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PROBLEM SOLVING

THROUGH
PROGRAMMING

Dr. V. Vasanta Kumar


T. Ravi Kumar
M.V. Anjaneyulu
M.Srinivas
E. Sridevi
D.B.K. Kamesh
P. Sowjanya
Sk. Razia
B. Aruna

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

K L UNIVERSITY
PROBLEM SOLVING
THROUGH
PROGRAMMING

Second print : Dec, 2012


Cost : NOT FOR SALE (For internal circulation only)
Preface

This book is intended for an introductory course on programming in


C. An attempt is made to teach the readers of the book not just the syntax of C
language, but the problem solving approach through programming. Since C is
widely accepted and used language jumping to object oriented programming
Languages such c++ and java much becomes easier for a person who is well
acquainted with C.

The objective of this book is only for preliminary guidance for entrance
from intermediate education to technical education to get complete understanding
and acquiring the required skill in problem solving through C. Students will
undergo the suggested reading mentioned at the end of each chapter.
CONTENTS
Page
S.No Name of the Topic
No
1 PROBLEM SOLVING 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Problem solving techniques 2
1.2.1 Problem definition phase 2
1.2.2 Getting started on a problem 2
1.2.3 The use of specific examples 2
1.2.4 Similarities among problems 3
1.2.5 Working backwards from the solution 3
1.3 Using computer as a problem-solving toll 3
1.4 Design of algorithms 3
1.4.1 Definition 3
1.4.2 Features of Algorithm 3
1.4.3 Criteria to be followed by an algorithm 4
1.4.4 Top down Design 7
1.5 Flow charts 8
1.5.1 Flowchart Symbols 8
1.5.2 Significance of flowchart 8
1.5.3 Guidelines for drawing a flowchart 9
1.5.4 Advantages of using Flowcharts 17
1.5.5 Limitations of using Flowcharts 17
1.6 Language 17
1.7 Program and a programming language 17
1.7.1 Machine level Language 17
1.7.2 Assembly language 18
1.7.3 High level language 18
Summary 18
Multiple choice questions 19
Comprehensive questions 19

2 BASICS OF C 20
2.1 Overview of C 20
2.1.1 History of C 20
2.1.2 Features of C 20
2.2 Structure of C Program 21
2.2.1 A sample C Program 21
2.2.2 Compiling a C Program 22
2.2.3 Link and Run the C Program 22
2.3 Character set, identifiers, keywords and variables 22
2.3.1 Character set 22
2.3.2 Identifiers 23
2.3.3 Key words 23
2.4 Constants 23
2.4.1 Integer constants 24
2.4.2 Real constants 25
2.4.3 Character constants 26
2.4.4 Backslash character constants 27
2.5 Data Types 27
2.5.1 Integer data type 28
2.5.2 Floating point data type 28
2.5.3 Character data type 29
2.5.4 Void data type 29
2.5.5 Complex data type 29
2.5.6 Boolean data type 29
2.5.7 Pointer data type 30
2.6 Declaration of variables 30
2.7 Assigning values to the variables 30
2.8 Input function- scanf() 32
2.9 Output function - printf() 32
2.10 Operators and Expressions 35
2.10.1 Arithmetic Operators 36
2.10.2 Relational Operators 36
2.10.3 Logical Operators 37
2.10.4 Increment and Decrement Operator 38
2.10.5 Assignment Operator 40
2.10.6 Conditional Operator 41
2.10.7 Special Operators 42
2.11 Operator Precedence and Associativity 43
2.12 Type conversion 44
Summary 45
Multiple choice questions 45
Comprehensive questions 51

3 CONTROL STATEMENTS
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Simple & Compound Statements 54
3.2.1 Simple statements 54
3.2.2 Compound statements 54
3.3 Null & Expression Statements 55
3.3.1 Null statements 55
3.3.2 Expression statements 55
3.4 Decision making & Branching (Selection) 55
3.4.1 if-statement 55
3.4.1.1 The simple if-statement 55
3.4.1.2 The if-else statement 56
3.4.1.3 The nested if-else statement 58
3.4.1.4 The else-if ladder 59
3.4.2 The switch statement 60
3.5 Looping or Iteration Statements 62
3.5.1 The while loop 62
3.5.2 The for loop 63
3.5.3 The do-while loop 68
3.6 Nested Control Structures 68
3.7 Jump Statements 68
3.7.1 The goto statement 69
3.7.2 The break statement 70
3.7.3 The continue statement 70
Summary 71
Multiple choice questions 72
Comprehensive questions 84

4 ARRAYS
4.1 Introduction 89
4.2 Array declaration 90
4.2.1 Declaration of one dimensional arrays 90
4.3 Subscript 91
4.4 Storage of one-dimensional arrays in memory 91
4.5 Initialization of array 92
4.5.1 Compile time initialization 92
4.5.2 Run time initialization 93
4.6 Two-dimensional arrays 99
4.7 Initialization of two-dimensional array 100
Summary 107
Multiple choice questions 107
Comprehensive questions 111

5 FUNCTIONS
5.1 Introduction 112
5.2 Structure of a function 113
5.3 Calling a Function 115
5.3.1 Calling function with no return value 116
5.3.2 Calling function with a return value 117
5.3.3 Calling a function with arguments 117
5.4 Function Prototypes 120
5.5 Categories of Functions 122
5.5.1 Functions with arguments and return value 122
5.5.2 Functions with arguments and no return value 123
5.5.3 Functions with no arguments and return value 123
5.5.4 Functions with no arguments and no return value 124
5.6 Passing Arrays to functions 125
5.6.1 Functions with one dimensional arrays 125
5.6.2 Functions with two dimensional arrays 126
5.7 Built-In Functions 129
5.8 Recursion 131
5.9 Global & Local Variables 131
5.9.1 Global & Local Variables 132
5.10 Storage Classes 134
5.10.1 Automatic Variables 134
5.10.2 External variables 136
5.10.3 Static variables 137
5.9.2.3 Register variables 138

Summary 139
Multiple choice questions 141
Comprehensive questions 145

6 POINTERS AND DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION


6.1 Introduction 147
6.2 What is a pointer? 148
6.3 Declaration of pointer variables 148
6.4 Pointer to a pointer 150
6.5 Pointer expressions &pointer arithmetic: 151
6.6 Passing pointers to a function 153
6.7 Pointers and arrays 154
6.8 Pointers and two dimensional / multidimensional arrays 158
6.9 Functions returning pointers 162
6.10 Dynamic memory allocation 163
Summary 168
Multiple choice questions 168
Comprehensive questions 179

7 DATA INPUT AND OUTPUT


7.1 Introduction 180
7.2 Single character input output 180
7.2.1 getchar() function 180
7.2.2 putchar() function 182
7.3 String input and output 183
7.3.1 gets() function 183
7.3.2 puts() function 183
7.4 Formatted input 184
7.4.1 Commonly used format specifications 185
7.4.2 Input specifications for integer 185
7.4.3 Input specifications for floating point constants 186
7.4.4 Input specifications for single character and strings. 187
7.4.5 Reading mixed data types 189
7.5 Formatted output 190
7.5.1 Output of integer numbers 190
7.5.2 Output of floating point constants 191
7.5.3 Printing of single character 191
7.5.4 Printing of single strings 192
7.5.5 Mixed data output 192
7.5.6 Commonly used printf() format codes 192
7.5.7 Output format flags 193
Review questions 194
Comprehensive questions 195
8 STRINGS
8.1 Introduction 197
8.2 Declaring and initializing strings 197
8.3 Reading strings from keyboard 199
8.4 Writing strings to the screen 201
8.5 String manipulation functions 202
8.6 Array of strings 207
8.7 Pointers to strings 208
Summary 213
Review questions 213
Multiple choice questions 214
Comprehensive questions 216

9 STRUCTURES, UNIONS AND ENUMERATED DATA


TYPES
9.0 typedef
9.0 typedef 218
9.1 Introduction 218
224
9.2 Structure type declaration 224
219
9.3 Declaring structure variable 220
9.4 Accessing structure members 222
9.5 Array of structures 224
9.6 Nested structures 227
9.7 Structures and functions 230
9.8 Unions 233
9.9 Enumerated data types 234
9.9.1 Operations on enumerated type 235
Summary 236
Review questions 237
Multiple choice questions 238
Comprehensive questions 239

10 FILE PROCESSING
10.1 Introduction 241
10.2 File operations 243
10.2.1 Creating a new file / Opening an existing file 243
10.2.2 Closing a file 244
10.3 File Input/ Output functions 245
10.3.1 Character data oriented functions 246
10.3.2 String data oriented functions 249
10.3.3 Mixed data oriented functions 250
10.4 Programs using files 251
Summary 253
Review questions 254
Comprehensive questions 254
Chapter 1
PROBLEM SOLVING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this chapter, the readers will be able to:
apply problem solving techniques;
define an algorithm and its features;
describe the analysis of the algorithm efficiency;
discuss the analysis of algorithm complexity; and
design flowchart

1.1 INTRODUCTION
In our daily life, we routinely encounter and solve problems. We pose problems that we need or
want to solve. For this, we make use of available resources, and solve them. Some categories of resources
include: the time and efforts of yours and others; tools; information; and money. Some of the problems
that you encounter and solve are quite simple. But some others may be very complex.
In this unit we introduce you to the concepts of problem-solving, especially as they pertain to computer
programming.
The problem-solving is a skill and there are no universal approaches one can take to solving
problems. Basically one must explore possible avenues to a solution one by one until she/he comes across
a right path to a solution. In general, as one gains experience in solving problems, one develop ones own
techniques and strategies, though they are often intangible. Problem-solving skills are recognized as an
integral component of computer programming. It is a demand and intricate process which is equally
important throughout the project life cycle especially study, designing, development, testing and
implementation stages. The computer problem solving process requires:
i) Problem anticipation
ii) Careful planning
iii) Proper thought process
iv) Logical precision
v) Problem analysis
vi) Persistence and attention.

At the same time it requires personal creativity, analytic ability and expressions. The chances of
success are amplified when the problem solving is approached in a systematic way and satisfaction is
achieved once the problem is satisfactorily solved. The problem should be anticipated as far as possible
and properly defined to help the algorithm defined and development process.
Computer is a very powerful tool for solving problems. It is a symbol-manipulating machine that
follows a set of stored instructions called a program. It performs these manipulations very quickly and
stores the input, all commands and output. A computer cant think like human so that when solving any
problem we have to specify the needed initial data, the operations which to be performed. And the result
you wanted as output. Any of the instructions missing you will get either no result or invalid result. In
either case your problem has not yet been solved. Therefore e several step need to be considered before
writing a program. These steps may free you from hours of finding and removing errors in your program
(a process called debugging).It should also make the act of problem solving with a computer a much
simpler task.
All types of computer programs are collectively referred to as software. Programming languages
are also part of it. Physical computer equipment such as electronic circuitry, input output devices, storage
media etc. comes under hard ware. Software governs the functioning of hardware. Operations performed
by software may be built in to the hardware, while instructions executed by the hardware may be
generated in software .

Problem solving 1
The decision to incorporate certain functions in the hardware and others in the software is made
by the manufacturer and designer of the software and hardware. Normal considerations for this are: cost,
speed, memory required, adoptability and reliability of the system. Set of instructions of the high-level
language used to code a problem to find its solution is referred to as source program. A translator
program called a compiler or interpreted, translate the source program in to the object program. This is
the compilation or interpretation phase. All the testing of the source programs as regards the correct
format of instructions is performed at this stage and the errors, is any, and is printed. If there is no error
the source program is transformed in to the machine language program called object program. The object
program is executed to perform calculations this stage is the execution phase. Data, if required by the
program are supplied now and the result is obtained on the output device.

Source Computer Object Data if


program System Program required

Results

1.2 PROBLEM SOVING THECHNIQUES


Problem solving is a process which defines systematization and mechanization. There are a
number of steps that can be taken to raise the level of ones performance in problem solving.
Steps for problem solving
A problem solving technique follows certain steps in finding the solution to a problem. Let us
look in to the steps one by one.
1.2.1 Problem definition phase
The success in solving any problem is possible only after the problem has been fully understood.
That is we cannot hope to solve problem, which we do not understand .So, the problem understanding is
the first step towards the solution of the problem. In the problem definition phase, we must emphasize
what must be done rather than how is is to be done. That is we try to extract precisely defined set of tasks
from the problem statement. In experienced problem solvers too often gallop a head with the task of
problem solving only to find that they are either solving the wrong problem or solving just one particular
problem.
1.2.2 Getting started on a problem
There are many ways of solving a problem and there may be several solutions. So it is difficult t
to recognize immediately which path could be more protective. Sometimes you do not have any idea
where to begin solving a problem, even if the problem has been defined .Such block sometimes occurs
because you are overly concerned with the details of the implementation even before you have
completely understood or worked out a solution. The best advice is not to get concerned with the details.
Those can come later when the intricacies of the problem has been understood.
1.2.3 The use of specific examples.
To get started on a problem, we can make use of heuristics that is the rule of thumb. This
approach will allow us to start on the problem by picking a specific problem we wish to solve and try to
work out the mechanism that will allow solving this particular problem. It is usually much easier to work
out the details of a solution to a specific problem because the relationship between the mechanism and the

Problem solving 2
problem is more clearly defines. This approach of focusing on a particular problem can give us the
foothold we need for making a star on the solution to the general problem.
1.2.4 Similarities among problems
One way to make a start is by considering a specific example .Another approach is to bring the
experience to bear on the current problem. So it is important to see if there are any similarities between
the current problem and the past problems which we have solved. He more experience one has the more
tools and techniques one can bring to bear in tackling the given problem. But some time it blocks us from
discovering desirable or better solution to the problem. A skill that is important to try to develop in
problem solving is the ability to view a problem from a variety of angles. One must be able to
metaphorically turn a problem upside down, Inside out, sideways, backwards, forwards and so on. Once
one has developed this skill it should be possible to get started on any problem.
1.2.5 Working backwards from the solution
In some cases we can assume that we already have the solution to the problem and then try to
work backwards to the starting point. Even a guess at the solution to the problem may be enough to give
us a foothold to start on the problem. We can systematize the investigation and avoid duplicate efforts by
writing down the various steps taken and explorations made. Another practice that helps to develop the
problem solving skills is , once we has solved problem , to consciously reflect back on the way we went
about discovering the solution.
1.3 USING COMPUTER AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL
The computer is a resource-a versatile tool-that can help you solve some of the problems that you
encounter. A computer is a very powerful general-purpose tool. Computers can solve or help to solve
many types of problems. There are also many ways in which a computer can enhance the effectiveness of
the time and effort that you are willing to devote to solving a problem. Thus it will prove to be well worth
the time and effort you spend to learn how to make effective use of this tool.
In this section, we discuss the steps involved in developing a program. Program development is a
multi-step process that requires you to understand the problem, develop a solution, write the program, and
then test is. This critical process determines the overall quality and success of your program. If you
carefully design each program using good structured development techniques our programs will be
efficient, error free, and easy to maintain. The following are the steps in detail:
i) Develop an Algorithm and a Flowchart
ii) Write the program in a computer language (for example say C programming language)
iii) Enter the program sing some editor.
iv) Test and debug the program.
v) Run the program, input data, and get the results.
1.4 DESIGN OF ALGORITHMS
The first step in the program development is to devise and describe a precise plan of what you
want the computer to do. This plan, expressed as a sequence of operation, is called an algorithm. An
algorithm is just an outline or idea behind a program..
1.4.1 Definition
An Algorithm is a finite step of instructions that perform a particular task and it must satisfy the
following features.
1.4.2 Features of Algorithm
Following features should be present in an algorithm:
Proper understanding of the problem

Problem solving 3
For designing an efficient algorithm, the expectations from the algorithm should be clearly
defined so that the person developing the algorithm can understand the expectations from is. This
is normally the outcome of the problem definition phase.
Use of procedures/functions to emphasize modularity
To assist the development, implementation and readability of the program, it is usually helpful to
modularize (section) the program. Independent functions perform specific and well defined tasks.
In applying modularization, is is important to watch that the process is not taken so far to a point
at which the implementation becomes difficult to read because of fragmentation. The program
then can be implemented as calls to the various procedures that will be needed in the final
implementations.
Choice of variable names
Proper variable names and constant names can make the program more meaningful and easier to
understand. This practice tends to make the program more self-documenting. A clear definition of
all variables and constants at the start of the procedure/algorithm can also be helpful. For
example, it is better to use variable day for the day of the weeks, instead of the variable A or
something else.
Documentation of the program
Brief information about the segment of the code can be included in the program to facilitate
debugging and providing information. A related p art of the documentation is the information that
the programmer presents to the user during the execution of the program. Since the program is
often to be used by persons who are unfamiliar with the working and input requirements of the
program, proper documentation must be provided. That is, the program must specify what
responses are required from the user. Care should also be taken to avoid ambiguities in these
specifications also the program should catch incorrect responses to its requests and inform the
user in an appropriate manner.
1.4.3 Criteria to be followed by an algorithm
The following is the criteria to be followed by an algorithm:
i) Input: There should be zero or more values which are to be supplied.
ii) Output: At least one result is to be produced.
iii) Definiteness: Each step must be clear and unambiguous.
iv) Finiteness: Algorithm must terminater after no.of steps.
V) Effectiveness: Every Instruction must be very basic.
pencil canin principle carry it out. In addition, not only each step isdefinite, it must
also be feasible.
Example 1.1: An algorithm to find the area of a Circle of radius r.
Inputs to the algorithm:
Radius r of the Circle.
Expected output:
Area of the Circle
Algorithm:
Step1: Read\input the Radius r of the Circle
Step2: Area= PI*r*r // calculation of area
Step3: Print Area

Example 1.2: An algorithm to compute and display the sum of two numbers
Inputs to the algorithm:
Two numbers
Expected output:
Sum of two numbers
Algorithm:
Step1: Read two numbers a and b

Problem solving 4
Step2: Calculate the sum of a and b and store it is sum
Step3: Print sum

Example 1.3: Ravi has to attend at least 70% of Practical Classes for C programming to be eligible to
appear in the external examination. Maximum no. of practical classes allotted for the course is 50. He
has attended 20 out of 30 classes held so far. Find at least how many more classes to be attended by Ravi
to be eligible for appearing in Practical Examination.
Inputs to the algorithm:
Minimum Percentage of Attendance required appearing for the external exams.
Maximum Number of practical classes
Number of Classes held so far.
Number of classes attended by Ravi so far.
Expected output:
Number of classes to be attended by Ravi to get eligibility for appearing the external examination
Algorithm:
Step1: Read Minimum percentage of attendance required.
Step2: Read Maximum no. of practical classes in the course (P)
Step3: Read Classes already attended (Ca)
Step4: Read No. of classes conducted so far.(CT)
Step5: Find the no. of Classes to be attended byRavi (Ct= C*P/100)
Step6: Print CM.

