r c p y ( ) willoverwritememorypasttheendofthebuffer,causingabufferoverflow,which cancausetheprogramtocrash,orcanbeexploitedbyhackerstocompromisethesecurityofthecomputer.
96/118
10/24/13
Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r c p y :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r c p y* / c h a r* ( s t r c p y ) ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ) { c h a r* d s t=s 1 ; c o n s tc h a r* s r c=s 2 ; / *D ot h ec o p y i n gi nal o o p . * / w h i l e( ( * d s t + +=* s r c + + )! =' \ 0 ' ) ; / *T h eb o d yo ft h i sl o o pi sl e f te m p t y .* / / *R e t u r nt h ed e s t i n a t i o ns t r i n g . * / r e t u r ns 1 ; }
The s t r l e n function
s i z e _ ts t r l e n ( c o n s tc h a r* s ) ;
The s t r l e n ( ) functionshallcomputethenumberofbytesinthestringtowhich s points,notincludingtheterminatingnullbyte.Itreturnsthenumberofbytesinthestring.Novalueisusedtoindicateanerror. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r l e n :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r l e n* / s i z e _ t( s t r l e n ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s ) { c o n s tc h a r* p=s ; / *L o o po v e rt h ed a t ai ns . * / w h i l e( * p! =' \ 0 ' ) p + + ; r e t u r n( s i z e _ t ) ( p-s ) ; }
The s t r n c a t function
c h a r* s t r n c a t ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The s t r n c a t ( ) functionshallappendnotmorethan n bytes(anullbyteandbytesthatfollowitarenotappended)fromthearraypointedtoby s 2 totheendofthestringpointedtoby s 1 .Theinitialbyteof s 2 overwritesthenullbyteattheendof s 1 .A terminatingnullbyteisalwaysappendedtotheresult.Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturns s 1 . Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r n c a t :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r n c a t* / c h a r* ( s t r n c a t ) ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { c h a r* s=s 1 ; / *L o o po v e rt h ed a t ai ns 1 . * / w h i l e( * s! =' \ 0 ' ) s + + ; / *sn o wp o i n t st os 1 ' st r a i l i n gn u l lc h a r a c t e r ,n o wc o p y u pt onb y t e sf r o ms 1i n t oss t o p p i n gi fan u l lc h a r a c t e r i se n c o u n t e r e di ns 2 . I ti sn o ts a f et ou s es t r n c p yh e r es i n c ei tc o p i e sE X A C T L Yn c h a r a c t e r s ,N U L Lp a d d i n gi fn e c e s s a r y . * / w h i l e( n! =0& &( * s=* s 2 + + )! =' \ 0 ' ){ n ; s + + ; } i f( * s! =' \ 0 ' ) * s=' \ 0 ' ; r e t u r ns 1 ; }
The s t r n c m p function
i n ts t r n c m p ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The s t r n c m p ( ) functionshallcomparenotmorethan n bytes(bytesthatfollowanullbytearenotcompared)fromthearraypointedtoby s 1 tothearraypointedtoby s 2 .Thesignofanonzeroreturnvalueisdeterminedbythesignofthedifferencebetween thevaluesofthefirstpairofbytes(bothinterpretedastype u n s i g n e dc h a r )thatdifferinthestringsbeingcompared.See s t r c m p foranexplanationofthereturnvalue. Thisfunctionisusefulincomparisons,asthe s t r c m p functionis. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r n c m p :
97/118
10/24/13
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r n c m p* / i n t( s t r n c m p ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { u n s i g n e dc h a ru c 1 ,u c 2 ; / *N o t h i n gt oc o m p a r e ? R e t u r nz e r o . * / i f( n= =0 ) r e t u r n0 ; / *L o o p ,c o m p a r i n gb y t e s . * / w h i l e( n ->0& &* s 1= =* s 2 ){ / *I fw e ' v er u no u to fb y t e so rh i tan u l l ,r e t u r nz e r o s i n c ew ea l r e a d yk n o w* s 1= =* s 2 . * / i f( n= =0| |* s 1= =' \ 0 ' ) r e t u r n0 ; s 1 + + ; s 2 + + ; } u c 1=( * ( u n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 1 ) ; u c 2=( * ( u n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 2 ) ; r e t u r n( ( u c 1u c 2 ) ) ; }
The s t r n c p y function
c h a r* s t r n c p y ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The s t r n c p y ( ) functionshallcopynotmorethan n bytes(bytesthatfollowanullbytearenotcopied)fromthearraypointedtoby s 2 tothearraypointedtoby s 1 .Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Ifthearray pointedtoby s 2 isastringthatisshorterthan n bytes,nullbytesshallbeappendedtothecopyinthearraypointedtoby s 1 ,until n bytesinallarewritten.Thefunctionshallreturns1noreturnvalueisreservedtoindicateanerror. Itispossiblethatthefunctionwill notreturnanullterminatedstring,whichhappensifthe s 2 stringislongerthan n bytes. Thefollowingisapublicdomainversionof s t r n c p y :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r n c p y* / c h a r* ( s t r n c p y ) ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { c h a r* d s t=s 1 ; c o n s tc h a r* s r c=s 2 ; / *C o p yb y t e s ,o n ea tat i m e . * / w h i l e( n>0 ){ n ; i f( ( * d s t + +=* s r c + + )= =' \ 0 ' ){ / *I fw eg e th e r e ,w ef o u n dan u l lc h a r a c t e ra tt h ee n d o fs 2 ,s ou s em e m s e tt op u tn u l lb y t e sa tt h ee n do f s 1 . * / m e m s e t ( d s t ,' \ 0 ' ,n ) ; b r e a k ; } } r e t u r ns 1 ; }
The s t r r c h r function
c h a r* s t r r c h r ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,i n tc ) ; s t r r c h r issimilarto s t r c h r ,exceptthestringissearchedrighttoleft.
The s t r r c h r ( ) functionshalllocatethelastoccurrenceof c (convertedtoa c h a r )inthestringpointedtoby s .Theterminatingnullbyteisconsideredtobepartofthestring.Itsreturnvalueissimilarto s t r c h r 'sreturnvalue. Atonepointinhistory,thisfunctionwasnamed r i n d e x .The s t r r c h r name,howevercryptic,fitsthegeneralpatternfornaming. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r r c h r :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r r c h r* / c h a r* ( s t r r c h r ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s ,i n tc ) { c o n s tc h a r* l a s t=N U L L ; / *I ft h ec h a r a c t e rw e ' r el o o k i n gf o ri st h et e r m i n a t i n gn u l l , w ej u s tn e e dt ol o o kf o rt h a tc h a r a c t e ra st h e r e ' so n l yo n e o ft h e mi nt h es t r i n g . * / i f( c= =' \ 0 ' ) r e t u r ns t r c h r ( s ,c ) ; / *L o o pt h r o u g h ,f i n d i n gt h el a s tm a t c hb e f o r eh i t t i n gN U L L . * / w h i l e( ( s=s t r c h r ( s ,c ) )! =N U L L ){ l a s t=s ; s + + ;
98/118
10/24/13
} r e t u r n( c h a r* )l a s t ; }
Thelesscommonlyusedstringfunctions
Thelessusedfunctionsare:
m e m c h r Findabyteinmemory m e m c m p Comparebytesinmemory m e m c p y Copybytesinmemory m e m m o v e Copybytesinmemorywithoverlappingareas m e m s e t Setbytesinmemory s t r c o l l Comparebytesaccordingtoalocalespecificcollatingsequence s t r c s p n Getthelengthofacomplementarysubstring s t r e r r o r Geterrormessage s t r p b r k Scanastringforabyte s t r s p n Getthelengthofasubstring s t r s t r Findasubstring s t r t o k Splitastringintotokens s t r x f r m Transformstring
Copyingfunctions
Them e m c p y function
v o i d* m e m c p y ( v o i d*r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tv o i d*r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The m e m c p y ( ) functionshallcopy n bytesfromtheobjectpointedtoby s 2 intotheobjectpointedtoby s 1 .Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturns s 1 . Becausethefunctiondoesnothavetoworryaboutoverlap,itcandothesimplestcopyitcan. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof m e m c p y :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *m e m c p y* / v o i d* ( m e m c p y ) ( v o i d*r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tv o i d*r e s t r i c ts 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { c h a r* d s t=s 1 ; c o n s tc h a r* s r c=s 2 ; / *L o o pa n dc o p y . * / w h i l e( n -! =0 ) * d s t + +=* s r c + + ; r e t u r ns 1 ; }
Them e m m o v e function
v o i d* m e m m o v e ( v o i d* s 1 ,c o n s tv o i d* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The m e m m o v e ( ) functionshallcopy n bytesfromtheobjectpointedtoby s 2 intotheobjectpointedtoby s 1 .Copyingtakesplaceasifthe n bytesfromtheobjectpointedtoby s 2 arefirstcopiedintoatemporaryarrayof n bytesthatdoesnotoverlaptheobjects pointedtoby s 1 and s 2 ,andthenthe n bytesfromthetemporaryarrayarecopiedintotheobjectpointedtoby s 1 .Thefunctionreturnsthevalueof s 1 . Theeasywaytoimplementthiswithoutusingatemporaryarrayistocheckforaconditionthatwouldpreventanascendingcopy,andiffound,doadescendingcopy. Thefollowingisapublicdomain,thoughnotcompletelyportable,implementationof m e m m o v e :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *m e m m o v e* / v o i d* ( m e m m o v e ) ( v o i d* s 1 ,c o n s tv o i d* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { / *n o t e :t h e s ed o n ' th a v et op o i n tt ou n s i g n e dc h a r s* / c h a r* p 1=s 1 ; c o n s tc h a r* p 2=s 2 ; / *t e s tf o ro v e r l a pt h a tp r e v e n t sa na s c e n d i n gc o p y* / i f( p 2<p 1& &p 1<p 2+n ){ / *d oad e s c e n d i n gc o p y* / p 2+ =n ; p 1+ =n ;
99/118
10/24/13
w h i l e( n -! =0 ) * p 1=* p 2 ; }e l s e w h i l e( n -! =0 ) * p 1 + +=* p 2 + + ; r e t u r ns 1 ; }
Comparisonfunctions
Them e m c m p function
i n tm e m c m p ( c o n s tv o i d* s 1 ,c o n s tv o i d* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The m e m c m p ( ) functionshallcomparethefirst n bytes(eachinterpretedas u n s i g n e dc h a r )oftheobjectpointedtoby s 1 tothefirst n bytesoftheobjectpointedtoby s 2 .Thesignofanonzeroreturnvalueshallbedeterminedbythesignofthedifference betweenthevaluesofthefirstpairofbytes(bothinterpretedastype u n s i g n e dc h a r )thatdifferintheobjectsbeingcompared. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof m e m c m p :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *m e m c m p* / i n t( m e m c m p ) ( c o n s tv o i d* s 1 ,c o n s tv o i d* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) { c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* u s 1=( c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 1 ; c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* u s 2=( c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* )s 2 ; w h i l e( n -! =0 ){ i f( * u s 1! =* u s 2 ) r e t u r n( * u s 1<* u s 2 )?1:+ 1 ; u s 1 + + ; u s 2 + + ; } r e t u r n0 ; }
Thes t r c o l l ands t r x f r m functions