Example 1.4: An algorithm to convert temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius


Inputs to the algorithm:
Temperature in Fahrenheit
Expected output:
Temperature in Celsius
Algorithm:
Step 1: Read Temperature in Fahrenheit F
Step 2: C= 5/9*(F=32)
Step 3: Print Temperature in Celsius: C
Step 4: Stop.

Example 1.5: An algorithm to compute and print the average of a set of data values.
Inputs to the algorithm:
List of data values
Expected Output:
Average of the data values
Step1: Set the sum of the data values and the count to zero
Step2: As long as the data values exist, add the next data value to the sum andadd
1 to the count.
Step3: To compute the average, divide the sum by the count.
Step4: Print average.

Example 1.6: An algorithm to calculate the factorial of a given number.


Inputs to the algorithm:
An integer number

Expected Output:
Factorial of the integer

Problem solving 5
step1: Read the number n
step2: [initialize] i 1, fact 1
step3: Repeat steps 4 through 5 until i = n
step4: fact fact*i
step5: i i +1
step6: Print fact

Example 1.7: An algorithm to check a given integer is prime or not


Inputs to the algorithm:
An integer number
Expected Output:
Prime or not
step1: Read the number n
step2: [initialize] i 2, flag 1
step3: Repeat steps 4 through 5 until i < num or flag = 0
step4: rem num mod i
step5: if rem = 0 then flag 0 else i i+1
step6: If flag = 0 then Print number is not prime else print number is prime

Example 1.8: Ramshewar goes to market for buying some fruits and vegetables. He is having a currency
of Rs 500 with him for marketing. From a shop he purchases 2.0 kg Apple priced Rs. 50.0 per kg, 1.5 kg
Mango priced Rs.35.0 per kg, 2.5 kg Potato priced Rs.10.0 per kg, and 1.0 kg Tomato priced Rs.15 per
kg. He gives the currency of Rs. 500 to the shopkeeper. Find out the amount shopkeeper will return to
Ramshewar and also tell the total item purchased.
Before we write algorithm for solving above problem let we find out what the inputs to the
algorithm are and what expected output is.
Inputs to the algorithm are:
Quantity of different items purchased.
Unit Price of each item.
Total amount given to the shopkeeper.
Expected output:
Amount to be returned by shopkeeper after deducting total price of the purchased
vegetables and fruits.
Algorithm:
Step1: Total Cost=0;
Step2: Read Number of units of ith item purchased;
Spet3: Read unit price of ith item
Step4: cost of ith item (CI) = number of units * unit price of ith item.
Step5: total cost = total cost +CI.
Step6: i= i+1;
Step7: if i<=4 goto step 2.
Step7: RefundAmount = GivenAmount-Total Cost
Step8: Print RefundAmount

Example 1.9: Print the Multiplication Table of N.


Inputs to the algorithm are:
Number N
Expected output:
Table of N
Algorithm:

Problem solving 6
Step 1: I=1
Step 2: Read N
Step 3: If I <= 10 then print I*N otherwise goto Step 6
Step 4: I =I+1
Step 5: repeat step3 and 4
Step 6: stop

1.4.4 Top down Design


Once we define a problem and have an idea of how to solve it, we can then use the powerful
techniques for designing algorithms. Most of the problems are complex or large problems and to solve
them we have to focus on to comprehend at one time, a very limited span of logic or instructions. A
technique for algorithm design that tries to accommodate this human limitation is known as top-down
design or stepwise refinement.
Top down design provides the way of handling the logical complexity and detail encountered in
computer algorithm. It allows building solutions to problems in step by step. In this war specific complex
details of the implementation are encountered only at the stage when sufficient ground work on the
overall structure and relationship among the various parts of the problem.
Before the top down design can be applied to any problem, we must at least have the outlines of a
solution. Sometimes this might demand a lengthy and creative investigation in to the problem while
another time the problem description may in itself provide the necessary starting point for the top down
design.
Top down design suggests taking the general statements about the solution one at a time, and then
breaking them in to a more precise subtask/sub-problem. This sub-problem should more accurately
describe how the final goal can be reached. The process of repeatedly breaking a task down in to sub task
in the smaller sub tasks must continue until the sub-problem can be implemented as the program
statement .With each splitting it is essential to define how sub problem interact with each other. In this
way the overall structure of the solution problem can be maintained. Preservation of the overall structure
is important for making the algorithm comprehensible and also for making it possible to prove the
correctness of the solution.

Complex or
largeproblem

Sub Task 1 Sub Task Sub Task 3 Sub Task


2 N

Solution 1 Solution 2 Solution 3 Solution 4

Function Function Function Function


1( ) 2( ) 3( ) 4( )

Complex
solution

Fig 1.1. Schematic break down of problem into subtasks as employed in top down
designs

Problem solving 7
1.5 FLOW CHARTS

Flow charts are pictorial representation of an algorithm. It shows the flow of operations
in pictorial form.

1.5.1 Flowchart Symbols


For drawing flow chart standard symbols are used. These symbols are given in table.

Symbols Meaning/Used for

Start or end of the program

Used for writing steps of operations/action or


processing function of a program

Input or output operation

Decision making and branching operations

Connector or joining of two parts in a flowchart

Flow line used for showing flow of data

Magnetic Tape used for secondary


storage/Backup

Magnetic Disk used for secondary


storage/Backup

Fig1.2.Flow chart Symbols

1.5.2 Significance of flowchart


i) A flowchart is a diagrammatic representation of algorithm.
ii) A flow chart clearly illustrates the sequence of operations to be performed for getting
the solution of a problem.
iii)For simple problems flow charts may not be very useful but for complex and large
problems flow charts are very helpful in understanding the logic of the problem.
iv) Flowcharts are used as a link of communication between programmers and clients for
whomthe program to be developed.
v) If you are having a flowchart for your program then you can use it in explaining the
programto others.
vi) Once the flowchart is drawn, it becomes easy to write the computer program.

Problem solving 8
Flowchartscan be used for preparing a better documentation of a complex problem.

1.5.3 Guidelines for drawing a flowchart


i) Flow charts are drawn using slandered flowchart symbols.
ii) While drawing flowchart some guideline to be followed.
Below are some guidelines for drawing flowchart:
i) First of all list all necessary requirements in a logical order.
ii) The flowchart should be clear and easy to understand. There should not beany
ambiguity in understanding the flowchart. For doing this it is necessary to have all the
steps and operation very simple.
iii)Usually direction of the flow of data /procedure in the system should be from left to
right or top to bottom.
iv) Only one flow line should come out from a process symbol.

v) When decision symbol is used only one flow line should enter toit (decision symbol),
but there may be two or three flow lines coming out of the decision symbol, one for
each possible answer.

A<B A>B
Compare
A& B

A=B

vi) In a flowchart only one flow line should come to the end symbol.

END

vii) While writing steps inside the processing symbol, steps should be brief and if
necessary, you can use the annotation symbol to describe data or processing steps
more clearly.

P=A*R

Where P = Price, A = Amount, and R = Rate


viii) In the case of complex flowchart connector symbols to be used for reducing the
number of flow lines in the flowchart.
ix) Intersection of flow lines should be avoided to make a flowchart more effective and

Problem solving 9
for better way of communication.
x) A flowchart must have a logical start and end.
xi) Once a flowchart is drawn its validity should be tested by passing through it with a
simple set of test data.

Example1.10: Draw a flowchart to find the simple interest

START

READ P,T,R

SI=P*T*R/100

start

PRINT SI
Sum=0

STOP N=0

Example1.11: Draw a flowchart to find the sum of first N=N+1


50 natural numbers

sum=sum+N

is N=50?

yes

print sum

stop

Problem solving 10
Example1.12: Draw a flowchart to find the largest of three numbers A, B, and C.

start

Read A B C

Yes No Yes Yes


is is is
B>C? A>B? A>C?

B>C
No No

print C print A
print B print c

stop

Example1.13: Draw a flowchart for computing factorial N (N!) Where N! = 1? 2? 3...N.


start

Read N

M=1

F=1

F=F*M

NO
M=M+1 Is M=N?

YES

Print F

stop

Problem solving 11
Example1.14: Draw a flow chart to find the roots of a quadratic equation

start

Read A B
C

D=B*B-4*A*C

False True
IS
D>0

True False
IS ROOT1=(-B+sqrt(D))/(2*A)
D>0 ROOT2=(-B+sqrt(D))/(2*A

PRINT REAL
RP=-B/2*A ROOT1=-B/2*A AND
IP=SQRT(-D)/2*A ROOT2=-B/2*A DISTINCT

PRINT IMAGINARY PRINT REAL PRINT


ROOTS AND EQUAL ROOT1,ROOT2

PRINT RP,IP PRINT


ROOT1,ROOT2

STOP

Problem solving 12
Example1.15: Draw a flowchart to print biggest number from given list of numbers
start

Read N,X

BIG=X
COUNT=1

IF
COUNT<N

Read X
Print BIG

IF X>BIG

BIG=X

COUNT=COUNT+1

Example1.16 :Design a flow chart on Addition of Two Numbers START

Accvept a,b

Sum=a+b

STOP

Problem solving 13
Example1.17: Design a flow chart on Addition of Two Numbers

START

Accvept a,b

Sum=a+b

STOP

Example1.18: Design a flowchart on Largest of Two Numbers

START

READ a,b

Is a>b
PRINT a

PRINT a

STOP

Problem solving 14
Example1.19:Design a flowchart on Natural Numbers between 1 to N Reverse Order.

START
Example1.20: Draw a flowchart to display
the given number is prime or not
START
READ N

READ N

Is N>0
STOP
K=N

I=2; FLAG=1
PRINT N

R=remainder of(N/I)

N=N-1

IS
R=0

I=I+1 FLAG=0

IS I<=K

IS
FLAG=
0

PRINT PRIME
PRINT NOT PRIME

Problem solving 15
Example1.21: Draw a flowchart to generate first n elements of Fibonacci series.

START

READ N

FIB1=1
FIB2=1

PRINT FIB1, FIB2

COUNT=2

FIB3=FIB1=+FIB2 Yes

No
PRINT FIB3

COUNT=COUNT+1

IS COUNT<N

FIB1=FIB2 STOP
FIB2=FIB3

Problem solving 16
1.5.4 Advantages of using Flowcharts
As we discussed flow chart is used for representing algorithm in pictorial form. This pictorial
representation of a solution/system is having many advantages. These advantages are as follows:

i) Communication: A Flowchart can be used as a better way of communication of the


logic of a system and steps involve in the Solution, to all concerned
particularly to the client of system.
ii) Effective analysis: A flowchart of a problem can be used for effective analysis of the
problem.
iii) Documentation of Program/System: Program flowcharts are a vital part of good
program documentation. Program document is used for various purposes like
knowing the components in the program, complexity of the program etc.
iv) Efficient Program Maintenance: Once a program is developed and becomes
operational it needs time to time maintenance. With help of flowchart maintenance
become easier.
v) Coding of the Program: Any design of solution of a problem is finally converted into
computer program. Writing code referring the flowchart of the solution become easy.

1.5.5 Limitations of using Flowcharts


Complexity of Logic: If program logic is complex then flowchart of the program becomes
complicated.
Alterations and Modifications in Logic: any alterations in the program logic may require
redrawing of flowchart completely.
Reuse is Not Possible: As the flowchart symbols cannot be typed, always reproduction of
flowchart symbols is required.

1.6 LANGUAGE
A language is a mode of communication between two people. It is necessary for those two
people to understand the language in order to communicate. But even if the two people do not understand
the same language, a translator can help to convert one language to the other. Similarly we need a
language to communicate with the computer. A translator is also needed to convert from users form to
computers form. Like other language, a computer language also follows a particular grammar known as
the syntax.

1.7 PROGRAM AND A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE


To perform any task using a computer it is necessary to give a set of instructions to it. This set of
instructions arranged in a logical sequence is called a Program. In practice it is necessary to express a
program using a programming language. A procedure expressed in a Programming language is known as
a Computer Program.
Programming languages can be divided into three categories.

1.7.1 Machine level Language


i) The language whose design is governed by the circuitry and the structure of the
machine is known as machine language.
ii) This language is difficult to learn and use.
iii) It is specific to a given computer and is different for different computers
i.e this languageis machine-dependent.
iv)This language has been designed to give a better machine efficiency, i.e. faster
program execution.
v) Machine language is also known as low level language.

Problem solving 17
1.7.2 Assembly language

i) We code the assembly language program in the form of mnemonics.


ii) Every machine provides a different set of mnemonics to be used for that only
depending upon the processor that the machine is using. Hence, this language is also
machine-dependent.
iii) Machine language is also known as low level language.

1.7.3 High level language


i) These languages have been designed to give a better programming efficiency, i.e
faster program development.
ii) Every high level language follows a precise set of rules. They are developed to
allow application programs to be run in a variety of computers.
iii) These languages are machine independent.
iv) Languages falling in this category are FORTRAN, BASIC, and PASCAL etc.
v) These languages are easy to learn and programs may be written in these languages
with much less effort.
vi) However, the computer cannot understand them and they need to be translated into
machine language with the help of other programs known as compilers or interpreters.

SUMMARY
Computer is a powerful problem solving tool. Problem-solving skills are recognized as an integral
component of computer programming. A problem solving technique follows certain steps in finding
the solution to a problem. An algorithm is a finite set of steps defining the solution of a particular
problem. Flow chart is pictorial representation of an algorithm. It shows the flow of operations in
pictorial form. For drawing flow chart standard symbols are used. The START and STOP are

represented by an ellipse like figure , decision by the rhombus like figure the
process by rectangle and input/ output by parallelograms . . Lines and arrows connect
these blocks. A program is sequence of instructions and the process of writing program is called
programming. Programming languages can be divided into three categories: machine language,
assembly language and high level language. High level languages are easy to use while machine and
assembly languages are complex. Therefore, writing programs in machine and assembly languages is
difficult and time consuming.

Problem solving 18
EXERCISES

Multiple Choice Questions

1.1 C is --------- language

a) machine language b) assembly language c) high level language d) fourth generation language

1.2 Which of the following language is also called binary language?

a)high level language b)assembly language c)machine language d)none of these

1.3 Which of the following language is machine independent?

a)high level language b)assembly language c)machine language d)none of these

1.4 Which of the following is not high level language?

a) java b)Pascal c)COBOL d)oracle

ANSWERS

1.1) c 1.2) c 1.3) a 1.4) d


Comprehensive Questions

1.1 What is algorithm and explain it briefly?


1.2 What is flowchart? What are different symbols used for design of flow chart?
1.3 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find area and circumference of a circle
1.4 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find area and circumference of a rectangle
1.5 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check the given character is vowel or not
1.6 Given the marks obtained by the students, maximum marks and pass marks in three subjects, design
an algorithm and draw flowchart to find whether the student passed or not, if the student passes
determine the percentage marks and grade.
The grade is determined as follows:
i) percentage marks >=80 grade is A
ii) percentage marks >=70 and <80 grade is B
iii) percentage marks >=60 and <70 grade is C
iv) percentage marks >=50 and <60 grade is D
v) percentage marks <50 grade is F
1.7 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart for converting temperature from Fahrenheit to centigrade
and vice-versa
1.8 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find roots of a quadratic equation
1.9 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find the nature of the triangle when sides are given
1.10 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find sum of n numbers.
1.11 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check given number is prime or not
1.12 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check given number is strong or not
1.13 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check given number is palindrome or not
1.14 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check given number is perfect or not
1.15 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to check given number is Armstrong or not
1.16 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find the smallest number in a given list of numbers
1.17 Design an algorithm and draw flowchart to find first and second largest numbers in a given list

Problem solving 19
Chapter 2
BASICS OF C

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this chapter, the readers will be able to:
features of C programming language
Understand the main components of a C Program.
compile a C Program, identify the errors and run a C Program
learn the use of variables ,constants, data types, operators
learn the usage of scanf() and printf() for data input and output
precedence and Associativity of operators
write simple C programs

2.1 OVERVIEW OF C
Before writing C program, we will find out what really is C language, how it came into
existence and where does it stand with respect to other computer languages. We will briefly outline these
issues in the following section.
2.1.1 History of C
C is a programming language developed at AT&Ts bell laboratories of USA in 1972. It was
designed and written by a man named DENNIS RITCHIE. In the late seventies c began to replace the
more familiar languages of that time like PL\I(Programming Language One", pronounced "pee-el-one"),
ALGOL etc.
By 1960,many programming languages came into existence, almost each for a specific
purpose for example COBOL was being used for commercial or business applications, FORTRAN for
scientific applications and so on .So, people started thinking why could not there be a one general purpose
language .Therefore ,an International Committee was set up to develop such a language ,which came out
with the invention of ALGOL60,but this language never became popular because it was too abstract and
too general. To improve this, new language called combined programming language (CPL) was
developed at Cambridge University. But this language was very complex in the sense that it has too many
features and it was very difficult to learn. Matrin Richards at Cambridge University reduced the features
of CPL and developed a new language called BCPL(Basic Combined Programming Language). But
unfortunately it turned out to be much less powerful and too specific. Ken Thompson at AT & Ts bell
labs, developed a language called B, but like BCPL this was also too specific. Ritchie inherited the
features of B and BCPL and added some features on his own and developed a language called C. C
proved to be quite compact and coherent.
2.1.2 Features of C
i) Middle Level Language: Among the two types of programming languages discussed earlier(High
Level and Low level), C lies in between these two categories. Thats why it is often called a middle level
language, since it was designed to have both: relatively good programming efficiency and relatively good
machine efficiency.
ii) Portability: C code is very portable, that it allows the same C program to be run on the machines with
different hardware configurations.
iii) Flexibility: The flexibility of C allows it to be used for systems programming as well as for
application programming.
iv) Structured Language: C is commonly called a structured language because of structural similarities
of ALGOL and PASCAL. Structured language is one that divides the entire program into the modules
using top-down approach where each module executes one job or task. It is easy for debugging, testing
and maintenance if a language is structured one.

Basics of C 20
2.2 STRUCTURE OF A C PROGRAM
To solve a problem there are three main things to
be considered .firstly what should be the output? Preprocessor directives
Secondly what should be the input that will be Global data declarations
required to produce this output and thirdly the steps main() /* main function */
of instructions which use these inputs to produce the {
required output. Every programming language Declaration part ;
follows a set of rules known as syntax . C is a case Program statements;
sensitive language. All c programs consist of one or }
more functions. One function that must be present in /* user defined functions */
every C program is main(). This is the first function fun1()
called up when the program execution begins. {
Basically main () outlines what a program does. -------
-------
The structure of a c program is illustrated in flowing }
figure1.1.Where functions fun1 (), fun2 () represent fun2()
user defined functions. {
------
}

Fig1.1.structure of a C program
2.2.1 A sample C program
From the above section you have become familiar with a programming language and structure of a
program .It is now time to write a simple C program .The program will illustrate how to print out the
message This is a C program.
Program 2.1: write a program to print to a message on the screen

/*program to print a message*/

#include<stdio.h> /*header file*/

main () /* main function*

printf(This is a program); /*output statement*/

Though the program is very simple, a few points must be noted.


Every C program contains a function called main (). This is the starting point of the program. This is the
point from where the execution begins. It will usually call other function to help perform its job, some
that we write and others from the standard libraries provided.
#include<stdio.h> is a reference to a special file called stdio.h which contains information that
must be included in the program when it is compiled. The inclusion of this required information will be
handled automatically by the compiler. You will find it at the beginning of almost every C program.
Basically all the statements starting with # in C program are called preprocessor directives .These
will be considered in the later units just remember that this statement allows you to use some predefined
functions such as printf() and scanf().

Basics of C 21
main() declares the start of the function while the two curly{ } shows the start and finish of the
function. Curly brackets in C are used to group statements together as a function or in the body of a loop
.Such a grouping is known as a compound statement or a block every statement within a function ends
with a terminator semicolon (;).
printf(this is a C program); prints the words on the screen .The text to be printed is enclosed
in double quotes.
Comments may appear anywhere within a program as long as they are placed with in the
delimiters /* and*/ .Such comments are helpful in identifying the program principal features or in
explaining the underlying logic of various program features.

2.2.2 Compiling a C program


After writing the program the next step is to save the program in a file with extension .C.
This program is in high level language but this language is not understood by the computer. So the next
step is to convert program in high level language to machine language. This task is performed by the
software or program known as compiler. Every language has its own compiler that converts source code
to object code. The compiler will compile the program successfully if the program is syntactically correct.
If the program contains syntax errors they will be displayed on the screen with the corresponding
line numbers and the object file will not be produced .The errors need to be removed before compiling the
program. This process of removing the errors from the program is called as debugging. This translation
process is called compilation.

Source code Compiler Object code

2.2.3. Link and Run the C program


After compilation, the next step is linking the program. Compilation produces a file with an extension
.obj. Now this .obj file cannot be executed since it contains calls to function defined in the standard
library of C language. These functions have to be linked with the code you wrote, C remembers its name.
Later the linker combines the code you wrote with the object code already found in the standard library.
This process is called linking. In other words linker is a program that links separately compiled functions
together into one program. It combines the functions in the standard C library with the code that you
wrote. The output of the linker is an executable program. i.e., a file with an extension .exe.

Object code Linker Executable code

2.3 CHARACTER SET, IDENTIFIERS AND KEYWORDS


As every natural languages has a basic character set, computer languages also have a character set,
rules to define words. Words are used to form statements; these in turn are used to write the programs.
The basic elements used to construct simple C program statements are C character set, identifiers,
keywords, data types, constants, variables, declaration and naming conventions of variables.
2.3.1 Character set
A character denotes any alphabet, digit or special symbol used to represent information. Following
table shows the valid alphabets, numbers and special symbols allowed in C:

Alphabets A,.Z, a.z


Digits 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Special symbols ~!@#$%^&*()_+|<>{}[]:;?
white spaces Horizontal-tab, vertical-tab, spacebar, newline

Basics of C 22
2.3.2 Identifiers
Identifiers refer to the names of variables, functions and array. These are user defined names and
consist of a sequence of letters and digits, with a letter as a first character. Both upper case and lower
cases letters are permitted, although lower case letters are commonly used. The underscore character ( _ )
is also permitted.

Rules for identifiers


1. First character must be an alphabet or underscore.
2. Must consists of only letters, digits or underscore
3. Only first 31 characters are significant
4. Cannot use a keyword
5. Must not contain white space.

Variable
A variable is an identifier for a memory location in which data can be stored and subsequently recalled.

2.3.3 Keywords
Keywords are reserved words which have standard, predefined meaning in C. keywords serve as
basic building blocks for program statements. They cannot be used as program defined identifiers.
The lists of C keywords are as follows:

char while do typedef auto


int if else switch case
printf double struct break static
long enum register extern return
union const float short unsigned
continue for signed void default
goto sizeof volatile

2.4 CONSTANTS
A constant is a quantity that can be stored in a location of the memory of a computer. It refers to a fixed
value that does not change during the execution of the program. For example the memory structure of a
variable X whose value is 13 at the location number 3540 can be shown as follows:

3540 Address of memory location


13

Value at that memory location (CONSTANT)

X Name of the memory location (VARIABLE)

A constant differs from a variable in the following ways:

A constant is the value to be stored in a memory location whereas the variable is a name given
to a memory location.
The value of a constant does not change whereas the value of a variable can change during the
execution of a program. For example in the statement X=17; as the value of 17 cannot change it is
a constant whereas the quantity X can vary or change. Hence it is called variable.

Basics of C 23
A constant cannot have a direct memory location whereas a variable can have.
C language supports several types of constants as illustrated below:

Constants

Numeric

Single character String

Integer Real

Fractional
form
Decimal Octal Hexadecimal
Exponential form

2.4.1 Integer Constants


An integer constant refers to a sequence of digits preceded by an optional + (or) sign. There are
three types of integers, namely, decimal integer, octal integer and hexadecimal integer.
i) Decimal Integer constant:
A decimal integer constant can consist of any combination of digits taken from the set 0 through
9. If the constant contains more than one digit, the first digit must be something other than zero
(0). The format that specifies decimal integer constants is %d (whered is called conversion
character). Embedded spaces, commas, and non-digit characters are not permitted between digits.

Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)

143 12,244(comma is not allowed)

-631 3.43(dot is not allowed)

537 $143(special symbol is not allowed)

0 8 143(white space characters are not allowed)

+1584 0143(the first digit should not be 0)

ii) Octal Integer constant: An octal integer constant can consist of any combination of digits taken
from the set 0 through 7 preceded by zero(0). The format that specifies octal integer constant is
%o(where o is called conversion character).

Basics of C 24
Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)
0143 12244(0 should precede the number)
0175 03.43(dot is not allowed)
015 $143(special symbol is not allowed)
00 08943(invalid digits 8 and 9)
0154 01,43(comma is not allowed)

iii) Hexadecimal Integer constant:


A hexadecimal integer constant can consist of any combination of digits taken from the set 0 through 9
and A through F (or) a through f preceded by 0x (or) 0X. The format that specifies hexadecimal integer
constant is %x (or) %X(where x or X is called conversion character).

Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)


0xa43 0124(0x should precede the number)
0Xabcd 0x3.43(dot is not allowed)
0X9Ad5 143(not a hexadecimal integer)
0xe04 $0xaaa(special symbols are not allowed)
An unsigned integer constant represented by suffix U , suffix L indicates long integer constant, suffix
LL indicates long long integer constants.

Example2.1: 3462U an unsigned integer constant.


877325L is a long integer.
999928844LL is a long long Integer constant.
2.4.2 Real Constants
Integer numbers are inadequate to represent quantities that vary continuously, such as
distance, height, temperature, price and so on. These quantities are represented by numbers containing
fractional parts like 17.543. The format that specifies this type of constants is %f(where f is called
conversion character).
Real constants expressed in two forms
i) Fractional Form
ii) Exponent Form
Fractional Form
.
In this notation, the integer part and decimal part are separated by a period operator ( ). It is possible to
omit digits before the decimal point or digits after the decimal points
Example2.2: 0.99 -0.85 243.124
215.0 0 .95 -0.71 .5
Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)
+1.43 12,2.44(comma is not allowed)
-6.31 343(decimal point must be present)
5.37 $14.3(special symbol is not allowed)
0.05 3.8 143(white space characters are not allowed)

Exponent Form
This form of representing a floating point constant is generally used if the value of the constant is either
too small (or) too large. This is also called scientific notation. The format that specifies this type of
constants is %e (or) %E(where e (or) E is called conversion character). The general form for
representing this type of floating point value is:

Mantissa E exponent

Basics of C 25
The mantissa is either a real number expressed in fractional form (or) an integer with an optional + (or)
sign. The exponent should be a decimal integer constant with an optional + (or) sign. The mantissa and
exponent can be separated by either e (or) E. Since the exponent causes the decimal point to float,
this notation is said to represent a real number in floating point form.

Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)


+17.4e3 12,2e4(comma is not allowed)
-6E-1 17.6e-2.3(exponent should be an integer)
-0.03e+7 343(exponent should present)
5e-5 $14.3E+56(special symbol is not allowed)
5.32E-32 3.8 e-3(white space characters are not allowed)

2.4.3 Character Constants

i) Single character constants


ii) String constants
Single character constants
A single character constant contains a single character enclosed in a pair of single quotation
marks. These character constants have integer values known as ASCII values. For example: A has an
ASCII value of 65. Since each single character constant represents an integer value, it is possible to
perform arithmetic operations on single character constants. The format that specifies this type of
constants is %c(where c is called conversion character).

Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)


a ab (only one character is allowed)
3 (at least one character should be specified)
< x (the character constant x should be enclosed in a pair of single
quotation marks)

Example2.3: printf( %d,a);


would print the number 97, the ASCII value of the letter a.
Example2.4: printf (%c, 97);
would output the letter a
Since each character constant represent an integer value, it is also possible to perform arithmetic
operations on character constants.
Example2.5: int i =10+a; would assign 107 to i.
String Constants
A string constant is a sequence of characters enclosed in double quotes .The characters may be
letters, number, special characters and blank space. The format that specifies this type of constants is
%s(where s is called conversion character).
Example2.6: Hello! 1987 WELLDONE ! ---? +.
Valid examples Invalid examples(with reasons)
hello A (the string constant A should be enclosed in a pair of double
143 quotation marks)
1+43 NOTE: 7 is a decimal integer constant
a 7 is a single character constant
7 7 is a string constant

Basics of C 26
Remember that a character constant (eg x) is not equivalent to the single character string constant
(eg, x). Further, a single character string constant does not have an equivalent integer value while a
character constant has an integer value, character strings are often used in programs to build meaningful
programs.
Rules for constructing constants
i) An integer constant or a floating point constant must have at least one digit.
ii) Integer constant should not have a decimal point.
iii) No commas (or) blank spaces (or) non-digit characters are allowed within an integer constants
(or) within a floating-point constant.
iv) An integer constant could be either +ve (or) ve (+ve is default).
v) While representing floating-point constants it is possible to omit digits before (or) after the
decimal point.
vi) In scientific notation of a floating-point constant, the exponent should be either +ve integer
(or) ve integer.
vii) The mantissa part and exponent part of a floating-point constant should be separated by either
e (or) E.
viii)Mantissa can be either integer type (or) floating-point type with an optional + (or) sign.
ix) The exponent must have at least one digit.
x) Single character constant should be enclosed in a pair of single quotation marks whereas string
constant in double quotation marks.
xi) Only one character should be written within a pair of single quotes to represent single
character constant.
xii) A single character constant can be either a single alphabet (or) a single digit (or) a single
special symbol enclosed in a pair of single quotes.
xiii)A string constant may contain any number of characters.
xiv) The letters, digits, special symbols or blank spaces are allowed in string constants.
xv) A single character enclosed in a pair of single quotes is different from the same when enclosed
in pair of double quotes.
2.4.4 Backslash character constants
C supports some special backlash character constants that are used in output functions. For
example the Symbol \n stands for new line character. A list of such backlash character constants is
given in the below table. Note that each one of them represents one character.
Character Constant Meaning
\n New line (Line break)
\b Backspace
\t Horizontal Tab
\f Form feed
\a Alert (alerts a bell)
\r Carriage Return
\v Vertical Tab
\? Question Mark
\' Single Quote
\'' Double Quote
\\ Backslash
\0 Null

2.5 DATA TYPES OF C


The data type of a variable determines a set of values that a variable might take and a set of expressions
that can be applied to those values. Data types can be broadly classified as
i) Primary data types

Basics of C 27
ii) Derived data types
iii) User defined data types.

i) Primary data types


These are also called basic data types or fundamental data types. All C compilers support five
fundamental data types.