i n ts t r c o l l ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) ; s i z e _ ts t r x f r m ( c h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
TheANSICStandardspecifiestwolocalespecificcomparisonfunctions. The s t r c o l l functioncomparesthestringpointedtoby s 1 tothestringpointedtoby s 2 ,bothinterpretedasappropriatetothe L C _ C O L L A T E categoryofthecurrentlocale.Thereturnvalueissimilarto s t r c m p . The s t r x f r m functiontransformsthestringpointedtoby s 2 andplacestheresultingstringintothearraypointedtoby s 1 .Thetransformationissuchthatifthe s t r c m p functionisappliedtothetwotransformedstrings,itreturnsavaluegreaterthan,equalto, orlessthanzero,correspondingtotheresultofthe s t r c o l l functionappliedtothesametwooriginalstrings.Nomorethan n charactersareplacedintotheresultingarraypointedtoby s 1 ,includingtheterminatingnullcharacter.If n iszero, s 1 ispermitted tobeanullpointer.Ifcopyingtakesplacebetweenobjectsthatoverlap,thebehaviorisundefined.Thefunctionreturnsthelengthofthetransformedstring. Thesefunctionsarerarelyusedandnontrivialtocode,sothereisnocodeforthissection. Searchfunctions
Them e m c h r function
v o i d* m e m c h r ( c o n s tv o i d* s ,i n tc ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The m e m c h r ( ) functionshalllocatethefirstoccurrenceof c (convertedtoan u n s i g n e dc h a r )intheinitial n bytes(eachinterpretedas u n s i g n e dc h a r )oftheobjectpointedtoby s .If c isnotfound, m e m c h r returnsanullpointer. Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof m e m c h r :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *m e m c h r* / v o i d* ( m e m c h r ) ( c o n s tv o i d* s ,i n tc ,s i z e _ tn ) { c o n s tu n s i g n e dc h a r* s r c=s ; u n s i g n e dc h a ru c=c ; w h i l e( n -! =0 ){ i f( * s r c= =u c ) r e t u r n( v o i d* )s r c ; s r c + + ; } r e t u r nN U L L ; }
100/118
10/24/13
Thes t r c s p n ,s t r p b r k ,ands t r s p n functions
s i z e _ ts t r c s p n ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) ; c h a r* s t r p b r k ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) ; s i z e _ ts t r s p n ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) ;
The s t r c s p n functioncomputesthelengthofthemaximuminitialsegmentofthestringpointedtoby s 1 whichconsistsentirelyofcharacters notfromthestringpointedtoby s 2 . The s t r p b r k functionlocatesthefirstoccurrenceinthestringpointedtoby s 1 ofanycharacterfromthestringpointedtoby s 2 ,returningapointertothatcharacteroranullpointerifnotfound. The s t r s p n functioncomputesthelengthofthemaximuminitialsegmentofthestringpointedtoby s 1 whichconsistsentirelyofcharactersfromthestringpointedtoby s 2 . Allofthesefunctionsaresimilarexceptinthetestandthereturnvalue. Thefollowingarepublicdomainimplementationsof s t r c s p n , s t r p b r k ,and s t r s p n :
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r c s p n* / s i z e _ t( s t r c s p n ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) { c o n s tc h a r* s c 1 ; f o r( s c 1=s 1 ;* s c 1! =' \ 0 ' ;s c 1 + + ) i f( s t r c h r ( s 2 ,* s c 1 )! =N U L L ) r e t u r n( s c 1-s 1 ) ; r e t u r ns c 1-s 1 ; / *t e r m i n a t i n gn u l l sm a t c h* / } # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r p b r k* / c h a r* ( s t r p b r k ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) { c o n s tc h a r* s c 1 ; f o r( s c 1=s 1 ;* s c 1! =' \ 0 ' ;s c 1 + + ) i f( s t r c h r ( s 2 ,* s c 1 )! =N U L L ) r e t u r n( c h a r* ) s c 1 ; r e t u r nN U L L ; / *t e r m i n a t i n gn u l l sm a t c h* / } # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r s p n* / s i z e _ t( s t r s p n ) ( c o n s tc h a r* s 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* s 2 ) { c o n s tc h a r* s c 1 ; f o r( s c 1=s 1 ;* s c 1! =' \ 0 ' ;s c 1 + + ) i f( s t r c h r ( s 2 ,* s c 1 )= =N U L L ) r e t u r n( s c 1-s 1 ) ; r e t u r ns c 1-s 1 ; / *t e r m i n a t i n gn u l l sd o n ' tm a t c h* / }
Thes t r s t r function
c h a r* s t r s t r ( c o n s tc h a r* h a y s t a c k ,c o n s tc h a r* n e e d l e ) ;
The s t r s t r ( ) functionshalllocatethefirstoccurrenceinthestringpointedtoby h a y s t a c k ofthesequenceofbytes(excludingtheterminatingnullbyte)inthestringpointedtoby n e e d l e .Thefunctionreturnsthepointertothematchingstringin h a y s t a c k ora nullpointerifamatchisnotfound.If n e e d l e isanemptystring,thefunctionreturns h a y s t a c k . Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof s t r s t r :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r s t r* / c h a r* ( s t r s t r ) ( c o n s tc h a r* h a y s t a c k ,c o n s tc h a r* n e e d l e ) { s i z e _ tn e e d l e l e n ; / *C h e c kf o rt h en u l ln e e d l ec a s e . * / i f( * n e e d l e= =' \ 0 ' ) r e t u r n( c h a r* )h a y s t a c k ; n e e d l e l e n=s t r l e n ( n e e d l e ) ; f o r( ;( h a y s t a c k=s t r c h r ( h a y s t a c k ,* n e e d l e ) )! =N U L L ;h a y s t a c k + + ) i f( s t r n c m p ( h a y s t a c k ,n e e d l e ,n e e d l e l e n )= =0 ) r e t u r n( c h a r* )h a y s t a c k ; r e t u r nN U L L ; }
Thes t r t o k function
101/118
10/24/13
c h a r* s t r t o k ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c td e l i m i t e r s ) ;
Asequenceofcallsto s t r t o k ( ) breaksthestringpointedtoby s 1 intoasequenceoftokens,eachofwhichisdelimitedbyabytefromthestringpointedtoby d e l i m i t e r s .Thefirstcallinthesequencehas s 1 asitsfirstargument,andisfollowedbycallswitha nullpointerastheirfirstargument.Theseparatorstringpointedtoby d e l i m i t e r s maybedifferentfromcalltocall. Thefirstcallinthesequencesearchesthestringpointedtoby s 1 forthefirstbytethatisnotcontainedinthecurrentseparatorstringpointedtoby d e l i m i t e r s .Ifnosuchbyteisfound,thentherearenotokensinthestringpointedtoby s 1 and s t r t o k ( ) shall returnanullpointer.Ifsuchabyteisfound,itisthestartofthefirsttoken. The s t r t o k ( ) functionthensearchesfromthereforabyte(ormultiple,consecutivebytes)thatiscontainedinthecurrentseparatorstring.Ifnosuchbyteisfound,thecurrenttokenextendstotheendofthestringpointedtoby s 1 ,andsubsequentsearches foratokenshallreturnanullpointer.Ifsuchabyteisfound,itisoverwrittenbyanullbyte,whichterminatesthecurrenttoken.The s t r t o k ( ) functionsavesapointertothefollowingbyte,fromwhichthenextsearchforatokenshallstart. Eachsubsequentcall,withanullpointerasthevalueofthefirstargument,startssearchingfromthesavedpointerandbehavesasdescribedabove. The s t r t o k ( ) functionneednotbereentrant.Afunctionthatisnotrequiredtobereentrantisnotrequiredtobethreadsafe. Becausethe s t r t o k ( ) functionmustsavestatebetweencalls,andyoucouldnothavetwotokenizersgoingatthesametime,theSingleUnixStandarddefinedasimilarfunction, s t r t o k _ r ( ) ,thatdoesnotneedtosavestate.Itsprototypeisthis:
c h a r* s t r t o k _ r ( c h a r* s ,c o n s tc h a r* d e l i m i t e r s ,c h a r* * l a s t s ) ;
The s t r t o k _ r ( ) functionconsidersthenullterminatedstring s asasequenceofzeroormoretexttokensseparatedbyspansofoneormorecharactersfromtheseparatorstring d e l i m i t e r s .Theargumentlastspointstoauserprovidedpointerwhichpointsto storedinformationnecessaryfor s t r t o k _ r ( ) tocontinuescanningthesamestring. Inthefirstcallto s t r t o k _ r ( ) , s pointstoanullterminatedstring, d e l i m i t e r s toanullterminatedstringofseparatorcharacters,andthevaluepointedtoby l a s t s isignored.The s t r t o k _ r ( ) functionshallreturnapointertothefirstcharacterofthefirsttoken, writeanullcharacterinto s immediatelyfollowingthereturnedtoken,andupdatethepointertowhich l a s t s points. Insubsequentcalls, s isanullpointerand l a s t s shallbeunchangedfromthepreviouscallsothatsubsequentcallsshallmovethroughthestring s ,returningsuccessivetokensuntilnotokensremain.Theseparatorstring d e l i m i t e r s maybedifferentfrom calltocall.Whennotokenremainsin s ,aNULLpointershallbereturned. Thefollowingpublicdomaincodefor s t r t o k and s t r t o k _ r codestheformerasaspecialcaseofthelatter:
# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *s t r t o k _ r* / c h a r* ( s t r t o k _ r ) ( c h a r* s ,c o n s tc h a r* d e l i m i t e r s ,c h a r* * l a s t s ) { c h a r* s b e g i n ,* s e n d ; s b e g i n=s?s:* l a s t s ; s b e g i n+ =s t r s p n ( s b e g i n ,d e l i m i t e r s ) ; i f( * s b e g i n= =' \ 0 ' ){ * l a s t s=" " ; r e t u r nN U L L ; } s e n d=s b e g i n+s t r c s p n ( s b e g i n ,d e l i m i t e r s ) ; i f( * s e n d! =' \ 0 ' ) * s e n d + +=' \ 0 ' ; * l a s t s=s e n d ; r e t u r ns b e g i n ; } / *s t r t o k* / c h a r* ( s t r t o k ) ( c h a r* r e s t r i c ts 1 ,c o n s tc h a r* r e s t r i c td e l i m i t e r s ) { s t a t i cc h a r* s s a v e=" " ; r e t u r ns t r t o k _ r ( s 1 ,d e l i m i t e r s ,& s s a v e ) ; }
Miscellaneousfunctions Thesefunctionsdonotfitintooneoftheabovecategories.
Them e m s e t function
v o i d* m e m s e t ( v o i d* s ,i n tc ,s i z e _ tn ) ;
The m e m s e t ( ) functionconverts c into u n s i g n e dc h a r ,thenstoresthecharacterintothefirst n bytesofmemorypointedtoby s . Thefollowingisapublicdomainimplementationof m e m s e t :