Data type Keyword


integer int
floating point float
double precession double
Character char
void void

These data types can have the


1. Size qualifier eg: short ,long and long long
2. Sign qualifier eg: signed and unsigned

NOTE: C99 support three more data types, namely bool, complex, imaginary
2.5.1 Integer data type
Integers are whole numbers with a range of values supported by a particular machine. If a system
allocates 16 bits, to an integer, one size of integer value is limited to one range 32,768 to 32,767 (i.e-215
to 215-1).
In order to provide some control over the range of numbers and storage space, C has four classes of
integer storage, namely short int, long int, and long long int, in both signed and the unsigned forms.

Size and range of values of integer data types for 16 bit machine

Data type Size(bits) Range Default type


int 16 -215 to 215-1 signed int
unsigned int 16 0 to 216-1 unsigned
signed int 16 -215 to 215-1 int
short int 16 -215 to 215-1 short
unsigned short int 16 0to 216-1 unsigned short
signed short int 16 -215 to 215-1 short,signed short,short
int
long int 32 -231 to 231-1 long,signed long,signed
long int
unsigned long int 32 0to 232-1 unsigned long
signed long int 32 -231to 231-1 long int,long signed
long

Declaration of integer variables will be as follows :


Example2.7: int l, m;
short a, b; same as short int a,b;
long int p; same as long p;
unsigned int x; same as unsigned x;
2.5.2 Floating point data type
Floating point numbers are stored in 32 bits (on all 16 bit machines),with 7 digit precision. Floating
point numbers are defined by the keyword float .When the accuracy provided by a float number is not
sufficient , the type double can be used to define the number . A double data type number uses 64 bits

Basics of C 28
giving a precision of 15 significant digits .To extend the precision we may use long double which uses 80
bits.
Size and range values of floating data types on 16 bit machine.

Data type Size(bits) Range Precision


float 32 3.4e-38 to 3.4e38 7 digits
double 64 1.7e-308 to 1.7 e 308 15 digits
long double 80 3.4e-4931 to 3.4 e 4932 20 digits

Floating point variables declaration is as follows:


Example2.8: float a,b;
long float l,m;
double p,q;
long double x,y;

2.5.3 Character data type


A single character can be defined as a character type of data. Characters are stored on 8 bits of
space. The qualifier signed or unsigned may be applied to char .signed char have values between -128 to
127 and unsigned char have values between 0 to 255.
Character type variable declaration is as follows:
char ch;

2.5.4 Void data type


The void type has no value. This is usually used to specify the type of a function that does not
return any value to the calling function.

Example2.9: void main()

Also it is used to indicate the no data is passed from the calling function to called function through
arguments. The header of the called function will be of the form
Return data type name(void);
Example2.10: void clear(void);

2.5.5 Complex data type


The variables of complex types can be declared by the type specifiers float complex, or double
complex , and long double complex. The type specifier complex and the macro for representing
imaginary part and defined in the header file complex.h. the size of complex number of type float
complex is 8 bytes and double complex is 16 bytes.

Example2.11: float complex z1;


double complex z2;
complex z3;
z1=2+i3

2.5.6 Boolean data type


This data type is represented by the keywprd bool defined in stdbool.h this data type is used for
relational comparisons in logical operational. Boolean variable can take two values :1 for true and 0 for
false , are defined in stdio.h

Example2.12: bool b;
b=1;
b=x>y;

Basics of C 29
2.5.7 Pointer type
A variable of pointer type can be declared similar to variables of other data types. At declaration pointer
type can be distinguished by an asterisk * preceding the variable name
Example2.13: int x,*p;
float y,*q;
p=&x;
q=&y;
A pointer can be printed out using the function printf() with the format specifier %p. Such as
printf(the values of p is %p\n,p);

2.6 DECLARATION OF VARIABLES


After designing suitable variable names, we must declare them to the computer. Declaration does two
things
It tells the computer what the variable name is.
It specifies what type of data the variable will hold.
The declaration of variables must be done before they are used in the program.
The syntax for declaring a variable is as follows:

data-type v1,v2,v3.vn

where v1,v2,v3.. are names of the variables. Variables are separated by commas.A declaration
statement must end with a semicolon.

Example2.14: int count;


char ch;
float rate,price;
double ratio;
Program2.2 The program segment illustrates declaration of variables.
main()
{
/* declaration */
float x,y;
int code;
short count;
long amount;
double deviation;
unsigned n;
chat ch;
/* computation */
.
..
}
main() indicates beginning of the program
Declaration of variable is done at the beginning part.

2.7 ASSIGNING VALUES TO THE VARIABLES


The values can be assigned to variables using assignment operator( = ) as follows:
variable_name=constant;
Examples2.15: count=0;
code=100;

Basics of C 30
balance=87.96;
ch=y;
C also permits multiple assignments in one line such as:
x= 3.5, y=78.4;are valid statements.
An assignment statement implies that the value of the variable on the left of the equal sign is set equal
to the value of the quantity /expression on the right side.
The statement count=count+3;
means that the new value of count is equal to the old value of count plus 3. During assignment operation
C converts the type of value on right hand side to the type of value on the left. This may involve
truncation when real value is converted to an integer.
Initialization:
It is also possible to assign a value to a variable at the time of the variable is declared.
This takes the following form:
data-type variable_name=constant;

Example2.16: int final_value=100;


char yes=x;
double balance=754.84;
The process of giving initial values to variables is called initialization. C permits more than one variable
initialization in one statement using multiple assignment operators. For example the statements
p=q=s=0;
x=y= 45; are valid.
Program2.3 /* assignment examples*/
main()
{
/*declarations*/
Output:
float x,p; m=-11215
double y,q; n=1234567890
unsigned k; x=1.234567880630
int m=54321; x=1.234568
/*declarations& assignments */ y=9.876543210000
long int n=1234567890; y=9.856743
/*assignments */ k=54321 p=1.0000000 q=1.000000000000
x=1.234567890000;
y=9.87654321;
k=54321
p=q=1.0;
/*printing*/
printf(m=%d\n,m);
printf(n=%ld\n,n);
printf(x=%.12lf\n,x);
printf(x=%f\n,x);
printf(y=%.12lf\n,y);
printf(y=%lf\n,y);
printf(k=%u p=%f q=.12lf\n,k.p,q);
}
Here the variable m that has been declared as int is not able to store the value 54321 correctly instead it
contains some garbage value. Because maximum value that an int variable can store is 32767,if the
program is executed on 16-bit machine.

Basics of C 31
The variable k declared as unsigned has stored the value correctly. Unless specified otherwise printf()
function always display float or double values to six decimal places .
2.8 INPUT FUNCTION- scanf()
We can assign values to variable through assignment statements such as x = 5 a = 0 ; and so on.
Another method is to use scanf() function which can be used to read data from a key board. It is the
general input function available in C Language. The general format of scanf() is as follows:
scanf(control string,&variable1,&variable2,.);
The control string contains format of the data being received. The ampersand symbol (&)before each
variable name is the operator that specifies variable names address. The use of & is must in scanf()
function.
Example2.17: scanf(%d,&x);
When this statement is encountered, the execution of program stops and waits for the value of the
variable x to be typed in .The format %d specifies that an integer value is to be read from the terminal, we
have to type in the value in integer form. Once number typed and return key pressed, the next statement
in the program is executed.
Commonly used format specifications:
%c read a single character.
%d read a decimal Integer.
%e read a floating point value in exponential form.
%f read a floating point value.
%i read a decimal, hexadecimal or octal Integer.
%h read a short integer.
%x read a hexadecimal integer (unsigned) using lower case a f.
%X read hexadecimal integer (unsigned) using upper case A F.
%o read an octal integer.
%s read a string
%u read unsigned decimal integer.
%[ character set] reads only the characters specified with in brackets when inputting string.
%[^character set] The characters specified after ^(circumflex) are not permitted in the input .
2.9 OUTPUT FUNCTION-printf()
printf() function in C allows you to display information required to the user and also prints the
values of variables. Output data can be written from computer to standard output device.
Program2.4
#include < stdio.h > Output:
main ( ) Hello!Welcome to the world of Engineering.
{
printf (Hello!);
printf (Welcome to the world of Engineering!);
}
Both the messages appear in the output as if a single line. If you wish to print the second message to the
beginning of next line, a new line character must be placed inside the quotation marks.

Basics of C 32
Program2.5
main() Output:
{ Hello!

printf(Hello!\nWelcome to the world of Engineering); Welcome to the world of Engineering


}

General format of printf() is as follows :


printf(control string,exp1,exp2,exp3,);

The control string contains format of the data to be displayed and exp1,exp2,exp3are output
expressions. The function accepts a series of arguments, each applying to a conversion specifier in the
given control string , printf() prints the formatted information to the standard output device, usually the
display screen
Program2.6
#include<stdio,h>
main()
Output:
{
value of a is 100
int a;
a=100;
printf(value of a is %d,a);
}
Here control string contains format specifier %d indicates a decimal integer to be displayed .a is the name
of the variable. If value of a is 100 the value 100 will be displayed on screen.
Program2.7 Program to read and print integer,float and character values
#include<stdio.h>
main() a x ch
{ int a; 65.8
56 y
float x;
char ch; Output:
printf(Enter value of a);
Enter value of a
56
scanf(%d,&a); Enter value of x
printf(Enter value of x); 65.8
scanf(%f,&x); Enter any character
y
printf(Enter any character );
a is 56
scanf(%c,&ch); x is 65.800000
printf( \n a is %d,a); ch is y
printf(\n x is %f,x);

Basics of C 33
printf(\n ch is %c,ch);
}

Program2.8 Program to read and display octal &hexadecimal integers


#include <stdio.h>
main() Output:
{ Enter any octal integer
int i ,j; 34
printf("Enter any octal integer"); Enter any Hexadecimal integer
scanf(" %o",&i); E
printf("Enter any Hexadecimal integer"); Output values
scanf(" %x",&j); octal integer i is 34
printf("\nOutput values\n"); octal integer i equivalent decimal value 28
printf("\n octal integer i is %o ", i); hexadecimal integer is E
printf("\n octal integer i equivalent hexadecimal integer j equivalent decimal value 14
decimal value %d ", i);
printf("\n hexadecimal integer is %x", j);
printf("\n hexadecimal integer j equivalent decimal value %d ", j);
}
Program2.9 Using printf() to display numerical values.
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 2, b = 10, c = 50;
float f = 1.05, g = 25.5, h = -0.1;
printf("\nDecimal values without tabs: %d %d %d", a, b, c);
printf("\nDecimal values with tabs: \t%d \t%d \t%d", a, b, c);
printf("\nThree floats on 1 line: \t%f\t%f\t%f", f, g, h);
printf("\nThree floats on 3 lines: \n\t%f\n\t%f\n\t%f", f, g, h);
printf("\nThe rate is %f%%", f);
printf("\nThe result of %f/%f = %f\n", g, f, g / f);
}

Basics of C 34
Output: Decimal values without tabs: 2 10 50
Decimal values with tabs: 2 10 50
Three floats on 1 line: 1.050000 25.500000 -0.100000
Three floats on 3 lines:
1.050000
25.500000
-0.100000
The rate is 1.050000%
The result of 25.500000/1.050000 = 24.285715

Program2.10 C program for simple interest calculation


#include<stdio.h>
main()
{ Output:
int p,n,; Enter values of p,n,and r
float r,si;
printf("\n Enter values of p,n,and r"); 200 2 2
scanf("%d %d %f",&p, &n, &r); simple interest =rs. 8.000000
si=(p * n * r )/ 100;
printf("simple interest =rs. %f",si);
}
Program2.11 C program to add two integers
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a,b,c; Output:
printf("\n Enter value of a"); Enter value of a 5
scanf("%d ",&a);
printf("\n Enter value of b"); Enter value of b 6
scanf("%d ",&b); sum is 11
c=a+b;
printf("sum is %d ",c);
}

2.10 OPERATORS AND EXPRESSIONS


C supports a rich set of built in operators. C Operators can be classified into the following categories.
i) Arithmetic operators
ii) Relational operators
iii) Logical operators
iv) Assignment operators
v) Increment and Decrement operators
vi) Conditional operators (Ternary operator)
vii) Bitwise operator
viii) Special operator

Basics of C 35
Expression
Variables and constants connected by operator is called expression.

2.10.1 Arithmetic operators


Arithmetic operations involve negation, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as shown in the
following table.

Operator Operation Description


- -x Negation
+ +x Unary plus
+ x+y Addition
- x-y Subtraction
* x*y Multiplication
/ x/y Division
% x%y Modulus

i) The expression i % j would result in the remainder of i divided by j.

Example2.18: int i= 10, j=3, k;


k=i%j; 1 is assigned to the variable k.
ii) The modulus operator can be used only with integer operands.

Example2.19: float x, y, z;
z=x % y; is not valid.
iii) All other operators can be applied to operands of the arithmetic type, which consists of integer,
floating point or complex types.
iv) When both the operands in an expression are integers, the expression is called integer expression.
Integer arithmetic leads an integer value.

Example2.20: 25/7=3, 3/4=0, 4/3=1

v) When both operands are floating point type the expression is called floating point type expression.

Example2.21: x=5.2, y=1.42;


z=x/y;
vi) When one of the operand is real and the other is integer the expression is called a mixed mode
expression. The result is floating point type value.
Example2.22: 23/5.0=4.6
vii) If an expression contains more than one arithmetic operator than they are executed from left to right
in the following order
i) unary minus and unary plus
ii) *, / , %
iii) + , -

Example2.23: 3+5/2*4-10+17%6 is evaluated as


3+((5/2)*4)-10+(17%6)
The result of the expression is 6
2.10.2 Relational Operators
Relational Operators are used to compare the values of two expressions. An expression containing a
relational operator(Ex: a < b, n! =0, p>q) is termed as a relational expression .The value of a relational
expression is either one or zero. It is one if the specified relation is true and zero if the relation is false.

Basics of C 36
Relational Operators

Operator Operation Description


< x<y less than comparison
<= x<=y lesser or equal comparison
== x==y equal comparison
>= x >= y grater or equal comparison
> x>y greater comparison
!= x != y not equal comparison
Example2.24:
int i=5,j=3,k;
k= (i<j); 0 is assigned to k
k= (i==j); 0 is assigned to k
k= (i>=j); 1 is assigned to k
2.10.3 Logical Operators
There are three logical operators
Operator Operation Description
! !x logical negative operation
&& x && y logical AND operation
|| x || y logical OR operation

i) ! (NOT) If the operand of the unary logical negative operator! is nonzero, the result is true otherwise,
the result is false
The truth table for the NOT operator is

Exp !exp
1 0
0 1
Example2.25: !0=1
!3.7=0
! (20)=0
Example2.26: int a=5, b=6, c;
c=! (a>b);
The value 1 is assigned to the variable c.

ii) && (AND) is used to check whether both the expressions are non-zero or not.
The truth table for AND operator is
exp1 exp2 exp1&&exp2
1 1 1
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 0

Example2.27: To check whether the values of three variables a,b,c form the sides of an equilateral
triangle the following code may written
if(a==b && b==c )
printf(The values of a,b,c form an equilateral triangle);

Basics of C 37
else
printf( The values of a,b,c dont form an equilateral triangle);

Consider the expression exp1&&exp2.


exp2 is evaluated only when exp1 is non-zero.
Example 2.28: int i=6,j=3,k;
K=(i>5)&&(j=i+3);
printf(k=%d j=%d\,n,k,j);
output: k=1 j=9
Example2.29: i=6,j=3,k;
k=(i<5)&&(j=5+10);
printf(k=%d,j=%d,k,j);
output: k=0,j=3
iii) || (OR) operator is used to check any one of the values of two expression is non-zero.
The truth table for OR operator is
exp1 exp2 exp1||exp2
1 1 1
1 0 1
0 1 1
0 0 0

Example2.30: To check whether the values of three variables a,b,c form the sides of an isosceles triangle
the following code may written
if(a==b || b==c || a==c)
printf(The values of a,b,c form an isosceles triangle);
else
printf( The values of a,b,c dont form an isosceles triangle);

Consider the expression exp1||exp2. If exp1 is true then exp2 is not evaluated.
Example2.31: int i=6,j=3,k;
k=(i>5)||(j=i+3);
printf(k=%d j=%d\,n,k,j);
output: k=1 j=3
Example2.32: i=6,j=3,k;
k=(i<5)||(j=5+10);
printf(k=%d,j=%d,k,j)
output : k=1,j=13

2.10.4 Increment and decrement operators(++ and--)


These two operators are unary operators. They exists in two forms i.e. pre and post(prefix and
postfix)
i) Increment operator(++)
Increment operator is used to increment the value of its operand by 1.General form for pre incrimination
is
++ operand
and post incrimination is
operand ++
where the operand must be a variable but cannot be constant or expression..++operand is called pre
increment or prefix increment and operand++ is called post increment or postfix increment
Example2.33: pre incrementation

Basics of C 38
int i=20;
++i;
printf(i=%d,i);
output: i=21
Example2.34: post incrementation
int i=20;
i++;
printf(i=%d,i);
output:i=21;
In the above example prefix and postfix operation results in the same output. The prefix and postfix
operations differ in the value used for the operand when it is embedded inside expressions
Example2.35: int x=10,y;
y=++x;
printf(x=%d,y=%d,x,y);
output: x=11,y=11
Here x value is incremented before it is assigned to y. So the expression y = ++x is equivalent to the two
expressions x=x+1 and y=x
Example2.36: int a=5,b;
b=++a*4;
printf(a=%d,b=%d,a,b)
output: a=6,b=24
Example2.37: int x=10,y;
y=x++;
printf(x=%d,y=%d);
output: x=11,y=10
Here value of x is incremented after it is assigned to y, thus the expression y=x++ is equivalent to the
expressions y=x and x=x+1;
Example2.38: int a=5,b;
b=a++*4;
printf(a=%d,b=%d,a,b);
output: a=6,b=20

Note: ++4 and ++(x+y) are invalid expressions.

ii) Decrement operator ( - - )


This operator is used to decrement the value of the operand by 1.