# i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > / *m e m s e t* / v o i d* ( m e m s e t ) ( v o i d* s ,i n tc ,s i z e _ tn ) { u n s i g n e dc h a r* u s=s ; u n s i g n e dc h a ru c=c ; w h i l e( n -! =0 ) * u s + +=u c ; r e t u r ns ; }
102/118
10/24/13
Thes t r e r r o r function
c h a r* s t r e r r o r ( i n te r r o r c o d e ) ;
Thisfunctionreturnsalocalespecificerrormessagecorrespondingtotheparameter.Dependingonthecircumstances,thisfunctioncouldbetrivialtoimplement,butthisauthorwillnotdothatasitvaries. TheSingleUnixSystemVersion3hasavariant, s t r e r r o r _ r ,withthisprototype:

i n ts t r e r r o r _ r ( i n te r r c o d e ,c h a r* b u f ,s i z e _ tb u f l e n ) ;
Thisfunctionstoresthemessagein b u f ,whichhasalengthofsize b u f l e n .
Examples
Todeterminethenumberofcharactersinastring,the s t r l e n ( ) functionisused:
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > . . . i n tl e n g t h ,l e n g t h 2 ; c h a r* t u r k e y ; s t a t i cc h a r* f l o w e r =" b e g o n i a " ; s t a t i cc h a r* g e m s t o n e = " r u b y" ; l e n g t h=s t r l e n ( f l o w e r ) ; p r i n t f ( " L e n g t h=% d \ n " ,l e n g t h ) ;/ /p r i n t s' L e n g t h=7 ' l e n g t h 2=s t r l e n ( g e m s t o n e ) ; t u r k e y=m a l l o c (l e n g t h+l e n g t h 2+1 ) ; i f( t u r k e y ){ s t r c p y (t u r k e y ,g e m s t o n e ) ; s t r c a t (t u r k e y ,f l o w e r ) ; p r i n t f (" % s \ n " ,t u r k e y ) ;/ /p r i n t s' r u b yb e g o n i a ' f r e e (t u r k e y) ; }
Notethattheamountofmemoryallocatedfor'turkey'isoneplusthesumofthelengthsofthestringstobeconcatenated.Thisisfortheterminatingnullcharacter,whichisnotcountedinthelengthsofthestrings.
Exercises
1. Thestringfunctionsusealotofloopingconstructs.Istheresomewaytoportablyunraveltheloops? 2. Whatfunctionsarepossiblymissingfromthelibraryasitstandsnow?
Furtherreading
ALittleCPrimer/CStringFunctionLibrary C++Programming/Code/IO/Streams/string Becausesomanyfunctionsinthestandard s t r i n g . h libraryarevulnerabletobufferoverflowerrors,somepeople(http://www.and.org/vstr/security)recommendavoidingthe s t r i n g . h libraryand"Cstylestrings"andinsteadusingadynamicstringAPI, suchastheoneslistedintheStringlibrarycomparison(http://www.and.org/vstr/comparison). There'satinypublicdomainconcat()function,whichwillallocatememoryandsafelyconcatenateanynumberofstringsinportableC/C++code(http://openwall.info/wiki/people/solar/software/publicdomainsourcecode/concat)
Complextypes
InthesectionCtypeswelookedatsomebasictypes.However CcomplextypesallowusgreaterflexibilityinmanagingdatainourCprogram.
Datastructures
Adatastructure("struct")containsmultiplepiecesofdata.Eachpieceofdata(calleda"member")canbeaccessedbythenameofthevariable,followedbya'.',thenthenameofthemember.(Anotherwaytoaccessamemberisusingthemember operator'>').Themembervariablesofastructcanbeofanydatatypeandcanevenbeanarrayorapointer.
Pointers
Pointersarevariablesthatdon'tholdtheactualdata.Insteadtheypointtothememorylocationofsomeothervariable.Forexample,
i n t* p o i n t e r=& v a r i a b l e ;
103/118
10/24/13
definesapointertoan i n t ,andalsomakesitpointtotheparticularintegercontainedin v a r i a b l e . The'*'iswhatmakesthisanintegerpointer.Tomakethepointerpointtoadifferentinteger,usetheform

p o i n t e r=& s a n d w i c h e s ;
Where&isthe addressof operator.OftenprogrammerssetthevalueofthepointertoNULL(astandardmacrodefinedas0or(void*)0)likethis:

p o i n t e r=N U L L ;
Thistellsusthatthepointerisn'tcurrentlypointingtoanyreallocation. Additionally,todereference(accessthethingbeingpointedat)thepointer,usetheform:
v a l u e=* p o i n t e r ;
Structs
Adatastructurecontainsmultiplepiecesofdata.Onedefinesadatastructureusingthe s t r u c t keyword.Forexample,
s t r u c tm y s t r u c t { i n ti n t _ m e m b e r ; d o u b l ed o u b l e _ m e m b e r ; c h a rs t r i n g _ m e m b e r [ 2 5 ] ; }v a r i a b l e ;
v a r i a b l e isaninstanceof m y s t r u c t .Youcanomititfromtheendofthe s t r u c t declarationanddeclareitlaterusing:
s t r u c tm y s t r u c tv a r i a b l e ;
Itisoftencommonpracticetomakea typesynonymsowedon'thavetotype"structmystruct"allthetime.Callowsusthepossibilitytodosousinga t y p e d e f statement,whichaliasesatype:

t y p e d e fs t r u c t { . . . }M y s t r u c t ;
The s t r u c t itselfhasnoname(bytheabsenceofanameonthefirstline),butitisaliasedas M y s t r u c t .Thenyoucanuse

M y s t r u c ts t r u c t u r e ;
Notethatitiscommonplace,andgoodstyletocapitalizethe firstletterofatypesynonym.Howeverintheactualdefinitionweneedtogivethestructa tagsowecanrefertoit:wemayhavea recursivedatastructureofsomekind.Fortreesorchained lists,weneedapointertothesamedatatypeinthestruct.Duringcompilation,thetypesynonymisnotknowntothecompilerandtherewillbeanerror.Toavoidthis,itisnecessarytoletthecompilerknowthenamerightfromthestart(Notethatthe structkeywordisused onlyinsidethestructure!Afterthedeclaration,thecompiler knowsthatthetypesynonymreferstoa struct):

t y p e d e fs t r u c tM y s t r u c t { . . . s t r u c tM y s t r u c t*p M y s t r u c t }M y s t r u c t ;
Unions
Thedefinitionofaunionissimilartothatofastruct.Thedifferencebetweenthetwoisthatinastruct,themembersoccupydifferentareasofmemory,butinaunion,themembersoccupythesameareaofmemory.Thus,inthefollowingtype,for example:
u n i o n{ i n ti ; d o u b l ed ; }u ;
Theprogrammercanaccesseither u . i or u . d ,butnotbothatthesametime.Since u . i and u . d occupythesameareaofmemory,modifyingonemodifiesthevalueoftheother,sometimesinunpredictableways.
104/118
10/24/13
Thesizeofaunionisthesizeofitslargestmember.
Typemodifiers
For"register","volatile","auto"and"extern",seeCProgramming/Variables#Other_Modifiers.
NetworkinginUNIX
NetworkprogrammingunderUNIXisrelativelysimpleinC. ThisguideassumesyoualreadyhaveagoodgeneralideaaboutC,UNIXandnetworks.
Asimpleclient
Tostartwith,we'lllookatoneofthesimplestthingsyoucando:initializeastreamconnectionandreceiveamessagefromaremoteserver.
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # i n c l u d e # i n c l u d e< a r p a / i n e t . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / t y p e s . h > # i n c l u d e< n e t i n e t / i n . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / s o c k e t . h > # d e f i n eM A X R C V L E N5 0 0 # d e f i n eP O R T N U M2 3 4 3 i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { c h a rb u f f e r [ M A X R C V L E N+1 ] ;/ *+ 1s ow ec a na d dn u l lt e r m i n a t o r* / i n tl e n ,m y s o c k e t ; s t r u c ts o c k a d d r _ i nd e s t ; m y s o c k e t=s o c k e t ( A F _ I N E T ,S O C K _ S T R E A M ,0 ) ; m e m s e t ( & d e s t ,0 ,s i z e o f ( d e s t ) ) ; / *z e r ot h es t r u c t* / d e s t . s i n _ f a m i l y=A F _ I N E T ; d e s t . s i n _ a d d r . s _ a d d r=i n e t _ a d d r ( " 1 2 7 . 0 . 0 . 1 " ) ;/ *s e td e s t i n a t i o nI Pn u m b e r* / d e s t . s i n _ p o r t=h t o n s ( P O R T N U M ) ; / *s e td e s t i n a t i o np o r tn u m b e r* / c o n n e c t ( m y s o c k e t ,( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r* ) & d e s t ,s i z e o f ( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r ) ) ; l e n=r e c v ( m y s o c k e t ,b u f f e r ,M A X R C V L E N ,0 ) ; / *W eh a v et on u l lt e r m i n a t et h er e c e i v e dd a t ao u r s e l v e s* / b u f f e r [ l e n ]=' \ 0 ' ; p r i n t f ( " R e c e i v e d% s( % db y t e s ) . \ n " ,b u f f e r ,l e n ) ; c l o s e ( m y s o c k e t ) ; r e t u r nE X I T _ S U C C E S S ; }
Thisistheverybarebonesofaclientinpractice,wewouldcheckeveryfunctionthatwecallforfailure,however,errorcheckinghasbeenleftoutforclarity. Asyoucansee,thecodemainlyrevolvesaround d e s t whichisastructoftype s o c k a d d r _ i n .Thisstructstoresinformationaboutthemachinewewanttoconnectto.

m y s o c k e t=s o c k e t ( A F _ I N E T ,S O C K _ S T R E A M ,0 ) ;
The s o c k e t ( ) functiontellsourOSthatwewantafiledescriptorforasocketwhichwecanuseforanetworkstreamconnectionwhattheparametersmeanismostlyirrelevantfornow.
m e m s e t ( & d e s t ,0 ,s i z e o f ( d e s t ) ) ; / *z e r ot h es t r u c t* / d e s t . s i n _ f a m i l y=A F _ I N E T ; d e s t . s i n _ a d d r . s _ a d d r=i n e t _ a d d r ( " 1 2 7 . 0 . 0 . 1 " ) ;/ *s e td e s t i n a t i o nI Pn u m b e r* / d e s t . s i n _ p o r t=h t o n s ( P O R T N U M ) ; / *s e td e s t i n a t i o np o r tn u m b e r* /
Nowwegetontotheinterestingpart: Thefirstlineuses m e m s e t ( ) tozerothestruct. Thesecondlinesetstheaddressfamily.Thisshouldbethesamevaluethatwaspassedasthefirstparameterto s o c k e t ( ) formostpurposes A F _ I N E T willserve.
ThethirdlineiswherewesettheIPofthemachineweneedtoconnectto.Thevariable d e s t . s i n _ a d d r . s _ a d d r isjustanintegerstoredinBigEndianformat,butwedon'thavetoknowthatasthe i n e t _ a d d r ( ) functionwilldotheconversionfromstringintoBig
105/118
10/24/13
ThethirdlineiswherewesettheIPofthemachineweneedtoconnectto.Thevariable d e s t . s i n _ a d d r . s _ a d d r isjustanintegerstoredinBigEndianformat,butwedon'thavetoknowthatasthe i n e t _ a d d r ( ) functionwilldotheconversionfromstringintoBig Endianintegerforus. Thefourthlinesetsthedestinationportnumber.The h t o n s ( ) functionconvertstheportnumberintoaBigEndianshortinteger.IfyourprogramisgoingtoberunsolelyonmachineswhichuseBigEndiannumbersasdefaultthen d e s t . s i n _ p o r t=2 1 would workjustaswell.However,forportabilityreasons h t o n s ( ) shouldalwaysbeused. Nowthatallofthepreliminaryworkisdone,wecanactuallymaketheconnectionanduseit:
c o n n e c t ( m y s o c k e t ,( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r* ) & d e s t ,s i z e o f ( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r ) ) ;
ThistellsourOStousethesocket m y s o c k e t tocreateaconnectiontothemachinespecifiedin d e s t .
l e n=r e c v ( m y s o c k e t ,b u f f e r ,M A X R C V L E N ,0 ) ;
Nowthisreceivesupto M A X R C V L E N bytesofdatafromtheconnectionandstorestheminthebufferstring.Thenumberofcharactersreceivedisreturnedby r e c v ( ) .Itisimportanttonotethatthedatareceivedwillnotautomaticallybenullterminatedwhen storedinthebuffer,soweneedtodoitourselveswith b u f f e r [ i n p u t l e n ]=' \ 0 ' . Andthat'saboutit! Thenextstepafterlearninghowtoreceivedataislearninghowtosendit.Ifyou'veunderstoodtheprevioussectionthenthisisquiteeasy.Allyouhavetodoisusethe s e n d ( ) function,whichusesthesameparametersas r e c v ( ) .Ifinourpreviousexample b u f f e r hadthetextwewantedtosendanditslengthwasstoredin l e n wewouldwrite s e n d ( m y s o c k e t ,b u f f e r ,l e n ,0 ) . s e n d ( ) returnsthenumberofbytesthatweresent.Itisimportanttorememberthat s e n d ( ) ,forvariousreasons,maynotbeabletosendallof thebytes,soitisimportanttocheckthatitsreturnvalueisequaltothenumberofbytesyoutriedtosend.Inmostcasesthiscanberesolvedbyresendingtheunsentdata.
Asimpleserver
# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # i n c l u d e # i n c l u d e< a r p a / i n e t . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / t y p e s . h > # i n c l u d e< n e t i n e t / i n . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / s o c k e t . h > # d e f i n eP O R T N U M2 3 4 3 i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { c h a rm s g [ ]=" H e l l oW o r l d! \ n " ; s t r u c ts o c k a d d r _ i nd e s t ;/ *s o c k e ti n f oa b o u tt h em a c h i n ec o n n e c t i n gt ou s* / s t r u c ts o c k a d d r _ i ns e r v ;/ *s o c k e ti n f oa b o u to u rs e r v e r* / i n tm y s o c k e t ; / *s o c k e tu s e dt ol i s t e nf o ri n c o m i n gc o n n e c t i o n s* / s o c k l e n _ ts o c k s i z e=s i z e o f ( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r _ i n ) ; m e m s e t ( & s e r v ,0 ,s i z e o f ( s e r v ) ) ; / *z e r ot h es t r u c tb e f o r ef i l l i n gt h ef i e l d s* / s e r v . s i n _ f a m i l y=A F _ I N E T ; / *s e tt h et y p eo fc o n n e c t i o nt oT C P / I P* / s e r v . s i n _ a d d r . s _ a d d r=h t o n l ( I N A D D R _ A N Y ) ;/ *s e to u ra d d r e s st oa n yi n t e r f a c e* / s e r v . s i n _ p o r t=h t o n s ( P O R T N U M ) ; / *s e tt h es e r v e rp o r tn u m b e r* / m y s o c k e t=s o c k e t ( A F _ I N E T ,S O C K _ S T R E A M ,0 ) ; / *b i n ds e r vi n f o r m a t i o nt om y s o c k e t* / b i n d ( m y s o c k e t ,( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r* ) & s e r v ,s i z e o f ( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r ) ) ; / *s t a r tl i s t e n i n g ,a l l o w i n gaq u e u eo fu pt o1p e n d i n gc o n n e c t i o n* / l i s t e n ( m y s o c k e t ,1 ) ; i n tc o n s o c k e t=a c c e p t ( m y s o c k e t ,( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r* ) & d e s t ,& s o c k s i z e ) ; w h i l e ( c o n s o c k e t ) { p r i n t f ( " I n c o m i n gc o n n e c t i o nf r o m% s-s e n d i n gw e l c o m e \ n " ,i n e t _ n t o a ( d e s t . s i n _ a d d r ) ) ; s e n d ( c o n s o c k e t ,m s g ,s t r l e n ( m s g ) ,0 ) ; c o n s o c k e t=a c c e p t ( m y s o c k e t ,( s t r u c ts o c k a d d r* ) & d e s t ,& s o c k s i z e ) ; } c l o s e ( c o n s o c k e t ) ; c l o s e ( m y s o c k e t ) ; r e t u r nE X I T _ S U C C E S S ; }
Superficially,thisisverysimilartotheclient.Thefirstimportantdifferenceisthatratherthancreatinga s o c k a d d r _ i n withinformationaboutthemachinewe'reconnectingto,wecreateitwithinformationabouttheserver,andthenwe b i n d ( ) ittothesocket. Thisallowsthemachinetoknowthedatareceivedontheportspecifiedinthe s o c k a d d r _ i n shouldbehandledbyourspecifiedsocket. The l i s t e n ( ) functionthentellsourprogramtostartlisteningusingthegivensocket.Thesecondparameterof l i s t e n ( ) allowsustospecifythemaximumnumberofconnectionsthatcanbequeued.Eachtimeaconnectionismadetotheserveritisadded tothequeue.Wetakeconnectionsfromthequeueusingthe a c c e p t ( ) function.Ifthereisnoconnectionwaitingonthequeuetheprogramwaitsuntilaconnectionisreceived.The a c c e p t ( ) functionreturnsanothersocket.Thissocketisessentiallya "session"socket,andcanbeusedsolelyforcommunicatingwithconnectionwetookoffthequeue.Theoriginalsocket(m y s o c k e t )continuestolistenonthespecifiedportforfurtherconnections.
106/118
10/24/13
Oncewehave"session"socketwecanhandleitinthesamewayaswiththeclient,using s e n d ( ) and r e c v ( ) tohandledatatransfers. Notethatthisservercanonlyacceptoneconnectionatatimeifyouwanttosimultaneouslyhandlemultipleclientsthenyou'llneedto f o r k ( ) offseparateprocesses,orusethreads,tohandletheconnections.
Usefulnetworkfunctions
i n tg e t h o s t n a m e ( c h a r* h o s t n a m e ,s i z e _ ts i z e ) ;
Theparametersareapointertoanarrayofcharsandthesizeofthatarray.Ifpossible,itfindsthehostnameandstoresitinthearray.Onfailureitreturns1.
s t r u c th o s t e n t* g e t h o s t b y n a m e ( c o n s tc h a r* n a m e ) ;
Thisfunctionobtainsinformationaboutadomainnameandstoresitina h o s t e n t struct.Themostusefulpartofa h o s t e n t structureisthe ( c h a r * * )h _ a d d r _ l i s t field,whichisanullterminatedarrayoftheIPaddressesassociatedwiththatdomain.Thefield h _ a d d r isapointertothefirstIPaddressinthe h _ a d d r _ l i s t array.Returns N U L L onfailure.
FAQs
Whataboutstatelessconnections?
Ifyoudon'twanttoexploitthepropertiesofTCPinyourprogramandwouldratherjustuseaUDPconnection,thenyoucanjustreplace S O C K _ S T R E A M with S O C K _ D G R A M inyourcallto s o c k e t ( ) andusetheresultinthesameway.Itisimportanttorememberthat UDPdoesnotguaranteedeliveryofpacketsandorderofdelivery,socheckingisimportant. IfyouwanttoexploitthepropertiesofUDP,thenyoucanuse s e n d t o ( ) and r e c v f r o m ( ) ,whichoperatelike s e n d ( ) and r e c v ( ) exceptyouneedtoprovideextraparametersspecifyingwhoyouarecommunicatingwith.
HowdoIcheckforerrors?
Thefunctions s o c k e t ( ) , r e c v ( ) and c o n n e c t ( ) allreturn1onfailureanduseerrnoforfurtherdetails.
Commonpractices
Withitsextensiveuse,anumberofcommonpracticesandconventionshaveevolvedtohelpavoiderrorsinCprograms.Thesearesimultaneouslyademonstrationoftheapplicationofgoodsoftwareengineeringprinciplestoalanguageandanindication ofthelimitationsofC.Althoughfewareuseduniversally,andsomearecontroversial,eachoftheseenjoyswideuse.
Dynamicmultidimensionalarrays
Althoughonedimensionalarraysareeasytocreatedynamicallyusingmalloc,andfixedsizemultidimensionalarraysareeasytocreateusingthebuiltinlanguagefeature,dynamicmultidimensionalarraysaretrickier.Thereareanumberofdifferentways tocreatethem,eachwithdifferenttradeoffs.Thetwomostpopularwaystocreatethemare: Theycanbeallocatedasasingleblockofmemory,justlikestaticmultidimensionalarrays.Thisrequiresthatthearraybe rectangular(i.e.subarraysoflowerdimensionsarestaticandhavethesamesize).Thedisadvantageisthatthesyntaxof declarationthepointerisalittletrickyforprogrammersatfirst.Forexample,ifonewantedtocreateanarrayofintsof3columnsand r o w s rows,onewoulddo
i n t( * m u l t i _ a r r a y ) [ 3 ]=m a l l o c ( r o w s*s i z e o f ( i n t [ 3 ] ) ) ;
(Notethathere m u l t i _ a r r a y isapointertoanarrayof3ints.) Becauseofarraypointerinterchangeability,youcanindexthisjustlikestaticmultidimensionalarrays,i.e. m u l t i _ a r r a y [ 5 ] [ 2 ] istheelementatthe6throwand3rdcolumn. Theycanbeallocatedbyfirstallocatinganarrayofpointers,andthenallocatingsubarraysandstoringtheiraddressesinthearrayofpointers(thisapproachisalsoknownasanIliffevector).Thesyntaxforaccessingelementsisthesameasfor multidimensionalarraysdescribedabove(eventhoughtheyarestoredverydifferently).Thisapproachhastheadvantageoftheabilitytomakeraggedarrays(i.e.withsubarraysofdifferentsizes).However,italsousesmorespaceandrequires morelevelsofindirectiontoindexinto,andcanhaveworsecacheperformance.Italsorequiresmanydynamicallocations,eachofwhichcanbeexpensive. Formoreinformation,seethecomp.lang.cFAQ,question6.16(http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/Cfaq/q6.16.html). Insomecases,theuseofmultidimensionalarrayscanbestbeaddressedasanarrayofstructures.Beforeuserdefineddatastructureswereavailable,acommontechniquewastodefineamultidimensionalarray,whereeachcolumncontaineddifferent informationabouttherow.Thisapproachisalsofrequentlyusedbybeginnerprogrammers.Forexample,columnsofatwodimensionalcharacterarraymightcontainlastname,firstname,address,etc. Incaseslikethis,itisbettertodefineastructurethatcontainstheinformationthatwasstoredinthecolumns,andthencreateanarrayofpointerstothatstructure.Thisisespeciallytruewhenthenumberofdatapointsforagivenrecordmightvary,such asthetracksonanalbum.Inthesecases,itisbettertocreateastructureforthealbumthatcontainsinformationaboutthealbum,alongwithadynamicarrayforthelistofsongsonthealbum.Thenanarrayofpointerstothealbumstructurecanbe usedtostorethecollection. Anotherusefulwaytocreateadynamicmultidimensionalarrayistoflattenthearrayandindexmanually.Forexample,a2dimensionalarraywithsizesxandyhasx*yelements,thereforecanbecreatedby
i n td y n a m i c _ m u l t i _ a r r a y [ x * y ] ;
107/118
10/24/13
Theindexisslightlytrickierthanbefore,butcanstillbeobtainedbyy*i+j.Youthenaccessthearraywith
s t a t i c _ m u l t i _ a r r a y [ i ] [ j ] ; d y n a m i c _ m u l t i _ a r r a y [ y * i + j ] ;
Somemoreexampleswithhigherdimensions:
i n td i m 1 [ w ] ; i n td i m 2 [ w * x ] ; i n td i m 3 [ w * x * y ] ; i n td i m 4 [ w * x * y * z ] ; d i m 1 [ i ] d i m 2 [ w * j + i ] ; d i m 3 [ w * ( x * i + j ) + k ]/ /i n d e xi sk+w * j+w * x * i d i m 4 [ w * ( x * ( y * i + j ) + k ) + l ]/ /i n d e xi sw * x * y * i+w * x * j+w * k+l
Notethatw*(x*(y*i+j)+k)+lisequaltow*x*y*i+w*x*j+w*k+l,butusesfeweroperations(seeHorner'sMethod(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horner%27s_method)).Itusesthesamenumberofoperationsasaccessingastaticarraybydim4[i][j][k][l],so shouldnotbeanyslowertouse. Theadvantagetousingthismethodisthatthearraycanbepassedfreelybetweenfunctionswithoutknowingthesizeofthearrayatcompiletime(sinceCseesitasa1dimensionalarray,althoughsomewayofpassingthedimensionsisstillnecessary), andtheentirearrayiscontiguousinmemory,soaccessingconsecutiveelementsshouldbefast.Thedisadvantageisthatitcanbedifficultatfirsttogetusedtohowtoindextheelements.
Constructorsanddestructors
Inmostobjectorientedlanguages,objectscannotbecreateddirectlybyaclientthatwishestousethem.Instead,theclientmustasktheclasstobuildaninstanceoftheobjectusingaspecialroutinecalledaconstructor.Constructorsareimportant becausetheyallowanobjecttoenforceinvariantsaboutitsinternalstatethroughoutitslifetime.Destructors,calledattheendofanobject'slifetime,areimportantinsystemswhereanobjectholdsexclusiveaccesstosomeresource,anditisdesirableto ensurethatitreleasestheseresourcesforusebyotherobjects. SinceCisnotanobjectorientedlanguage,ithasnobuiltinsupportforconstructorsordestructors.Itisnotuncommonforclientstoexplicitlyallocateandinitializerecordsandotherobjects.However,thisleadstoapotentialforerrors,sinceoperationson theobjectmayfailorbehaveunpredictablyiftheobjectisnotproperlyinitialized.Abetterapproachistohaveafunctionthatcreatesaninstanceoftheobject,possiblytakinginitializationparameters,asinthisexample:
s t r u c ts t r i n g{ s i z e _ ts i z e ; c h a r* d a t a ; } ;
s t r u c ts t r i n g* c r e a t e _ s t r i n g ( c o n s tc h a r* i n i t i a l ){ a s s e r t( i n i t i a l! =N U L L ) ; s t r u c ts t r i n g* n e w _ s t r i n g=m a l l o c ( s i z e o f ( * n e w _ s t r i n g ) ) ; i f( n e w _ s t r i n g! =N U L L ){ n e w _ s t r i n g > s i z e=s t r l e n ( i n i t i a l ) ; n e w _ s t r i n g > d a t a=s t r d u p ( i n i t i a l ) ; } r e t u r nn e w _ s t r i n g ; }
Similarly,ifitislefttotheclienttodestroyobjectscorrectly,theymayfailtodoso,causingresourceleaks.Itisbettertohaveanexplicitdestructorwhichisalwaysused,suchasthisone:
v o i df r e e _ s t r i n g ( s t r u c ts t r i n g* s ){ a s s e r t( s! =N U L L ) ; f r e e ( s > d a t a ) ; / *f r e em e m o r yh e l db yt h es t r u c t u r e* / f r e e ( s ) ; / *f r e et h es t r u c t u r ei t s e l f* / }
Itisoftenusefultocombinedestructorswith #Nullingfreedpointers. Sometimesitisusefultohidethedefinitionoftheobjecttoensurethattheclientdoesnotallocateitmanually.Todothis,thestructureisdefinedinthesourcefile(oraprivateheaderfilenotavailabletousers)insteadoftheheaderfile,andaforward declarationisputintheheaderfile:

s t r u c ts t r i n g ; s t r u c ts t r i n g* c r e a t e _ s t r i n g ( c o n s tc h a r* i n i t i a l ) ; v o i df r e e _ s t r i n g ( s t r u c ts t r i n g* s ) ;
Nullingfreedpointers
Asdiscussedearlier,after f r e e ( ) hasbeencalledonapointer,itbecomesadanglingpointer.Worsestill,mostmodernplatformscannotdetectwhensuchapointerisusedbeforebeingreassigned. Onesimplesolutiontothisistoensurethatanypointerissettoanullpointerimmediatelyafterbeingfreed: [18]
108/118
10/24/13
f r e e ( p ) ; p=N U L L ;
Unlikedanglingpointers,ahardwareexceptionwillariseonmanymodernarchitectureswhenanullpointerisdereferenced.Also,programscanincludeerrorchecksforthenullvalue,butnotforadanglingpointervalue.Toensureitisdoneatall locations,amacrocanbeused:
# d e f i n eF R E E ( p ) d o{f r e e ( p ) ;( p )=N U L L ;}w h i l e ( 0 )
(Toseewhythemacroiswrittenthisway,see #Macroconventions.)Also,whenthistechniqueisused,destructorsshouldzerooutthepointerthattheyarepassed,andtheirargumentmustbepassedbyreferencetoallowthis.Forexample,here'sthe destructorfrom #Constructorsanddestructorsupdated:

v o i df r e e _ s t r i n g ( s t r u c ts t r i n g* * s ){ a s s e r t ( s! =N U L L & & * s! =N U L L ) ; F R E E ( ( * s ) > d a t a ) ; / *f r e em e m o r yh e l db yt h es t r u c t u r e* / F R E E ( * s ) ; / *f r e et h es t r u c t u r ei t s e l f* / * s = N U L L ; / *z e r ot h ea r g u m e n t* / }
Unfortunately,thisidiomwillnotdoanythingtoanyotherpointersthatmaybepointingtothefreedmemory.Forthisreason,someCexpertsregardthisidiomasdangerousduetocreatingafalsesenseofsecurity.
Macroconventions
BecausepreprocessormacrosinCworkusingsimpletokenreplacement,theyarepronetoanumberofconfusingerrors,someofwhichcanbeavoidedbyfollowingasimplesetofconventions: 1. Placingparenthesesaroundmacroargumentswhereverpossible.Thisensuresthat,iftheyareexpressions,theorderofoperationsdoesnotaffectthebehavioroftheexpression.Forexample: Wrong: # d e f i n es q u a r e ( x )x * x Better: # d e f i n es q u a r e ( x )( x ) * ( x ) 2. Placingparenthesesaroundtheentireexpressionifitisasingleexpression.Again,thisavoidschangesinmeaningduetotheorderofoperations. Wrong: # d e f i n es q u a r e ( x )( x ) * ( x ) Better: # d e f i n es q u a r e ( x )( ( x ) * ( x ) ) Dangerous,rememberitreplacesthetextinverbatim.Supposeyourcodeis s q u a r e( x + + ) ,afterthemacroinvocationwillxbeincrementedby2 3. Ifamacroproducesmultiplestatements,ordeclaresvariables,itcanbewrappedina do{...} while(0)loop,withnoterminatingsemicolon.Thisallowsthemacrotobeusedlikeasinglestatementinanylocation,suchasthebodyofanif statement,whilestillallowingasemicolontobeplacedafterthemacroinvocationwithoutcreatinganullstatement.Caremustbetakenthatanynewvariablesdonotpotentiallymaskportionsofthemacro'sarguments. Wrong: # d e f i n eF R E E ( p )f r e e ( p ) ;p=N U L L ; Better: # d e f i n eF R E E ( p )d o{f r e e ( p ) ;p=N U L L ;}w h i l e ( 0 ) 4. Avoidingusingamacroargumenttwiceormoreinsideamacro,ifpossiblethiscausesproblemswithmacroargumentsthatcontainsideeffects,suchasassignments. 5. Ifamacromaybereplacedbyafunctioninthefuture,consideringnamingitlikeafunction.
Furtherreading
1. Severalprogrammersrecommend"usespacesforindentation.Donotusetabsinyourcode.Youshouldsetyoureditortoemitspaceswhenyouhitthetabkey."[1](http://googlestyleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml)[2] (http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabsvsspaces.html)Otherprogrammersdisagree.[3](http://diagrammesmodernes.blogspot.com/2006/04/tabversusspaces.html)[4](http://www.derkarl.org/why_to_tabs.html)Regardlessofwhetheryoupreferspacesor tabs,makesureyoukeepitconsistentwithprojectsyouareworkingon,becausemixingtabsandspacescancausecodetobecomeunreadable. 2. [5](http://www.oualline.com/vimcook.html#drawing) 3. [http://lxr.linux.no/#linux+v2.6.31/Documentation/CodingStyleLinuxKernelcodingstandard 4. "CodingConventionsforC++andJava"(http://www.macadamian.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=37)"alltheblockcommentsillustratedinthisdocumenthavenoprettystarsontherightsideoftheblockcomment. Thisdeliberatechoicewasmadebecausealigningthoseprettystarsisalargewasteoftimeanddiscouragesthemaintenanceofinlinecomments.", 5. wiki:BigBlocksOfAsterisks,"Codecraft"(http://books.google.com/books? id=i4zCzpkrt4sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=programming+comment+block+waste+time+lining+up&source=bl&ots=TUpTMIHBnh&sig=NeZm23WPmvnw2aKMnIRUeQoHmJg&hl=en&ei=pri3SevGIYGyNMn9jd4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result) byPeteGoodliffepage82,Falvotech"CProgrammingStyleGuide"(http://www.falvotech.com/content/publications/conventions/c/),FedoraDirectoryServerCodingStyle(http://directory.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Coding_Style) ThereareahugenumberofCstyleguidelines. "CandC++StyleGuides"(http://www.chrislott.org/resources/cstyle/)byChrisLottlistsmanypopularCstyleguides. TheMotorIndustrySoftwareReliabilityAssociation(MISRA)publishes"MISRAC:GuidelinesfortheuseoftheClanguageincriticalsystems".(Wikipedia:MISRAC[7](http://www.misrac.com/)).
Candbeyond Languageextensions
MostCcompilershaveoneormore"extensions"tothestandardClanguage,todothingsthatareinconvenienttodoinstandard,portableC.
109/118
10/24/13
Someexamplesoflanguageextensions: inlineassemblylanguage interruptserviceroutines
variablelengthdatastructure(astructurewhoselastitemisa"zerolengtharray"). [19] resizeablemultidimensionalarrays various"#pragma"settingstocompilequickly,togeneratefastcode,ortogeneratecompactcode. bitmanipulation,especiallybitrotationsandthingsinvolvingthe"carry"bit storagealignment Arrayswhoselengthiscomputedatruntime.
Externallinks
GNUC:ExtensionstotheCLanguage(http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc4.0.2/gcc/CExtensions.html#CExtensions) C/C++interpreterChextensionstotheClanguageforscripting(http://www.softintegration.com/support/faq/general.html#4) SDCC:StorageClassLanguageExtensions(http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/doc/sdccman.html/node56.html) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. GCC:"Optimizecommonrotateconstructs"(http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gccpatches/200711/msg01112.html) "CleanupsinROTL/ROTRDAGcombinercode"(http://www.mailarchive.com/llvmcommits@cs.uiuc.edu/msg17216.html)mentionsthatthiscodesupportsthe"rotate"instructionintheCellSPU "replaceprivatecopyofbitrotationroutines"(http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linuxkernel/2008/4/15/1440064)recommendsincludeing"bitops.h"andusingitsrol32andror32ratherthancopyandpasteintoanewprogram. CFAQ(http://www.cfaq.com/bool/bool2.html) UnderstandingC++/CPreprocessor DavidHart,JonReid."9CodeSmellsofPreprocessorUse"(http://qualitycoding.org/preprocessor/).2012. HPCCompilerReferenceManual(http://docs.hp.com/en/B390190003/ch07s04.html) C++reference:Predefinedpreprocessorvariables(http://www.cppreference.com/wiki/preprocessor/preprocessor_vars) "CompileTimeAssertionsinC"(http://www.jaggersoft.com/pubs/CVu11_3.html)byJonJagger1999 Wikipedia:C++0x#Staticassertions Wirzenius,Lars.CPreprocessorTrickForImplementingSimilarDataTypes(http://liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/cpptrick.html)RetrievedJanuary9,2011. Meyers,Randy(May2001)."TheNewC:XMacros". Dr.Dobb'sJournal.http://www.ddj.com/cpp/184401387.Retrieved1May2008. Beal,Stephan(August2004). Supermacros.http://wanderinghorse.net/computing/papers/#supermacros.Retrieved27October2008. KeithSchwarz."AdvancedPreprocessorTechniques"(http://www.keithschwarz.com/cs106l/spring2009/handouts/080_Preprocessor_2.pdf).2009.Includes"PracticalApplicationsofthePreprocessorII:TheXMacroTrick". Wirzenius,Lars.CPreprocessorTrickForImplementingSimilarDataTypes(http://liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/cpptrick.html)RetrievedJanuary9,2011. C996.2.5/15 "Bug478901...libpng1.2.34andearliermightfreeundefinedpointers"(https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=478901) comp.lang.cFAQlist:"Whyisn'tapointernullaftercallingfree?"(http://cfaq.com/malloc/ptrafterfree.html)mentionsthat"itisoftenusefultoset[pointervariables]toNULLimmediatelyafterfreeingthem". comp.lang.cFAQlist:Question2.6(http://cfaq.com/struct/structhack.html):"C99introducestheconceptofaflexiblearraymember,whichallowsthesizeofanarraytobeomittedifitisthelastmemberinastructure,thusprovidingawell definedsolution."
Mixinglanguages
Assembler
SeeEmbeddedSystems/MixedCandAssemblyProgramming
Cg
Makethemainprogram(forCPU)inC,whichloadsandruntheCgprogram(forGPU). [1][2][3]
HeaderFiles
AddtoCprogram: [4]
# i n c l u d e< C g / c g . h >/ *T oi n c l u d et h ec o r eC gr u n t i m eA P Ii n t oy o u r p r o g r a m* / # i n c l u d e< C g / c g G L . h > / *t oi n c l u d et h eO p e n G L s p e c i f i cC gr u n t i m eA P I* /
Java
UsingtheJavanativeinterface(JNI),JavaapplicationscancallClibraries. Seealso
110/118
10/24/13
Java_Programming/Keywords/native
Perl
TomixPerlandC,wecanuseXS.XSisaninterfacedescriptionfileformatusedtocreateanextensioninterfacebetweenPerlandCcode(oraClibrary)whichonewishestousewithPerl. Thebasicprocedureisverysimple.Wecancreatethenecessarysubdirectorystructurebyrunning"h2xs"application(e.g."h2xsAnModulename").ThiswillcreateamongothersaMakefile.PL,a.pmPerlmoduleanda.xsXSUBfileinthe subdirectorytree.Wecaneditthe.xsfilebyaddingourcodetothat,let'ssay:
v o i d h e l l o ( ) C O D E : p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,w o r l d ! \ n " ) ;
andwecansuccessfullyuseournewcommandatPerlside,afterrunninga"perlMakefile.PL"and"make". Furtherdetailscanbefoundontheperlxstut(http://perldoc.perl.org/perlxstut.html)perldoc(http://perldoc.perl.org)page.
Python Forfurtherreading
EmbeddedSystems/MixedCandAssemblyProgramming
References
1. 2. 3. 4. Lesson:47fromNeHeProductions(http://nehe.gamedev.net/data/lessons/lesson.asp?lesson=47) CgBumpmappingbyRazvanSurdulescuatGameDev(http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article1903.asp) [http://www.fusionindustries.com/default.asp?page=cghlslfaq|Cg&HLSLShadingLanguageFAQbyFusionIndustries] http://http.developer.nvidia.com/CgTutorial/cg_tutorial_appendix_b.htmlNVidiaCgtutorial.AppendixB.TheCgRuntime
Codelibrary
ThefollowingisanimplementationoftheStandardC99versionof < a s s e r t . h > :
/ *a s s e r t . hh e a d e r* / # u n d e fa s s e r t # i f d e fN D E B U G # d e f i n ea s s e r t ( _ I g n o r e )( ( v o i d ) 0 ) # e l s e v o i d_ A s s e r t f a i l ( c h a r* ,c h a r* ,i n t ,c h a r* ) ; # d e f i n ea s s e r t ( _ T e s t )( ( _ T e s t ) ? ( ( v o i d ) 0 ) : _ A s s e r t f a i l ( # _ T e s t , _ _ F I L E _ _ , _ _ L I N E _ _ , _ _ f u n c _ _ ) ) # e n d i f / *E N DO FF I L E* / / *x a s s e r t f a i l . c-_ A s s e r t f a i lf u n c t i o n* / # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< a s s e r t . h > v o i d _ A s s e r t f a i l ( c h a r* t e s t ,c h a r* f i l e n a m e ,i n tl i n e _ n u m b e r ,c h a r* f u n c t i o n _ n a m e ) { f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," A s s e r t i o nf a i l e d :% s ,f u n c t i o n% s ,f i l e% s ,l i n e% d . " , t e s t ,f u n c t i o n _ n a m e ,f i l e n a m e ,l i n e _ n u m b e r ) ; a b o r t ( ) ; } / *E N DO FF I L E* /
ComputerProgramming
ThefollowingarticlesareCadaptationsfromarticlesoftheComputerprogrammingbook.
Statements
A statementisacommandgiventothecomputerthatinstructsthecomputertotakeaspecificaction,suchasdisplaytothescreen,orcollectinput.Acomputerprogramismadeupofaseriesofstatements.
p u t s( " H it h e r e ! " ) ;
111/118
10/24/13
p u t s( " H it h e r e ! " ) ; p u t s( " S t r a n g et h i n g sa r ea f o o t . . . " ) ;
CReferenceTables
ThissectionhassometablesandlistsofCentities.
ReferenceTables
ListofKeywords
ANSIC(C89)/ISOC(C90)keywords:
a u t o b r e a k c a s e c h a r c o n s t c o n t i n u e d e f a u l t d o
d o u b l e e l s e e n u m e x t e r n f l o a t f o r g o t o i f
i n t l o n g r e g i s t e r r e t u r n s h o r t s i g n e d s i z e o f s t a t i c
s t r u c t s w i t c h t y p e d e f u n i o n u n s i g n e d v o i d v o l a t i l e w h i l e
KeywordsaddedtoISOC(C99)(Supportedonlyinnewcompilers):
_ B o o l _ C o m p l e x
_ I m a g i n a r y i n l i n e
r e s t r i c t( h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / R e s t r i c t )
Specificcompilersmay(inanonstandardcompliantmode)alsotreatsomeotherwordsaskeywords,including a s m , c d e c l , f a r , f o r t r a n , h u g e , i n t e r r u p t , n e a r , p a s c a l , t y p e o f . VeryoldcompilersmaynotrecognizesomeoralloftheC89keywords c o n s t , e n u m , s i g n e d , v o i d , v o l a t i l e aswellastheC99keywords. Seealsothelistofreservedidentifiers(http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/comphelp/v7v91/topic/com.ibm.vacpp7a.doc/language/ref/clrc02reserved_identifiers.htm).
ListofStandardHeaders
ANSIC(C89)/ISOC(C90)headers:
< a s s e r t . h > < c t y p e . h > < e r r n o . h > < f l o a t . h >
< l i m i t s . h > < l o c a l e . h > < m a t h . h > < s e t j m p . h >
< s i g n a l . h > < s t d a r g . h > < s t d d e f . h > < s t d i o . h >
< s t d l i b . h > < s t r i n g . h > < t i m e . h >
Veryoldcompilersmaynotincludesomeorallofthefollowingheaders: HeadersaddedtoISOC(C94/C95)inAmendment1(AMD1):