General form is
--operand
or
operand--

where the operand must be a variable but cannot be constant or expression.--operand is called pre
decrement or prefix decrement and operand-- is called post decrement or postfix decrement
Example2.39: int i=10;
--i;
printf(i=%d,i ) ;
output: i=9
Example2.40: int i=10;
i--;
printf(i=%d,i);
output: i=9;

Basics of C 39
In the above example both the prefix and postfix operations results in the same value.

Example2.41: int a=10,b;


b= -- a*3;
printf(a=%d,b=%d\n,a,b);
output: a=9,b=27
Example2.42: int a=10,b;
b=a--*3;
printf(a=%d,b=%d\n,a,b);
output: a=9,b=30
2.10.5. Assignment Operators
There are three forms of assignment: simple assignment, multiple assignment and compound
(short hand) assignment.

i) Simple assignment
The operator used is =.
The general form is
Variable name=expression;

The value of the expression is evaluated first and is assigned to the variable. The evaluation of the
expression is right to left.
Example2.43:
x=10 a=10 && 5
y=12.5 a=x>y
a=A
area=0.5*b*h.
Note:
= is the assignment operator used to assign right side expression value to the left hand side variable.
= = is comparison operator to compare the value of left hand and right hand side expression.
a=b will assign b value to a
a==b will compare the values of a and b for equality.

ii) Multiple assignment


This is used to assign the value of an expression to two or more variables.

The general form is


v1=v2=v3=expression;

The value of the expression is assigned to the variables v1, v2, v3 etc. the evaluation is right to left.
Example2.44: a=b=0.
a=b=x+y
The value of x+y is assigned to b and then the value of b is assigned to a.

iii) Compound assignment


Compound assignment is a short hand notation for a simple assignment.The compound assignment
operators are
+ =, - =, * =, / =, % =.
To evaluate a compound assignment expression, first change it to a simple expression.

Compound assignment Equivalent simple expression

Basics of C 40
x+=expression x=x+expression
x-=expression x=x-expression
x*=expression x=x*expression
x/=expression x=x/expression
x%=expression x=x%expression

Example2.45: a*=b+3 is evaluated as a=a*(b+3)


sum+=x is evaluated as sum=sum+x
a%=10 is evaluated as a=a%10.

2.10.6. Conditional operator


The operator symbol is ?: This is also called ternary operator. The conditional operator has three
expressions.
The general form is
expression1?expression2:expresssion3

This is called conditional expression.


First, expression1 is evaluated, if the result is non-zero, the expression2 is evaluated and its value is the
final result. Otherwise, expression3 is evaluated and its value is the final result.

Example2.46: To find the biggest of two numbers


big= (a>b)? a: b;
This is equivalent to the if else statement
if (a>b)
big=a;
else
big=b;

Example2.47: To check an integer is even or odd


(n%2)? printf (Given integer is odd\n): printf(Given integer is even\n);
This is equivalent to the statement
if(x%2)
printf(given integer is odd\x);
else
printf(given integer is even\x);

Example2.48:To find absolute value of an expression y=(x>=0)? x: -x;

Example2.49: To evaluate the function defined by


F(x)= x2-x+1 of x>=0
x2+x+1 of x<0
fx=(x>=0)?(x*x-x+1):(x*x+x+1);
Note:Conditional expression may be nested

Example2.50: To find the biggest of three numbers


big=(a>b)?((a>c)?a:c):((b>c)?b:c);
Although conditional expression is nested, it is not recommended.

Basics of C 41
2.10.7 Special operators
The special operators are
i) comma operator(,)
ii) sizeof operator
iii) address operator(&),
iv) indirection operator(*)
v) cast operator
i) Comma operator
The comma operator is used to combine two more expressions into a single expression.
The general form is

expression1,expression2,---
,expressionN
The expression are evaluated from left to right and the value of the right most expression is the result of
the overall expression.
Example2.51: int i=10,j;
j= ( i+=5, --i , i+20);
j is assigned the value 34.

Example2.52: int m=5,n;


n=(m+=5,m%3);
n is assigned the value1.
Example2.53: swapping of two integer variable using the comma operator
temp=a , a=b , b=temp;
The comma operator is most often used in for statement expressions to combine two or more expressions
in initial expression. And to combine increment or decrement in the third expression

Example2.54: for(i=1 , j=10 ; i<j ; ++i , --j)


{
statements;
}
ii) size of operator
This operator is used to determine the number of bytes required to store a particular data type item in the
memory.
General form is sizeof(operand)

where the operand may be name of the data type or constant or variable or expression.

Example2.55: printf(char size is %d bytes\n , sizeof (char));


printf(long int size is %dbytes\n , sizeof(double));
printf(double size is %dbyte\n,sizeof(double));

Example2.56: sizeof(13.56)
sizeof(239462l)
sizeof(896254ll)
sizeof(*)
sizeof(a+b)
iii) address operator
General form is
&operand

Basics of C 42
Where the operand must be a variable name. This operator is used to determine the address of the
memory location allotted to a variable.

Example2.57: int x=10,*p;


p=&x;
&x represent the address of the memory location allotted to the variable x and it is assigned to
the pointer p.
p x

3472 10

3472
iv) Indirection operator
General form is
*operand

Where the operand must be a pointer.This operator is used to get the value at the address represented by
the pointer. This operator is also called de-referencing operator or value at address operator.
Example2.58: int x=10,y,*p;
p=&x;
y=*p;
The value 10 of x is assigned to the variable y.
The expression y=*p is equivalent to the expression y=x.
v) Cast operators
These operators are used to convert the data type of operand explicitly to another type.
The general form is
(data type name)expression
Where datatype is int, double, char , pointer etc.
Example2.59:(int)9.3 ,(double)15,(float)327,3/(int)7.2,(int)8.5/(int)4.3
Example2.60: int a=10,b=6;
float x;
x=(float)a / (float)b;
The values of a and b are substituted in the right side expression in floating point mode and the value
assigned to x is1.6666666

2.11 OPERATOR PRECEDENCE AND ASSOCIATIVITY


Precedence is used to determine the order in which different operators in a complex expression are
evaluated.
Associativity is used to determine the order in which operators with the same precedence are
evaluated in a complex expression.
The precedence and associativity of different categories operators is presented in the following table:
Operators Associativity
1 ( ),[ ], . , -> L to R
( ++ prefix), ( -- prefix), unary +, unary -, R to L
2
& (address), *(indirection), cast, !(negation)
3 *, /, % L to R
4 +, - L to R
5 <, <=, >, >= L to R
6 = =, != L to R

Basics of C 43
7 && L to R
8 || L to R
9 ?: R to L
10 =, +=, *=, -=, /=, %= R to L
11 , (comma operator) L to R
Example2.61: 2+3*4 is evaluated as 2+(3*4) and the result of the expression is 14
Example2.62: 3*8/4%5*2
Here we have four operators of the same precedence (* / % *). As the associativity of arithmetic operators
is left to right. The expression 3*8/4%5*2 is evaluated as
(((3*8)/4)%5)*2 and the result of the expression is 2.
Example2.63: a+=b*=c - =5
As the associativity of assignment operators is right to left, the above expression is evaluated as
(a +=(b*=(c - =5)))
Which is expanded to (a=a+(b=b*(c=c-5))).
Example2.64: -b++
Here postfix increment has higher precedence than unary -. Thus the above expression is evaluated as
(-(b++)).
If b is 6, then the result of the expression is -6. After the expression is complete 6 becomes 7.
Example2.65: int a =5,b=6,c;
c=a!=b;
The expression contains the assignment operator (=) and the relational operator (!=).As the relational
operator has higher precedence over assignment operator the expression a!=b is evaluated first and the
result 1 is assigned to c.
2.12 TYPE CONVERSION
There are two types of type conversions in expressions.
i) Implicit type conversion.
ii) Explicit type conversion.
i) Implicit type conversion
C permits mixing of constants and variables of different types. A data type that occupies less
memory will be converted automatically to a data type that occupies more memory space without losing
any information.
Example2.66: If one operand is int and the other is float, int is converted to float.
If one operand is double and the other is long double, double is converted to long double.
If a char and double are combined, char is converted to double.
The hierarchy of type conversion is summarized in the following table:
Data type Order
long double complex high
double complex
float complex
long double
double
float
unsigned long long
long long
unsigned long
long
unsigned int
int
unsigned short int
short int
unsigned char
char low

Basics of C 44
ii) Explicit type conversion
For explicit type conversion type casting is used.
The general form of a cast is:
(data type name) expression
Where data type name is one of the basic data types.

Example Action
x= (int) 3.7 3.7 is converted to integer by truncation
x= (int) 13.7/ (int) 4.3 Evaluated as 13/4 and the result would be 3
x= (float) (a + b) the result of the expression a + b is converted to float
p= cos( (double) x) converts x value to double before using it.

SUMMARY
C is a high level programming language. C language has 32 keywords and each of them has a fixed
meaning and forms the building blocks for the programming statements. There are five basic data types in
ANSI C, namely int, float, double, char and void .C99 has three more data types, namely complex, bool
and pointer. Except void other data types has qualifiers signed and unsigned, long, short and long long.
System will allocate three different size of space for each variable. Constants in C have fixed values. C
language is rich in operators and it contains 8 categories of operators: arithmetic, relational, logical,
increment and decrement, assignment, condition, bitwise and special operators. Expressions are formed
with variables, constants and operators. These operators certain precedence and associativity. If an
expression contains operands belonging to different data types automatic type conversion takes place
according to the predefined rules. Forced type conversion is also possible through cast operator.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-4 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapter-2 : Programming in C by Pradip Dey and Manish Ghosh.

EXERCISES

Multiple Choice Questions


2.1 What is the output when the following code is executed?
main()
{
int a=20,b;
b=(a= =1)?2:3;
printf(\n a=%d,b=%d\n,a,b);
}
a)a=20,b=2 b)a=1,b=2 c)a=20,b=3 d)a=1,b=3
2.2What is the output when the following code is executed?
main()
{
int a=20,b;
b=(a=1)?2:3;
printf(\n a=%d,b=%d\n,a,b);
}
a)a=20,b=2 b)a=1,b=2 c)a=20,b=3 d)a=1,b=3
2.3. What is the output when the following code is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()

Basics of C 45
{
int x=10,y=15,a,b;
a=x++;
b=++y;
printf(%d , %d ,a,b);
}
a)10,16 b)11,15 c)11,16 d)10,15
2.4. Expression (x<5||a>b) is true
a) if x<5 b) if a>b c) if x<5 or a>b d) all the above
2.5. What value is assigned to k when the following statements are executed?

int i=8,j=20,k;
k=(++i , j-- , i*j);

a) 171 b)180 c)168 d)160


2.6. Which of the following is not a basic data type in C?
a) int b)double c)void d)printf

2.7. What is the output of the following code?


char ch=A;
printf(%d,ch+10);

a)10 b)75 c)74 d)double


2.8. What value is assigned to c when the following code is exectued?

int a=5,b=6,c;
c=(a+b>a-b)?a*b;a%b;

a)30 b)5 c)0 d)6


2.9. What is the output of the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
for( ; ; )
{
printf(\n %d,++i);
if( i>5)
break;
}
}
a) 2 3 4 5 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c)2 3 4 5 6 d)1 2 3 4 5 6
2.10. What is the C expression for the following mathematical expression.
1<x20 or 3y1
a) 1<x <=20 || 1<=y<=3 b) 1<x <=20 && 1<=y<=3
c) (1<x && x<=20) || (3>=y && y>=1) d) any one of the above
2.11. What is the value assigned to k when the following statements are executed?
int k,a=5,b=3,c=10;
k=(a + = b *= c - = 6);

a)17 b)12 c)10 d)5

Basics of C 46
2.12. What is true about the following: a compound statement is
a) A set of simple statements
b) Demarcated on either side by curly bracket
c) Can be used in place of simple statement
d) All the above.
2.13. Which of the following represents true statement either x is in the range of 10 and 50 or
y is 0?
a) x>=10&&x<=50||y==0 b)x<50 c)y!=10 d)None of these

2.14. Regarding real values in C which of the following is true


i) A float occupies less memory than a double.
ii) The range of real numbers that can be represented by a double is less than those represented by
a float
a) only option i b)only option ii c)both i and ii d)neither i nor ii

2.15. The modulus operator can be applied only to _____ types


a) integer b) character c) floating point d) all the above three types

2.16. The operator % yields


a) Quotient value b)Remainder value
c)percentage value d)fractional part of the division.
2.17. Which of the following is a ternary operator?
a) ?: b)* c)sizeof d)&&
2.18. Which of the following statements is/are true?
i)A char data type variable always occupies 1 byte independent of system architecture.
ii)sizeof is a key word
iii)include is a key word.
iv)double is not a keyword.

a)both i&ii b) i only c)ii only d)neither i nor ii

2.19. Which of the operator is having highest precedence?

a)* b)++ c)= d)&&

2.20. Which is not a valid expression

a)-p++ b)++p-- c)++6 d) +x++

2.21. Which of the following is not a keyword in C?

a)const b)main c)case d)void

2.22. An identifier cannot start with

a)underscore b)uppercase alphabet c)lower case alphabet d)#

2.23. What is the value assigned to C?


int a=10,b=6,c;
c=a++*b;

Basics of C 47
a) 60 b)66 c)61 d) none of the above

2.24. What is the output of the following code?


int a=10;
printf(a=%d,a++);

a) a=10 b) a=11 c) a=12 d) a=9


2.25. What is the output of the following code?

int x=20,y=16,z;
z=(x<y)&&(y+=2);
printf(y=%d,z=%d,y,z);

a) y=18 z= 0 b)y = 16 z=0 c) y=16 z=1 d) y=18 z=1

2.26. What is the output of the following code?

int x=20,y=16,z;
z=(x>y)&&(y+=2);
printf(y=%d,z=%d,y,z);

a) y=18 z= 0 b)y = 16 z=0 c) y=16 z=1 d) y=18 z=1

2.27. What is the output of the following code?


int x=20,y=16,z;
z=(x<y)||(y+=2);
printf(y=%d,z=%d,y,z);

a) y=18 z= 0 b)y = 16 z=0 c) y=16 z=1 d) y=18 z=1

2.28. What is the output of the following code?

int x=20,y=16,z;
z=(x>y)||(y+=2);
printf(y=%d,z=%d,y,z);

a) y=18 z= 0 b)y = 16 z=0 c) y=16 z=1 d) y=18 z=1

2.29. What value is assigned to a?


a=5&&0;

a) 0 b)1 c) 5 d) 50

2.30. What value is assigned to x?


x=8&&9;
a) 0 b)1 c) 8 d)9
2.31. What is the value assigned to x when the following statement is executed?
x = 2*8*6/ 15%13;
a)5 b)96 c)6 d)6.4

2.32. What is the value assigned to a?


int x = 5, y = 3, z = 4, a;

Basics of C 48
a = x = y = =z;
a) 5 b)3 c)4 d)0

2.33. What is the value assigned to a?


int a, x=2;
a = x + 3 * x++;
a)9 b)8 c)15 d)12
2.34. What is the output of the following program?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=3, y=17, a;
a = x += y%= 6;
printf( a = %d, a);
}
a)a=8 b)a=0 c)a=3 d)a=6
2.35. What is the output of the following program?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x= 5;
printf( %d , %d , %d, ++x, x , x ++);
}
a)7,6,5 b)6,6,7 c)5,6,7 d)6,6,6
2.36. What is the output of the following program?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x= 10;
printf( %d , %d , %d, x , x++, ++x);
}
a)10,11,12 b)12,12,11 c)10,10,12 d)12,11,11

2.37. What value is assigned to d?


int a = 1, b = 2, c=5,d;
d = a * b > = c;
a)1 b)2 c)0d)syntax error in the assignment statement
2.38. What value is assigned to the integer variable a?
a = + = = 0;
a) 0 b)1 c)0.5 d)1.0
2.39. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 5, b = 0, c ;
c = a || b ++ ;
printf (b = % d, c = %d, b, c);
}
a)b=0,c=1 b)b=1,c=0 c)b=1,c=1 d)b=0,c=0

2.40. What is the output when the following program is executed?

Basics of C 49
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 5, b = 0, c ;
c = a && b ++;
printf ( b = %d, c = %d \n, b, c);
}

a) b=1, c=1 b) b=0, c=1 c) b=0, c=0 d) b = 1, c =0

2.41. What is the output of the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 5, b = 6, c ;
c = a < b ? a : a > b ? b : -1;
printf ( c = %d \n, c );
}
a) -1 b)1 c)5 d)6
2.42. What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
float a= 7.8, b= 3.95, c, d;
c = (int) (a/b) ;
d = (int) a / (int) b;
printf( c = % .2 f , d = % . 2f \n, c, d );
}

a)c=1.97,d=1.97 b)c=1.00,d=2.00 c)c=1.97,d=2.33 d)c=0,d=0

2.43. What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x = 10;
printf( %d , %d, %d , x < = 20, x= 25, x >= 5);
}
a)20 ,25,5 b)1,25,1 c)0,25,1 d)10,25,1
2.44. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 3, b = 0, c;
c = ++a && ++b;
printf ( a = %d, b = % d, c= %d \n , a, b, c);
}
a)a=3,b=0,c=0 b)a=3,b=0,c=1 c)a=4,b=1,c=1 d)a=4,b=1,c=0

Basics of C 50
2.45. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i = -3, J=2, k=0, m;
m= ++i && ++J || ++k;
printf( i = %d, j = %d, K = %d, m=%d\n, i, J, k, m );
}
a) i=-3,j=2,k=0,m=1 b)i=-2,j=3,k=1,m=1
c)i=-2,j=3,k=1,m=0 d) i=-2,j=3,k=0,m=1

2.46. What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a=5,b,c;
b=++a;
c=a++;
printf(a=%d,b=%d,c=%d,a,b,c);
}
a)a=5,b=5,c=6 b)a=7,b=6,c=6 c)a=5,b=6,c=7 d)a=5,b=6,c=6
2.47. What is the wrong assignment expression in the following?
float a,b,x=8.2,y=6.3;

a)a=x%6 b)b=x>y c)a=x+y/3.5 d)x-y*3.6

ANSWERS:
2.1)C 2.2) b2.3) a 2.4) d 2.5) a2.6)d 2.7) b 2.8).a 2.9)c 2.10)c 2.11)a 2.12)d
2.13)a 2.14)a 2.15)a 2.16)b2.17)a 2.18)a 2.19)b2.20)c 2.21)b2.22)d2.23)a 2.24)a
2.25)b2.26)d2.27)d2.28)c 2.29)a 2.30)b2.31)c 2.32)d2.33)a 2.34)a 2.35)a 2.36)d
2.37)c 2.38)b2.39)a 2.40)d2.41)c 2.42)b2.43)c 2.44)c 2.45)d2.46)b2.47)a

Comprehensive Questions
2.1 What is the character set in C? Write the syntax to declare and initialize int, float, character and
double type.
2.2 Discuss different built in data types available in C and give their size and range.
2.3 What are the different types of variables used in C programming? How do you assign values to
them?
2.4 Describe the printf(), scanf() statement in C with examples.
2.5 Explain the increment and decrement operators with suitable examples.
2.6 Explain the conditional operator with examples.
2.7 Explain the relational and logical operators with examples.
2.8 Explain the assignment operators, comma operator and sizeof operator with examples.
2.9 Explain arithmetic and relational operators with examples.
2.10 Explain the arithmetic and logical operators with examples.

Basics of C 51
2.11 What is conditional operator? Using conditional operator write a program to check whether a
number is even or odd.
2.12 Explain operator precedence and associativity rules followed in C through examples.
2.13 Discuss the implicit and explicit type conversion during expression evaluation.
2.14 Area of a triangle is given by the formula A = s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c) where a,b,c are the sides of the
triangle and s= (a+b+c)/2. Write a program to compute area of triangle given the values of a,b and
c.
2.15 The solution to system of equation a1x + b1y =c1 and a2x + b2y = c2 is given by
x= (c1b2 c2b1)/(a1b2 a2b1)
y=(a1c2 a2c1)/(a1b2 a2b1)
Write a program to calculate and print the values of x and y.
2.16 A student appeared for an examination in 3 subjects. He will pass the examination if he secures at
least 40% marks in each subject. Write a program to accept the percentage marks in three subjects
from keyboard and check whether the student passed or failed the examination using conditional
operator.
2.17 Suppose that an automobile starts from rest and has constant acceleration f for t seconds. The
final velocity v and the distance travelled d by the automobile is given by the formula
v = u+ft and d = ut+1/2ft2
Write a program that reads f and t and prints t, d and v.
2.18 Write a program to read three numbers x1, x2 and x3 and compute their average x standard
deviation sd and the relative percentage rp for each number where
x= (x1+x2+x3)/3 sd2 = (x12 + x22 + x32- 3x2)/3
rp1= (( x1+ x2 + x3)/x1) * 100 and similarly for rp2 and rp3. Output the average standard deviation
and the three relative percentages.
2.19 Distance between two points (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) is governed by the formula D2=(x2-x1)2+(y2-y1)2
Write a program to compute D given the coordinates of the points
2.20 The straight-line method of computing the yearly depreciation of the value of an item is given by
Depreciation=(Purchase Price-Salvage Value)/Years of Service.
2.21 For a certain electrical circuit with an inductance L and resistance R and the capacitance C the
damped natural frequency is given by f = 1/LC-R2/4c2. Write a program to calculate the
frequency for the given values of L, R and C.
2.22 A Particle moves with simple harmonic motion in a straight line. In the first second starting from
rest , it travels a distance a and in the next second it travels a distance b in the same direction.
The amplitude of motion is 2a2/(3 a b). Write a program to calculate the amplitude of motion, for
the given values of a and b.

Basics of C 52
Chapter 3
CONTROL STATEMENTS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this chapter, the readers will be able to:
Learn different types of statements in C.
Develop algorithms and flow charts for simple engineering and mathematical problem
solving.
Write programs using if, if-else, nested if, nested if-else and else-if ladder.
Write programs using the looping structures while, do-while & for.
Learn usage of Jumping Statements: break, continue & goto in the programs.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Control Statements determine the flow of control in a program and enable to specify the order in
which the various instructions in a program are to be executed by the computer. Normally high level
procedural programming languages require three basic control instructions.

Sequential control instructions


Decision and Selection control instructions
Repetition or Loop or Iterative control instructions
Jumping statements
The common thing shared by all the programs written so far is that in each of the programs, all the
statements from the first statement till the last statement get executed without fail in a serial manner. That
is, one after the other. This kind of execution of statements in a program is called Sequential Execution.

The programming circumstances require selecting some statements for execution if some condition
is satisfied; and skipping the block of statements if the condition is not satisfied, thereby, resulting in a
change in the order of execution of statements. To be precise, selection of some statements for execution
depends on whether a condition is true or false. This kind of execution of statements is called
Conditional Execution or Selection.

Suppose, if there is a need for a group of statements to be executed repeatedly until some logical
condition is satisfied, then looping is required in the program. This can be carried out using various Loop
or Repetitive or Iterative control statements.

The Jumping statements are used to exit from loop or to go to the next repetition of the loop after
skipping the remaining statements of the loop or to transfer control from one part of the program to
another part of the program unconditionally.

The sequential control instruction ensures that the instructions are executed in the same order in
which they appear in the program. Decision and selection control instructions allow the computer to take
decision as to which instruction is to be executed next. The loop control instruction helps computer to
execute a group of statements repeatedly.

Decision and Selection control instructions allows a program to take different courses of action
depending on different conditions. C provides two selection structures.

if
switch

Control Statements 53
Repetition or loop control instruction allows a program to execute the same section of code more
than once. A section of code may either be executed a fixed number of times, or while some condition is
true. C provides three looping statements.

while
for
do-while
C provides three jumping statements

break
continue
goto

3.2 SIMPLE & COMPUND STATEMENTS

3.2.1 Simple statements

A single statement is called a simple statement.

Assignment: A = A + 1;
Input: scanf(%d,&x);
goto: goto begin;
The C language uses semicolons as statement terminators. A semicolon follows every simple (non-
compound) statement.

Example3.1: if(x==y)

printf(x and y are equal);

If the values of the variables x and y are same, then only the printf() statement gets executed. Otherwise,
it is skipped.

3.2.2 Compound statements

A set of simple or compound statements enclosed within a pair of opening and closing braces is
called a Compound Statement.

The terms compound statement and block both refer to a collection of statements that are enclosed in
braces to form a single unit. Compound statements have the form

Example3.2: {
printf(Enter an integers);
scanf(%d,&a);
if(a>max)
max=a;
}
Example3.3: if(flag==1)
{
printf();
scanf(%d,&b);
}

Control Statements 54
3.3 NULL & EXPRESSIONS STATEMENTS

3.3.1 Null Statement

A "null statement" is an executable statement containing only a semicolon; it can appear wherever a
statement is expected. Nothing happens when a null statement is executed. The null statement is:

Statements such as do, for, if, and while require that an executable statement appear as the statement
body. The null statement satisfies the syntax requirement in cases that do not need a substantial statement
body.
;

This example illustrates the null statement:

Example3.4: for(i=0;i<10; line[i++]=0);

In this example, the loop expression of the for statement line[i++] = 0 initializes the first 10 elements
of line to 0.

3.3.2 Expression-statement
expression;

All side effects from the expression evaluation are completed before the next statement is executed.

The following are the expression statements.

Example3.5: x=(y+3) /* x is assigned the value of y+3 */


x++; /* x is incremented */
x=y=0; /* both a and y are initialized to 0 */
proc(arg1,arg2); /* function call returning void */
y=z=(f(x)+3); /* a function-call expression */
3.4 DECISION-MAKING AND BRANCHING (SELECTION)

i) if-statement
ii) switch-statement
3.4.1 if-statements

The different forms of if- Statements are

i) The simple-if statement.


ii) The if-else Statement.
iii) The Nested if- else Statement.
iv) The else-if Ladder.

3.4.1.1 The Simple if statement

It is used to execute an instruction or block of instructions only if a condition is fulfilled.

The syntax is as follows:

Control Statements 55
False
condition

if(condition)
True
statement;
statement

Next
instruction

The above flow chart reflects the logical flow of the if statement. Where condition is the expression that
is to be evaluated .If this condition is true (non-zero), statement is executed. If it is false(zero), statement
is not executed and the program continues to the next instruction after the conditional statement.

Example3.6: if(a==b)
printf(a and b are equal);
If the values a and b are equal, then only the printf() statement gets executed, otherwise it is skipped.

Example3.7: if((a>b)&&(a>c))

printf(a is the largest);

If the value of the variable a is greater than the values of both b & c, then only the printf () statement gets
executed. Otherwise, the statement is skipped.

Example3.8: if(n%2)

printf(n is odd);

If the value of the variable n is not divisible by 2, i.e. if the remainder after division of n by 2 is 1, then
only printf () statement gets executed. Otherwise, the statement gets skipped.

Example3.9: if(a>b)
{
t=a;
a=b;
b=t;
}
Only when the value of a is greater than the value of b the statements within the pair of braces gets
executed. Otherwise, the statements are skipped.

3.4.1.2 The if-else statement

If-else structure acts as a selector of one block of statements out of two blocks.

The syntax of the if-else statement is as follows:

Control Statements 56
False True
Test-
Expression

if ( test-expression)
statement 1;
else True
statement 2; Statement2 Statement1
statement x;
Statements1

The above flow chart reflects the logical flow of the if-else statement.

If test-expression evaluates to true, statement 1 will be executed, otherwise, statement2 will be executed.
Then the control is transferred to statement x.

The statement1 is called if-block and the statement2 flowing else is called else-block statement.

Example3.10: if(a>b)
printf(a is larger than b);
else
printf(b is larger than a);
Here if a is greater than b the message a is larger than bis displayed on the screen. Otherwise, b is
larger than a is displayed.

Example3.11: if(basic>5000)
{
da=basic*65;
hra=basic*15;
cca=200;
}
else
{
da=basic*57;
hra=basic*12;
cca=100;
}
Here, if the basic is greater than Rs.5000 then da and hra are calculated to be 65% and 15% of basic
respectively and the cca is assigned Rs.200. otherwise, i.e. the basic is less than or equal to 5000 than da
and hra are calculated to be 57% and 12% of basic respectively and cca is assigned Rs.150.

Program3.1Program to illustrate if-else statement.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int main(void)
{
int year, r4, r100,r400;
printf (Enter a year\n);

Control Statements 57
Input-Output:
scanf (%d,&year);
r4=year % 4; Enter a year
r100=year % 100;
r400=year % 400; 4000
if (( r4 == 0) && (r100!=0) || (r400 == 0)) 4000 is a leap year
printf (%d is a leap year ,year);
else Enter a year
printf (%d is not a leap year ,year);
} 2011
2011 is not a leap year

3.4.1.3 The Nested if-else Statement

We know that if execution of a block of statements is conditional, we can use one if statement. What
if the conditional execution of the block of statements is itself conditional? Here, we need to enclose one
if statement within another if statement. On the similar lines, we can even enclose an if-else within
another if-else. If one if-else is enclosed within another if-else, the resulting structure is called nested if
else.

The syntax of nested if-else is as follows.

if (test-expression 1 )
{ False True
if(test-expression 2) Test-expr
{
statement-1;
}
False
else True
Statement Test-
{ Expression
statement-2;
}
}
Statement
else Statement
{
statement -3;
}

Here, one if-else is enclosed within another if-else. The if structure, which encloses another is called
outer-if. The if structure, which is enclosed within another is called inner-if. Statement-1, statement-2 and
statement-3 may be simple or block of statements. First, test-expression1 is checked. If it evaluates to
true, test-expression2 is checked. If test-expression2 also evaluates to true, then else-block of the inner-if,
statement-1 would get executed otherwise, statement-2 would be evaluated. If test-expression1 itself
evaluates to false, then else-block of the outer-if, statement-3 would get executed. Thus, this variation
acts as a selector of one out of three blocks of statements.

Example3.12:The following program segment compares a and b.

Control Statements 58
if(a>=b)
{
if(a>b)
printf(a is larger than b);
else
printf(a and b are equal);
}
else
printf(a is less than b);
Example3.13: The following segment compares three values a ,b and c and collects the largest of them in
the variable largest.

if( a>=b)
{
if(a>c)
largest = a;
else
largest = c;
}
else
{
if(b>c)
largest = b;
else
largest = c;
}
3.4.1.4 The else-if Ladder

The else-if ladder helps select one out of many alternatives blocks of statements for execution depending
on the mutually exclusive conditions. The syntax of the else-if ladder is as follows.