< w c h a r . h >
< w c t y p e . h >
HeadersaddedtoISOC(C99)(Supportedonlyinnewcompilers):
< c o m p l e x . h > < f e n v . h >
 < s t d b o o l . h >
< s t d i n t . h > < t g m a t h . h >
112/118
10/24/13
TableofOperators
Operatorsinthesamerowofthistablehavethesame precedenceandtheorderofevaluationisdecidedbythe associativity(lefttoright or righttoleft ).Operatorsclosertothetopofthistablehave higherprecedencethanthoseinasubsequent group. Operators Description Postfixoperators ExampleUsage Associativity
( ) [ ]
functioncalloperator arrayindexoperator memberaccessoperator foranobjectofstruct/uniontype orareferencetoit memberaccessoperator forapointertoanobjectof struct/uniontype
s w a p( x ,y ) a r r[ i ]
Lefttoright
o b j . m e m b e r
>
p t r > m e m b e r
UnaryOperators
! ~
logicalnotoperator bitwisenotoperator unaryplus/minusoperators
! e o f _ r e a c h e d ~ m a s k n u m
[1] ++ ++ +& * s i z e o f s i z e o f ( ) ( t y p e )
postincrement/decrementoperators n u m + + preincrement/decrementoperators + + n u m addressofoperator indirectionoperator sizeofoperator forexpressions sizeofoperator fortypes castoperator

& d a t a * p t r s i z e o f1 2 3 s i z e o f( i n t ) ( f l o a t ) i
Righttoleft
MultiplicativeOperators
*/%
multiplication,divisionand modulusoperators
Lefttoright
c e l s i u s _ d i f f*9 . 0/5 . 0
AdditiveOperators
+-
Lefttoright
e n d-s t a r t+1
additionandsubtractionoperators
BitwiseShiftOperators Lefttoright
< < > >
leftshiftoperator rightshiftoperator
b i t s< <s h i f t _ l e n b i t s> >s h i f t _ l e n
RelationalInequalityOperators
113/118
10/24/13
<>< => =

lessthan,greaterthan,lessthanor i<n u m _ e l e m e n t s equalto,greaterthanorequalto operators Lefttoright
RelationalEqualityOperators
= =! =
equalto,notequalto
Lefttoright
c h o i c e! =' n '
BitwiseAndOperator
& b i t s&c l e a r _ m a s k _ c o m p l e m e n t
Lefttoright
BitwiseXorOperator
^ b i t s^i n v e r t _ m a s k
Lefttoright
BitwiseOrOperator
| b i t s|s e t _ m a s k
Lefttoright
LogicalAndOperator
& & a r r! =0& &a r r > l e n! =0
Lefttoright
LogicalOrOperator
| |
seeLogicalExpressions ConditionalOperator
Lefttoright
a r r= =0| |a r r > l e n= =0
Righttoleft
? : s i z e! =0?s i z e:0
AssignmentOperators
= + ==* =/ = % =& =| =^ = < < => > =
assignmentoperator shorthandassignmentoperators (f o oo p =b a r represents

f o o=f o oo pb a r )
i=0
Righttoleft
n u m/ =1 0
CommaOperator
, i=0 ,j=i+1 ,k=0
Lefttoright
TableofOperatorsFootnotes
[1]Veryoldcompilersmaynotrecognizetheunary + operator.
TableofDataTypes
Type SizeinBits Comments PrimitiveTypesinANSIC(C89)/ISOC(C90) AlternativeNames
114/118
10/24/13

s i z e o f givesthesizeinunitsof c h a r s.These"Cbytes"neednotbe8bitbytes(thoughcommonlytheyare)thenumberofbitsis
givenbythe C H A R _ B I T macrointhe l i m i t s . h header.

c h a r
Signednessisimplementationdefined. Anyencodingof8bitsorless(e.g.ASCII)canbeusedtostorecharacters. Integeroperationscanbeperformedportablyonlyfortherange0~127. Allbitscontributetothevalueofthe char,i.e.thereareno"holes"or"padding"bits.
s i g n e dc h a r
sameas c h a r
Charactersstoredlikefortype c h a r . Canstoreintegersintherange127~127portably[1].
u n s i g n e dc h a r
sameas c h a r
Charactersstoredlikefortype c h a r . Canstoreintegersintherange0~255portably.
s h o r t
16,sizeof c h a r
Canstoreintegersintherange32767~32767portably[2]. Usedtoreducememoryusage(althoughtheresultingexecutablemaybelargerandprobablyslowerascomparedtousing i n t .
s h o r ti n t , s i g n e ds h o r t , s i g n e ds h o r t i n t
u n s i g n e ds h o r t
sameas s h o r t
Canstoreintegersintherange0~65535portably. Usedtoreducememoryusage(althoughtheresultingexecutablemaybelargerandprobablyslowerascomparedtousing i n t .
u n s i g n e ds h o r ti n t
i n t
16,sizeof s h o r t
Representsthe"normal"sizeofdatatheprocessordealswith(thewordsize)thisistheintegraldatatypeusednormally. Canstoreintegersintherange32767~32767portably[2].
s i g n e d , s i g n e di n t
u n s i g n e di n t
sameas i n t
Canstoreintegersintherange0~65535portably.
u n s i g n e d
l o n g
32,sizeof i n t
Canstoreintegersintherange2147483647~2147483647portably[3].
l o n gi n t , s i g n e dl o n g , s i g n e dl o n gi n t
u n s i g n e dl o n g
sameas l o n g
u n s i g n e dl o n gi n t
f l o a t
sizeof c h a r
Usedtoreducememoryusagewhenthevaluesuseddonotvarywidely. ThefloatingpointformatusedisimplementationdefinedandneednotbetheIEEEsingleprecisionformat. u n s i g n e d cannotbespecified.
d o u b l e
sizeof f l o a t
Representsthe"normal"sizeofdatatheprocessordealswiththisisthefloatingpointdatatypeusednormally. ThefloatingpointformatusedisimplementationdefinedandneednotbetheIEEEdoubleprecisionformat. u n s i g n e d cannotbespecified.
l o n gd o u b l e
sizeof d o u b l e
u n s i g n e d cannotbespecified.
115/118
10/24/13
PrimitiveTypesaddedtoISOC(C99)
l o n gl o n gi n t , s i g n e dl o n gl o n g , s i g n e d l o n gl o n gi n t
l o n gl o n g
64,sizeof l o n g
Canstoreintegersintherange9223372036854775807~9223372036854775807portably[4].
u n s i g n e dl o n gl o n g
sameas l o n gl o n g
u n s i g n e dl o n gl o n gi n t
i n t m a x _ t
themaximumwidthsupportedby theplatform
Canstoreintegersintherange(1<<n1)+1~(1<<n1)1,with'n'thewidthofintmax_t. Usedbythe"j"lengthmodifierintheCProgramming/FileIO#Formattedoutputfunctions:theprintffamilyoffunctions.
u i n t m a x _ t
sameas i n t m a x _ t
Canstoreintegersintherange0~(1<<n)1,with'n'thewidthofuintmax_t.
UserDefinedTypes
s t r u c t
sumofsizeofeachmember
Saidtobean aggregatetype.
u n i o n
sizeofthelargestmember
Saidtobean aggregatetype.
e n u m
sizeof c h a r
Enumerationsareaseparatetypefrom i n t s,thoughtheyaremutuallyconvertible.
t y p e d e f
sameasthetypebeinggivena name
t y p e d e f hassyntaxsimilartoastorageclasslike s t a t i c , r e g i s t e r or e x t e r n .
DerivedTypes[5]
0 alwaysrepresentsthenullpointer(anaddresswherenodatacanbeplaced),irrespectiveofwhatbitsequencerepresentsthe
t y p e *
sizeof c h a r (pointer)
valueofanullpointer. Pointerstodifferenttypesmayhavedifferentrepresentations,whichmeanstheycouldalsobeofdifferentsizes.Sotheyarenot convertibletooneanother. Eveninanimplementationwhichguarantessalldatapointerstobeofthesamesize,functionpointersanddatapointersarein generalincompatiblewitheachother. Forfunctionstakingvariablenumberofarguments,theargumentspassedmustbeofappropriatetype,soeven 0 mustbecast totheappropriatetypeinsuchfunctioncalls.
[ 6 ] t y p e[ i n t e g e r ]
Thebrackets([ ] ) followtheidentifiernameinadeclaration. integersizeof t y p e Inadeclarationwhichalsoinitializesthearray(includingafunctionparameterdeclaration),thesizeofthearray(the integer)can
116/118
10/24/13
(array)