False
if(test-expression 1) TE-1
Statement-1;
else if (test-expression2)
Statement-2; True False
else if(test-expression3) TE-2
Statement-3; Statement-1
. False
else if (test-expression n)
Statement -n; TE-3
else Statement-2
Statement-n+1;
statement x True

Statement-3

Statement-x

Control Statements 59
Here test-expression1, test-expression2 test-expression-n are mutually exclusive. That is only one test-
expression of all will be true. There are n+1 of statements. Initially, test-expression1 is checked. If it is
true, then statement-1 would get executed; all the other blocks of statements would be skipped; then the
statement x gets executed. If test-expression1 is false, test-expression2 is checked. If it is true, then
statements-2 would be executed; all the other statements would be skipped. If test-expressions 2 is false,
test-expression3 is checked. If it is true, statements-3 would get executed; all the other statements would
be skipped. This is continued. In general, ith test-expressions is checked only when the first i-1 test-
expressions evaluate to false. If none of the expressions is found to be true, the last statement would get
executed. Thus, else-if ladder act as a selector of one out of n+1 blocks of statement.

Example3.14: printf (Enter a number\n);


scanf(%d,&n);
if(n<=10)
printf( n is less than or equal to 10);
else if (n <=20)
printf( n lies between 11 and 20);
else if (n<=30)
printf ( n lies between 21 and 30);
else
printf( n is greater than30);
Program3.2 To find whether a number is positive ,negative or 0.

void main()
{
int n;
printf (Enter a number\n); Input-Output
scanf (%d,&n);
if(n>0) Enter a number
printf (%d is positive,n);
else if (number >0) 78
printf (%d is negative,n);
else 78 is positive number.
printf (Zero);
getch();
}
3.4.2 The Switch Statement

Switch statements provide a non-iterative choice between any numbers of paths based on specified
conditions. They compare an expression to a set of constant values. Selected statements are then executed
depending on which value, if any, matches the expression. Switch statements have the form
Here, expression is an integer or character expression. It evaluates to either integer or a
character.Value1, value 2. Value N is the case values. The expression of the switch statement can take
any of the values. If it matches with value1, statement-1 will get executed and the break statement
following it causes the skipping of the switch structure. If the expression matches with value2, then
statement2 will get executed and so on. If the value of expression matches with none of the case values
then default option will get executed.

Control Statements 60
switch ( expression) Expression
{
case value1:statement-1;
break;
case value2:statement -2; Case Value 1 Statement-1
break;
.
Case Value 2 Statement-2
.
case value n:statement -n;
break; Case Value 3 Statement-3
default :default statement;
break;
}
Case Value n Statement-n

Default Default statement

Points to Remember:

i) The case values should not be float values or Boolean expression.


ii) The case values value1,value2, value n should be distinct.
iii) The order of their presence is immaterial.
iv) default case is optional.
Example 3.15:
scanf (%d,&n);
switch (n)
{
case 1:printf (one);
break;
case 2:printf (two);
break;
default : printf (Other than one or two \n);
}
If the value of n is 1, then the string one is displayed. If the value of n is 2,then the string two is
displayed.

Program3.3 Program to accept a digit and display it in words.


void main()
{
int digit; Input-Output
printf (Enter a number\n);
scanf (%d,&digit); Enter a digit
switch (digit)
7
{
case 0 : printf( Zero); break; seven
case 1 : printf( One); break;
case 2 : printf( Two); break;
case 3 : printf( Three); break;
case 4 : printf( Four); break;

Control Statements 61
case 5 : printf( Five); break;
case 6 : printf( Six); break;
case 7 : printf( seven); break;
case 8 : printf( Eight); break;
case 9 : printf( Nine); break;
default : printf( Not a digit ); break;
}
getch();
}
3.5 Looping or Iterative or Repetitive Statements in C

The repetition of execution of a block of statements as long as some condition is true is called
Looping. Looping is also called as Iteration.

There are three kinds of iterative statements.

i) while-loop
ii) for-loop
iii) do-while loop

3.5.1 The while-loop

When in a program a single statement or a certain group of statements are to be executed repeatedly
depending upon certain test condition, then while statement is used
The general form ofwhile loop is as follows:

while (expression)
Statement;
The statement may be simple or compound statement. The keyword while is followed by expression
enclosed within a pair of parenthesis. The expression can be an arithmetic expression, relational
expression or a logical expression. The expression is then followed by a set of one or more statements,
which are expected to be repeatedly executed.

The execution sequence effected by while looping construct is best illustrated by the following flow chart
segment.
Intialization

Expression

False

True

Statement

Example3.16: i=1;
sum =0;
while (i<=10)

Control Statements 62
{
sum+=i;
i++;
}
The purpose of the code is to find the sum of the first 10 natural numbers
Example3.17:while ((ch=getchar())!=\n)
{
printf (%c\n,toupper(ch));
}
The segment code enables us to accept characters of a line, one at a time till the new line character is
entered. Each character entered is converted to upper case and displayed.

After getting familiarized with the syntax and examples of the usage of the while loop, we will now write
some programs which make use of it.

Program3.4 Program to find the sum of the digits of an integer


void main()
{
int rem,sum;
long int n,temp;
printf (Enter an integer); Input Output:
scanf (%ld,&n); Enter an integer
temp=n; 123
sum=0; Sum of the digits of 123= 6.
while (n>0)
{
rem =n%10;
sum+=rem;
n/=10;
}
printf (sum of the digits of ld=%d\n,temp,sum);
getch();
}

3.5.2 The for loop


The syntax of for loop is as follows:

for (expr1; expr2; expr3)


statement;
The statement may be simple or compound statement:
i) expr1 is initialization expression
ii) expr2 is test-expression or conditional expression
iii) expr3 is increment/decrement expression.

Statement is executed repeatedly until the value of expr2 is 0. Before the first iteration, expr1 is evaluated
and then expr2 is evaluated. If expr2 is non-zero then only control enter the loop .expr1 is usually used to
initialize variables for the loop. After each iteration of the loop, expr3 is evaluated. This is usually used to
increment a loop counter. In fact, the for-loop is absolutely equivalent to the following sequence of
statements:

Control Statements 63
expr1;
while (expr2)
{
statement;
expr3;
}

That's why expr1 and expr3 must contain side effects, else they are useless.
Example3.18: for (i=0; i<100; i++)
printf(%d\t,i);

All the expressions are optional. If expr2 is left out, it is assumed to be 1. Statement may be a compound
statement as well.
The execution sequence effected by for looping construct is best illustrated by the following flow chart
segment.
Expression 1

Expression 2 False

True

Statement

Expression 3

The execution sequence effected by for loop is as follows:

i) Initialization expression is executed.


ii) Test-expression is evaluated.
iii) If the test-expression evaluates to true, the statements in the body of the loop would get executed.
iv) Control goes to the increment/decrement expression, and it is executed.
v) Test-expression is again evaluated.
vi) If it evaluates to true, again the statements in the body of the loop would get executed.
vii) Control once again goes back to the increment/decrement expression, which updates the looping
variable.
viii) If the test-expression evaluates to false execution of the body of the loop is terminated.
Example3.19: for (j=1;j<=10;j++)

printf(%d\n,j);

here the for loop prints the first 10 natural numbers.

Program3.5 Program to find largest of n numbers


#include<stdio.h>
void main()

Control Statements 64
{
int n,i;
float x,large;
printf ( Enter the number of values );
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(Enter the first number); Input-output:
scanf(%f,&x); Enter the number of values 6
large=x; Enter the first number 10
printf(Enter the reaming numbers);
Enter the reaming numbers
for ( i=1; i <n; ++i)
{ -3
scanf(%f,&x); 23
if(x>large) 78
large=x; -220
} 5
printf(Largest of given numbers =%f\n,large); Largest of given numbers=78
getch();
}
Program3.6: Program to generate ten lines of the multiplication table of a number
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main() Input output:
{ Enter a number: 6
The multiplication of 6 is:
int num,i,product;
6 * 1 =6
printf( \n Enter a number:);
6 * 2=12
scanf(%d,&num); .
printf(The multiplication table of %d is:\n,num); .
for( i=1;i<=10; i++) .
{ 6 * 10 = 60
product= num*i;
printf( %d * %d = %d \n,num,i,product);
}
getch();
}
As mentioned earlier a for loop can be written without any one of the expressions or two expressions or
all the three.

Example3.20: for(sum=0;n>0;)
{
digit=n/10;
sum+=digit;
n/=10;
}
This segment will find the sum of digits of a given integer. The loop is written without expression3.

Program3.7 Program to find gcd of two integers using Euclidian algorithm

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a,b,rem,temp1,temp2;

Control Statements 65
Input-output:
printf(Enter two integers);
scanf(%d%d,&a,&b); Enter two integers 36 24
temp1=a; temp2=b;
for(;(r=a%b)>0;) gcd(36,24)=12
{
a=b;
b=r;
}
printf(gcd(%d,%d)=%d\n,temp1,temp2,b);
}
In the above program the loop is written without expression1 and expression3.

The for loop can be written without any expressions as like

for( ; ; )
{
statements block;
}

would cause the statement block to be executed indefinitely unless the block contains a statement to break
the loop

3.5.3 do-while Loop

The while and for loops test the termination condition at the top. By contrast, the third loop in C, the
do-while, tests at the end after making each pass through the loop body. Hence the body is always
executed at least once.

Thus while & for loops are entry-controlled loops, whereas do-while is exit controlled loop.

The general form of do-while loop:

Intialization

Statements
do {

statements;

}while (expression); false


Expression

True

Initially, the statement block is executed, and then expression is evaluated. If it is true, statement block is
evaluated again, and so on. When the expression becomes false, the loop terminates.

Control Statements 66
Example3.21: i=1;
sum=0;
do
{
sum+=i;
i++;
}while ( i<= 10);
The statements in the body of the loop get repeatedly executed as long as i< =10 and it finds the sum of
the first 10 natural numbers.

Example3.22: do
{
scanf(%d, &n);
printf(Do you want to continue? Enter Y or N);
ch = getchar();
} while ( ch ==Y);
The above segment of code enables us to keep accepting integer value into the variable n as long as we
enter Y to the variable ch. Once we input n response to the statement ch = getchar (); the loop is
exited.

Program3.8 Program to print first 5 natural numbers using do-while.


#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{ Output:
int x=5; 1
int i=0; 2
//using do while loop statement
3
do{
i++; 4
printf (%d\n,i); 5
}while(i<x);
}

Comparison of the three loops

while for do - - while


for(n=1; n<=10; n++)
n=1;
{
n=1; do
---
while (n<=10) {
---
{ ---
}
--- ---
--- n++;
n++; }
} while (n<=10);

Control Statements 67
3.6 Nested control structures

Like the nested if-else structures, loops also can be nested. In nested loops one loop should be
completely embedded within the other. There can be no overlap. The inner and outer loop structures can
be different or same.

for(i=1;i<n;++i) for(i=1;i<n;++i)
{ {
..... .......
..... .......
while( expression) for(j=1;j<n;j++)
{ {
.. .....
.. .....
} }
} ....
}

Program 3.9 Program to print all prime numbers between two limits.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
void main() Input-output:
{
int ll,ul,k,n,r; Enter the lower and upper
printf(Enter the lower and upper limits\n); limits10 20
scanf (%d%d,&ll,&ul); The prime numbers between 10
printf (The prime number between %d and %d are\n,ll,ul); and 20 are
for( n=ll;n<=ul;++n)
11
{
k=sqrt(n); 13
for (i=2;i<=k;++i) 17
{ 19
r=n%i;
if(r==0)
break;
}//end of inner for loop
if (i>k)
printf (%d\n,n);
}//end of outer loop
}// end of main
Inner for loop is written to check wether n is prime or not. Outer loop is written to execute this loop
repeatedly for n=ll to ul.

3.7 JUMP STATEMENTS

Jump statements transfer control unconditionally from one part of the program to another part of the
program.The Jump statements are

i) goto identifier
ii) continue
iii) break

Control Statements 68
3.7.1 goto statement

So far we have discussed ways of controlling the flow of execution based on certain specified
conditions. Like many other languages, C supports goto statement to branch unconditionally from one
point to another in the program. Although it may not be essential to use goto statement in a highly
structured language like C, there may be occasions where the use of goto might be desirable.

The goto require a label in order to identify the place where the branch is to be made. A label is
any valid variable name, and must be followed by a colon. The label is placed immediately before the
statement where the control is to be transferred. The general forms of goto and label statements are
shown below.

goto label; label :

------ statement;

------ ------

------ ------

------ ------

Forward
label : jump goto label jump
Backward ;

statement;

The label can be anywhere in the program either before or after the goto label; statement. During
running of a program when a statement like

goto begin;

is met, the flow of control will jump to the statement immediately following the label begin:. This
happens unconditionally.

Note that a goto breaks the normal sequential execution of the program. If the label: is before the
statement go to label; a loop will be formed and some statements will be executed repeatedly. Such a
jump is known as a backward jump. On the other hand, if the label: is placed after the go to label; some
statements will be skipped and the jump is known as forward jump.

A goto is often used at the end of a program to direct the control to go to the input statement, to read
further data.

Example3.23:double x, y;
read :
scanf(%d, &x);
if (x<0)
goto read;
y=sqrt(x);
printf(%f %f, x,y);
goto read;

Control Statements 69
The above example evaluates the square root of a series of numbers read from the terminal. The
program uses two goto statements, one at the end, after printing the results to transfer the control back to
the input statement and other to skip any further computation when the number is negative.

Due to the unconditional goto statement at the end, the control is always transferred back to the input
statement. In fact, this program puts the computer in a permanent loop known as an infinite loop. The
computer goes round and round until we take some special steps to terminate the loop-such infinite loops
should be avoided.

3.7.2 Break Statement

Sometimes, it is required to jump out of a loop irrespective of the conditional test value. Break
statement is used inside any loop to allow the control jump to the immediate statement following the
loop. The syntax is as follows:
break;

When nested loops are used, then break jumps the control from the loop where it has been used. Break
statement can be used inside any loop i.e., while, do-while, for and also in switch statement.

Let us consider a program to illustrate break statement.

Program3.10 Program to calculate the first smallest non-trivial divisor of a number.


#include<stdio.h>
void main ( ) Input-output:
{ Enter any number:
int div, nun, i;
printf (Enter any number); 9
scanf (%d, &nun); Smallest divisor for the
for (i=2; i<=nun; ++i) number 9 is 3
{
if (nun%i) = = 0)
{
printf (smallest divisor for the number %d is %d, nun, i);
break;
}
}
}
In the above program, we divide the input number with the integer starting from 2 onwards, and print the
smallest divisor as soon as remainder comes out to be zero. Since we are only interested in first smallest
divisor and not all divisors of a given number,control is exected from the loop as soon as num%i is 0
using break statement without going further for the next iteration of for loop.

3.7.3 Continue statement

Unlike break statement, which is used to jump the control out of the loop, it is sometimes
required to skip some part of the loop and to continue the execution with next loop iteration. Continue
statement used inside the loop helps to bypass the section of a loop and passes the control to the
beginning of the loop to continue the execution with the next loop iteration. The syntax is as follows:
continue;

Let us see the Program 3.11 given below to know the working of the continue statement.

Control Statements 70
Program3.11 Program to print first 20 natural numbers skipping the numbers divisible by 5.
#include<stdio.h>
void main ( )
{
int i ;
for( i=1; i<=20; i++)
{ Output:
if(i%5)= = 0) 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19
continue;
printf(%d,i);
}
}
Here, the printf statement is by passed each time when value stored in i is divisible by 5.Hence all
integers from 1 to 20 not divisible by 5 are displayed.

Program3.12 Program to find sum of all non-negative integers in a list of n integers entered through key
board
void main()
{ Input-output:
int i,sum=0,n,x; Enter the number of values
printf(Enter number of values); 5
scanf(%d,&n); Enter the values
printf(Enter the values); 2
for( i=1;i<=n;i++) -12
{
5
scanf (%d,&x) ;
0
if( n <0)
continue; -4
sum+ = n; sum= 7
}
printf(sm=%d\n,sum);
}

SUMMARY

The program statements in C fall into three general types: assignment, input/output, and control. C
has two types of control structures: selection (decision) and a repetition (loops). The decision control
constructs are of two types: conditional and unconditional. The conditional control constructs are if,
if-else, if-else-if and switch. The unconditional control constructs are break, continue and goto. The
loop control constructs are for, while and do-while.

One-way decisions are handled with an if statement that either does some particular thing or does
nothing at all. The decision is based on a test expression that either valuates to true or false. Two-
way decisions are handled with if-else statements that either do one particular thing or do another.
Similar to one-way decisions, the decision is based on a test expression. Multi-way decision
statements use if-else-if ladder or nested ifs, or switch statements. They are all used to evaluate a test
expression that can have several possible values selecting different actions.