beomitted. t y p e[ ] isnotthesameas t y p e * .Onlyundersomecircumstancesonecanbeconvertedtotheother.
t y p e( c o m m a d e l i m i t e dl i s to f t y p e s / d e c l a r a t i o n s )
Functionsdeclaredwithoutanystorageclassare e x t e r n . Theparentheses(( ) ) followtheidentifiernameinadeclaration,e.g.a2argfunctionpointer: i n t( *f p t r )( i n ta r g 1 ,i n ta r g 2 ) .
(function)
TableofDataTypesFootnotes
[1]128canbestoredintwo'scomplementmachines(i.e.mostmachinesinexistence).Veryoldcompilersmaynotrecognizethe s i g n e d keyword. [2]32768canbestoredintwo'scomplementmachines(i.e.mostmachinesinexistence).Veryoldcompilersmaynotrecognizethe s i g n e d keyword. [3]2147483648canbestoredintwo'scomplementmachines(i.e.mostmachinesinexistence).Veryoldcompilersmaynotrecognizethe s i g n e d keyword. [4]9223372036854775808canbestoredintwo'scomplementmachines(i.e.mostmachinesinexistence). [5]Theprecedencesinadeclarationare:
[ ] , ( ) (leftassociative)Highest * (rightassociative)Lowest
[6]ThestandardsdoNOTplaceanyrestrictiononthesize/typeoftheinteger,it'simplementationdependent.Theonlymentioninthestandardsisareferencethatanimplementationmayhavelimitstothemaximumsizeofmemoryblockwhichcanbe
allocated,andassuchthelimitonintegerwillbesize_of_max_block/sizeof(type).
Compilers
Free(orwithafreeversion)
Ch_interpreter(http://www.softintegration.com)ThesoftwareworksinWindows,Linux,MacOSX,Freebsd,Solaris,AIXandHPUX.TheChStandardEditionisfreefornoncommercialuse. lccwin32(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lccwin32)SoftwarecopyrightedbyJacobNavia.Itisfreefornoncommercialuse.Windows(98/ME/XP/2000/NT). GNUCompilerCollection(http://gcc.gnu.org)GNUCompilerCollection.GNUGeneralPublicLicense/GNULesserGeneralPublicLicense. MinGW(http://www.mingw.org/)providesGCCforWindows OpenWatcom(http://www.openwatcom.org)OpenSourcedevelopmentcommunitytomaintainandenhancetheWatcomC/C++andFortrancrosscompilersandtools.Version1.4releasedinDecember2005. HostPlatforms:Win32systems(IDEandcommandline),32bitOS/2(IDEandcommandline),DOS(commandline),andWindows3.x(IDE) TargetPlatforms:DOS(16bit),Windows3.x(16bit),OS/21.x(16bit),ExtendedDOS,Win32s,Windows95/98/Me,WindowsNT/2000/XP,32bitOS/2,andNovellNLMs Experimental/Development:Linux,BSD,*nix,PowerPC,AlphaAXP,MIPS,andSparcv8 TinyCCompiler PortableCCompiler(http://pcc.ludd.ltu.se)PortableCCompiler.BSDStyleLicense(s). SmallDeviceCCompiler(SDCC) targetplatforms:Intel8051compatiblesFreescale(Motorola)HC08MicrochipPIC16andPIC18. FpgaC.Targetplatform:FPGAhardwareviaXNForVHDLfiles. InteractiveC(http://www.botball.org/educationalresources/ic.php). targetplatform:HandyBoard(Freescale68HC11)LegoRCX Ccompilersformanydigitalsignalprocessors(DSPs),manyofthemfree,arelistedinthecomp.dspFAQ(http://www.bdti.com/faq/3.htm).
Commercial
IntelCCompiler(http://software.intel.com/enus/intelcompilers)Windows,Linux,Mac,QNX,andembeddedC/C++compilers.OptimizedforIntel32bitand64bitCPUs. MicrosoftVisualC++(http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc)Free(partiallylimited)versionavailable(Expressedition) ImpulseCTargetplatform:FPGAhardwareviaHardwareDescriptionLanguage(HDL)files. Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=C_Programming/Print_version&oldid=2361350"
117/118
10/24/13
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon9June2012,at08:12.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution/ShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.
118/118

C Programming

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

C Programming

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

10/24/13

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Freefornoncommercial Smallopensourcecompiler. use

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

VisualC++(http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/enus/products/2010 editions/visualcppexpress) CodeLite(http://codelite.org/) Code::Blocks(http://codeblocks.org/)

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

functionineveryfile.The int atthebeginningmeansthatmainwillreturnanintegertotheoperatingsystemwhenitisfinished.

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s t d l i b . h > i n tm a i n (i n ta r g c ,c h a r * *a r g v ){ p r i n t f ( " H e l l oW O r l d !\ n " ) ; r e t u r n0 ; }

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > a i n i 2 .i n tm ( v o i d ) {i n ti = 0 ;p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ;f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) {p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ;b r e a k ;}r e t u r n0 ;}

1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > a i n 2 .i n tm ( v o i d ) 3 .{ 4 .i n ti = 0 ; 5 .p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; i 6 .f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) 7 .{ 8 .p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; 9 .b r e a k ; 1 0 .} 1 1 .r e t u r n0 ; 1 2 .}

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Allcodeinsideanewblockshouldbeindentedbyonetab[1]morethanthecodeinthepreviouspath. Basedonthecodefromtheprevioussection,therearetwoblocksrequiringindentation: Lines5to13 Lines10and11

automaticallyindent appropriatelywhenyou hittheenter/returnkey.

1 .# i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > 2 . a i n 3 .i n tm ( v o i d ) 4 .{ 5 . i n ti = 0 ; 6 . 7 . p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; i 8 . f o r( = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) 9 . { 1 0 . p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; 1 1 . b r e a k ; 1 2 . } 1 3 . r e t u r n0 ; 1 4 .}

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ){ p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; } r e t u r n0 ; }

areanewfeature,so manyCprogrammers onlyusemultiline comments.

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; / *F O RL O O P( i n ti ) P r i n t san e wl i n et os t a n d a r do u t p u t ,a n de x i t s* / f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; / / E x i t s' f o r 'l o o p . } r e t u r n0 ; }

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Thisstatementmeanswe'redeclaringsomespaceforavariablecalledsome_number,whichwillbeusedtostore i n t egerdata.Notethatwemustspecifythetypeofdatathatavariablewillstore.Therearespecifickeywordstodothiswe'lllookatthem inthenextsection. Multiplevariablescanbedeclaredwithonestatement,likethis:

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Thisisbecausetheassignment x=y returnsthevalueoftheassignment. x=y=z isreallyshorthandfor x=( y=z ) .

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Thisis goodprogrammingpracticeinthatitallowsapersonreadingyourcodetounderstandthatletter1isbeinginitializedwiththeletter'a'tostartoffwith. Thesecondway,whichshould not beusedwhenyouarecodinglettercharacters,istowrite

doubles.Examplesare:3.1415926f,4.0f,6.022e+23f. f l o a t variablescanbedeclaredusingthe f l o a t keyword.

Thetwoexpressionsabovereturnthesizeoftheobjectandtypespecified,inbytes.Thereturntypeis s i z e _ t (definedintheheader < s t d d e f . h > )whichisanunsignedvalue.Here'sanexampleusage:

Notethatwhen s i z e o f isappliedtoa c h a r ,theresultis1thatis:

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Whenyouwriteprograms,youcancreatewhatisknownasa macro,sowhenthecomputerisreadingyourcode,itwillreplaceallinstancesofawordwiththespecifiedexpression. Here'sanexample.Ifyouwrite

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

e x t e r n isusedwhenafileneedstoaccessavariableinanotherfilethatitmaynothave # i n c l u d e ddirectly.Therefore, externdoesnotactuallycarveoutspaceforanewvariable,itjustprovidesthecompilerwithsufficientinformationtoaccesstheremote

variable. Featuresof e x t e r n a l variable:

defined v o l a t i l e thenthecompilermayassumethatcertainoperationsinvolvingthevariablearesafetooptimizeawaywheninfacttheyaren't. volatileisparticularlyrelevantwhenworkingwithembeddedsystems(whereaprogrammaynothavecomplete controlofavariable)andmultithreadedapplications.

declareditemswithinablockareimplicitly"automatic".Forthisreason,the autokeywordismoreliketheanswertoatriviaquestionthanausefulmodifier,andtherearelotsofverycompetentprogrammersthatareunawareofitsexistence. Featuresof a u t o m a t i c variables:

fact,ANSICstatesthatacompilercanignorethiskeywordifitsodesiresandmanydo.MicrosoftVisualC++isanexampleofanimplementationthatcompletelyignoresthe registerkeyword. Featuresof r e g i s t e r variables:

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

butherewearestuck! p r i n t f onlyprintsstrings!Thankfully,printfhasmethodsforprintingnumbers.Whatwedoisputa placeholderformatcodeinthestring.Wewrite:

Whatwecandoisusethenewline escapecharacter.Anescapecharacterisaspecialcharacterthatwecanwritebutwilldosomethingspecialonscreen,suchasmakeabeep,writeatab,andsoon.Towriteanewlinewewrite \ n .Allescapecharacters startwithabackslash. Sotoachievetheoutputabove,wewrite

Thereareotherescapecharacterswecanuse.Anothercommononeistouse \ t towriteatab.Youcanuse \ a toringthecomputer'sbell,butyoushouldnotusethisverymuchinyourprograms,asexcessiveuseofsoundisnotveryfriendlytothe user.Media:CProgramming/Printversion

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Ifyouweretodescribetheeffectofthescanf()functioncallabove,itmightreadas:"Readinanintegerfromtheuserandstoreitattheaddressofvariable a". Ifyouaretryingtoinputa stringusing scanf ,youshould notincludethe&operator.Thecodebelowwillnotcompile.

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Thekeyword s i z e o f followedbyaunaryexpressionisaunaryexpression.Thevalueisthesizeofthetypeoftheexpressioninbytes.Theexpressionisnotevaluated. Thekeyword s i z e o f followedbyaparenthesizedtypenameisaunaryexpression.Thevalueisthesizeofthetypeinbytes.

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

andcompileittoasingle32bitrotateinstruction. [1] [2] Onsomesystems,thismaybe"#define"edasamacroordefinedasaninlinefunctioncalledsomethinglike"rightrotate32"or"rotr32"or"ror32"inastandardheaderfilelike"bitops.h". [3]

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

i n tx=7 ; i n ty=5 ; i f ( x= =7& &y= =5 ){ . . . }

/ *U s et h es a m ev a r i a b l e sa sb e f o r e .* / i f ( x= =2| |y= =5 ){/ /t h e| |s t a t e m e n tc h e c k sb o t he x p r e s s i o n s ,f i n d st h a tt h el a t t e ri st r u e ,a n dr e t u r n st r u e . . . }

i n tx=0 ; i n ty ; y=( x?1 0 : 6 ) ;

C Programming/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Theexpression x evaluatesto0.Theternaryoperatorthenlooksforthe"iffalse"value,whichinthiscase,is6.Itreturnsthat,so y isequaltosix.Had x beenanonzero,thentheexpressionwouldhavereturneda10.

/ *t h i sl o o pi n i t i a l i z e sxa n dit o0 ,t h e nr u n st h el o o p* / f o r ( x=0 ,i=0 ;i< =6 ;i + + ){ p r i n t f ( " x=% d ,a n di=% d \ n " ,x ,i ) ; }

Thea t a n anda t a n 2 functions

p r i n t f ( " H e l l o ,W o r l d ! " ) ; / F O RL O O P( i n ti ) P r i n t san e wl i n et os t a n d a r do u t p u t ,a n de x i t s / f o r( i = 0 ;i < 1 ;i + + ) { p r i n t f ( " \ n " ) ; b r e a k ; / / E x i t s' f o r 'l o o p . } r e t u r n0 ; }

/ U s et h es a m ev a r i a b l e sa sb e f o r e . / i f ( x= =2| |y= =5 ){/ /t h e| |s t a t e m e n tc h e c k sb o t he x p r e s s i o n s ,f i n d st h a tt h el a t t e ri st r u e ,a n dr e t u r n st r u e . . . }

/ t h i sl o o pi n i t i a l i z e sxa n dit o0 ,t h e nr u n st h el o o p / f o r ( x=0 ,i=0 ;i< =6 ;i + + ){ p r i n t f ( " x=% d ,a n di=% d \ n " ,x ,i ) ; }

asctime(structtmtmptr) clock_tclock() charctime(consttime_t*timer)