Control Statements 71
In a program by using loop control statements while, for, do-while you can execute set of statements
repeatedly, while and for are called entry-controlled loops which means that testing a condition is
checked before starting a loop. Do-while is called as exit-controlled loop in which the testing a
condition is checked after executing the loop.

Using break statement, we can leave a loop even if the test condition for its end is not fulfilled. It can
be used to end an infinite loop, or to force it to end before its natural end. The continue statement
causes the program to skip the rest of the loop in the present iteration as if the end of the
statement block would have reached, causing it to jump to the next jump iteration.

Using goto statement, we can make an absolute jumpto another part of the program. You should use
this feature carefully since its execution ignores any type of nesting limitation.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-5 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-5 & 6 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by
B.A.Forouzan & Ritchard F.Gilberg.

EXERCISES

Multiple Choice Questions


3.1 What would be the output of each of the following code segments?
i) void main ( )
{
int a=1, b=1;
if(a = = 1)
if(b = = 0)
printf(HI);
else
printf(Bye);
}

ii) void main ( )


{
int a,b=0;
if(a=b=1)
printf (hello);
else
printf (world);
}

iii) void main()


{
int var1,var2=2,num=100,a;
if(var1=var2%2)
num=2;
a=2;
printf(%d %d,num,var1);

Control Statements 72
}
3.2 What is the value of y in the following code?

x=7,y=0;
if(x = 6)
y=7;
else
y=1;

a)7b)0 c)1d)6

3.3. What is the value of z after the following statements executed?

int x=2,y=2,z=1;
if(x=y%2)
z+=10;
else
z+=20;

a)21 b)11 c)1d)the expression x=y%2 is not allowed

3.4 What is the output of the following code?

main()
{
int a=300,b=100,c=50;
if(a>400)
b=300;
c=200;
printf(\n b=%d c=%d,b,c);
}
a) b=100 c=200 b)b=300 c=200 c)b=100 c=50 d) b=300 c=50

3.5. Which of the following is the correct output for the program given bellow?
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
float a=0.7;
if(0.7>a)
printf(hi \n);
else
printf(hello \n);
return 0;
}
a)Hi b) hello c)hi hello d)None of the above

3.6.What is the output of the following code?

main()
{
int a=500,b=100,c=50;

Control Statements 73
if(a>400)
{
b=300;
c=200;
}
c=100;
printf(\n b=%d , c=%d \n,b,c);
}
a) b=100 c=200 b)b=300 c=200 c)b=300 c=100 d) b=300 c=50
3.7 Which of the following is true?

int a=5,b=7;
if(a<b);
a++;
else
b++;
printf(a=%d,b=%d \n,a,b);

a)a=6,b=8 b)a=6,b=7 c)a=5,b=8 d)syntax error.


3.8. Which of the following is true?

int a=5,b=7;
if(a<b);
{
a++;
++b;
}
printf(a=%d,b=%d \n,a,b);

a)a=6,b=8 b)a=6,b=7 c)a=5,b=7 d)syntax error.


3.9 Which of the following statements are correct about the problem given below?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
float a = 2.8, b = 2.87 ;
if (a = b)
printf( a and b are equal \n);
else
printf(a nd b are not equal \n);
}

a) The statement if (a = b) results in a compilation error.


b) floats cannot be compared using if
c) In the if statement the values of a and b are not compared for equality
d) switch_case should be used to compare floats.

3.10.What is the output of the following code?


#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{

Control Statements 74
int a=0,b=1;
if(a<b || ++b)
a=5;
else
b=6;
printf(a=%d ,b=%d \n a,b);
}
3.11 Write the following expression using if statement.
x = ( y > 3 ) ? ( x < y ) ? y : x + 10 : ( y < 0 ) ? -y : y + 10;

3.12. Originally x=4,y=3 and z=0 . What are values of x,y,z after executing the following code?
switch(x)
{
case 0 : x=2;y=3;
case 1 : z=4; break;
default : ++x;
}
a)x=0,y=3,z=4 b)x=2,y=3,z=4 c)x=1,y=3,z=4 d)x=5,y=3,z=0
3.13 Consider the following program segment

int n sum=1;
switch(n)
{
case 2: sum=sum+2;
case 3: sum*=2;
break;
default : sum=0;
}
If n=2 ,What is the value of sum

a)0b)6 c)3d)None of these


3.14 When is default statement executed in switch case construct?

a) When ever there is exactly one match.


b)When ever break statement is omitted in all case statements
c)When ever there is no match with case labels.
d)options b and c.

3.15. Omitting the break statement from a particular case in switch case construct

a) leads a syntax error


b)causes execution of the program to terminate after the case
c) causes execution to continue all subsequent cases.
d) causes execution to branch to the statement after the switch statement

3.16 What will be printed by the following code?


#include< stdio.h>
main()
{
int x = 5;
switch(x)

Control Statements 75
{
case 5 : printf (%d\t, x * x) ;
case 6 : printf(%d\t, x + 1 * x+1);
default : break;
}
}
a)25 11 b)25 31 c)25 36 d)25
3.17 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
while(i<=10)
{
printf(%d,--i);
++i;
}
}
a)Integers from 0 to 10 are printed b) the sequence 0 1 01 01 printed indefinitely
c) 0 is printed indefinitely d) first 10 natural numbers are printed.

3.18.What is the output when the following code is executed ?

int i=0;
while(i<=5);
{
printf(KLU\n);
++i;
}

a)6 b)5 c)1 d)no output


3.19 Which of the following is a loop construct?

a)if-else b)switch-case c)goto d)while


3.20. What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=1;
while()
{
printf(%d,x);
++x;
}
a)syntax error b)1 2 c)2 3 4 5 d)1 2 3 4
3.21 What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{

Control Statements 76
int a=5;
while(a-- >0)
printf(%d\t,a);
}
a)5 4 3 2 1 b) 4 3 2 1 0 c) 5 4 3 2 1 0 d) 4 3 2 1
3.22 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int p=5;
while(p<8)
{
printf(%d,p);
p=9;
}
}
a)5 6 7 b)5 c)5 9 9 9 9 d) no output

3.23. What will be the output when the following code is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a = 6;
while (a)
{ printf(%d\t, a);
a -= 2;
}
}
a)6 4 2 0 b)6 4 2 c)6 5 4 2 1 d)6 5 4 3 2 1

3.24 What is the output when the following code is executed?


void main( )
{
int i=3;
while(i)
{
int x=100;
printf(\n%d %d, i, x);
x=x+1;
i=i+1;
}
}
3.25 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a=10;
do
{

Control Statements 77
printf(%d,a);
--a;
}
while(a<=1);
}
a) 10 b)10 9 1 c) 1 2 310 d) syntax error
3.26 What is the output when the following program is executed?
void main( )
{
int i = 1;
do
{
printf(%d, i);
}while (i=i-1);
}
3.27 Which of the following is exit control loop?
a)for b)switch case c)while d)do-while
3.28 How many times KLU is printed?
for(i=0;i>5;++i)
printf(KLU\n);

a)6b)5 c)0d)Indefinite no of times.

3.29 How many times KLU is printed?


for(i=0;i<5;++i);
printf(KLU\n);

a)6 b)5 c)1 d)Indefinite no of times.

3.30. What is the output of the following program?


main()
{
unsigned int i;
for(i=10 ; i>0 ; - - i)
printf(%d,i);
}

a) prints numbers from 10 to 0 b) prints numbers from 10 to 1


c) prints numbers from 10 to -1 d)An indefinite loop is formed
3.31 How many times x is printed?

for(i=0 , j=10 ; i < j ; ++i , --j)


printf(x);;

a)10 b)5 c)4 d)none


3.32 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;

Control Statements 78
for(i=1;i<=10;++i);
printf(%d,i);
}
a) First 10 natural numbers can be displayed b) 11
c) Natural numbers starting from 1 are displayed indefinitely d) no output.

3.33 What is the output of the following program?


#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=7; ++i)
{
if(i<=4)
printf(%d , i);
else
printf(%d ,8-i);
}
}
a) 1 2 3 4 b) 3 2 1 c)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 d)1 2 3 4 3 2 1
3.34 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a=5;
for(a=5;--a >0; )
printf(%d\t,a);
}
a)4 3 2 1 b)5 4 3 2 1 c) 4 3 2 1 0 d)5 4 3 2 1 0
3.35 What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int b;
for(b=3;b<10;b=7)
printf(%d,b);
}
a)3 4 5 6 7 8 9 b) 7 7 7 c) 3 7 7 7 7 d)3

3.36 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a;
for(a=10;! i;-- i)
printf(%d,i);
}
a) First 10 natural numbers are printed in reverse order b)11
c) 10 d) no output.

Control Statements 79
3.37 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=10;++i ; i-=12)
printf(%d,i);
}
a)11 b)0 c)12 d)11,-1,-13,

3.38 What would be the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=4;
for(--i ; --i ; --i)
printf(%d,i);
}
a)2 0 -2 -4 -6 b)4 3 1 -1 -3 c)2 1 0 d)2
3.39 What would be the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i--;i--)
printf(%d,i);
}
a)0 b)no output c) -1 ,-3,-5 d)-1
3.40 What would be the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=3456,sum=0;
for( ;x>0;d=x%10,sum+=d,d/=10);
printf(%d,sum);
}
a)0 b)18 c)6 d)output statement is not executed

3.41 What will be the output when the following code is executed?
void main()
{
int i=0;
for(;i++;)
printf(%d,i);
}
3.42 What will be the output when the following code is executed?
void main()

Control Statements 80
{
int i;
for(i=0; i<=10; i++, printf(%d \t, i));
}
3.43 What is the value of a after the following code is executed?
void main()
{
int b,a=0;
for (b=0;b<10;b++)
{
switch(b)
{
case 0:
case 1:
case 2:
case 5:
++a;
case 3: break;
case 4: break;
default: break;
}
}
3.44 What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=10;++i)
printf(%d,i);
}
a) First 10 natural numbers can be displayed b) 11
c) Natural numbers starting from 1 are displayed indefinitely d) no output.
3.45 What is the output when the following code is executed?
{
for(i=1;i<=5;++i)
{
if(i<=4)
break;
printf(%d,i);
}
}
a)1 2 3 b) 1 2 3 4 c) 1 2 3 4 5 d) no output
3.46 Which of the following statement is true?
a) break statement is used to terminate the execution of the program.
b) continue statement is used to terminate the execution of the loop.
c) exit() function is used to jump out of a loop.
d) break statement is used to exit from a loop or from a switch case structure
3.47. Which of the following statement is true?
a) break statement is used to terminate the execution of the program.
b) continue statement is used to terminate the execution of the loop.
c) exit() function is used to jump out of a loop.

Control Statements 81
d) continue statement is used inside a loop to bypass a section of the loop and
continue the execution with next iteration of the loop.
3.48. Which of the following statement is true?
a) break statement is used to terminate the execution of the program.
b) continue statement is used to terminate the execution of the loop.
c) exit() function is used to jump out of a loop.
d) exit() function is used to terminate the execution of a program.
3.49 Which of the following statement is used to exit from a switch case statement?

a) exit b)continue c)goto d)break


3.50 Which of the following is not a library function in C?

a) clrscr()b)exit() c)goto() d)getch()


3.51 What is the output of the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
for( ; ; )
{
printf(\n %d,++i);
if( i>5)
break;
}
}
a) 2 3 4 5 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c)2 3 4 5 6 d)1 2 3 4 5 6

3.52 What is the output for the program bellow?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=5;++i)
{
if(i==3)
continue;
printf(%d\t,i);
}
}
a) 1 2 4 5 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c) 4 5 d) 1 2
3.53. What is the output of the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=5;++i)
{

Control Statements 82
if(i==3)
break;
printf(%d \n,i);
}
}
a) 1 2 4 5 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c) 4 5 d) 1 2

3.54 What is the output when the following program is executed?


#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a=1;
while(a<=5)
{
if(a==2)
continue;
printf(%d\t,a);
a += 2;
}
}
a) 1 3 5 b) 1 2 3 5 7 c) 1 d)no output
3.55 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main ()
{
int x=1;
for( ; ; )
{
if(x==3)
break;
printf(%d\t,x);
break;
}
}

a) no output b) 1 2
c) 1 d) syntax error as all the three expressions are missing in for

3.56 What is the output when the following program is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=1;
while(1)
{
printf(%d,x);
++x;
}
a) 1 b)1 2 c)2 3 4 5 d)1 2 3 4

Control Statements 83
3.57 How many times KLU is displayed when the following code is executed?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x;
for(x=-1;x<=5;++x)
{
if(x<3)
continue;
else
break;
printf(KLU \n);
}
a)5 b)6 c)4d)0

ANSWERS

3.2)a 3.3)a 3.4)a 3.5)b 3.6)c 3.7)d 3.8)a 3.9)c 3.12)d 3.13)b 3.14)d 3.15)c
3.16)a 3.17)c 3.18)d 3.19)d 3.20) a 3.21)b 3.22)b 3.23)b 3.25)a 3.27)d 3.28)c 3.29)c
3.30)b 3.31)b 3.32)b 3.33)d 3.34)a 3.35)c 3.36)d 3.37)a 3.38)d 3.39)b 3.40)b 3.44)a
3.45)d 3.46)d 3.47)d 3.48)d 3.49)d 3.50)d 3.51)c 3.52)a 3.53)d 3.54)a 3.55)c 3.56)d
3.57)d

Comprehensive Questions:

3.1 Compare, in terms of their functions, the following pairs of statements:


while and do---while
while and for
break and goto
break and continue
continue and goto
3.2 How would you decide the use of one of the three loops in C for a given problem?
3.3 What is a null statement? Explain a typical use of it.
3.4 In a mechanical system the applied force p is expressed as a function of t in
p(t) = 20, if x <= 3
4(t+2) , if t > 3
Calculate and print the force dependent on the time provided by the user at the prompt
3.5 A set of two linear equations with two unknowns x1 and x2 is given below
ax1+bx2=m and cx1+dx2=n The set has a unique solution
md bn na mc
x1= x2=
ad cb ad cb

provided the denominator ad-cb is not equal to zero. Write a program that will read the values of
x1 and x2. An appropriate message should be printed if ad-cb=0
3.6 A function is defined as follows:

Control Statements 84
f(x) =

Write a program to find the value of the function for a given value of x.
3.7 Write a C program to print the roots of a quadratic equation after reading the value of
its coefficients a, b and c.
3.8 Write a program to convert the temperature from Fahrenheit to Centigrade and vice versa.
3.9 Write a program to accept the sides of a triangle and check whether a triangle is formed
or not. If formed determine the nature of the triangle(scalene, isosceles, equilateral).
3.10 Write a menu driven program to compute electricity bill taking different categories
of users for different slabs.
3.11 A company sells five different products with prices shown in the following table.

Product Number Retail Price Unit (in Rs)

1 15.50
2 19.25
3 14.75
4 25.00
5 12.50
Write a program using switch-case construct that reads the product number and number of units
sold and display the amount to be paid.
3.12 The price for one copy of a software package is Rs 5000/-. The discount for the software depends
on the volume as shown in the table below
Number of copies Discount

num < 5 No discount

num<10 10%

num < 50 15%

num >=50 20%

Write a program to calculate the cost with the number of copies of the software package provided
by the user at the prompt.
3.13 Write a program that accepts 0, 1 or 2. If 0 is entered by the user, accept the necessary parameters
(radius, height etc.,) to calculate the volume of a cylinder. Inputs 1 and 2 correspond to cone and
sphere respectively. The process must go on until the user enters q to terminate the program.
3.14 Given an integer between 0 and 6, write a program that prints the corresponding day of the week.
Assume that the first day of the week (O) is Sunday.
3.15 For a certain electrical circuit with an inductance L and resistance R, the damped natural frequency
is given by
Frequency=
It is desired to study the variation of this frequency with C(capacitance). Write a program to
calculate the frequency for different values of C starting from 0.01 to 0.1 in steps of 0.01
3.16 Write for loop to find the sum of squares of first N-natural numbers.
3.17 Write a program to find the factorial of a given integer.
3.18 Write a program to display the image of given number.
3.19 Write a program to check if a given number is Armstrong or not.
3.20 Write a program to enter integer number and find the largest and smallest digit of the number.

Control Statements 85
3.21 Write a program to check given number is prime or not.
3.22 Write a program that calculates and print the average of several integers. Assume that
the last value read with scanf () is sentinel number 9999.
3.23 Write a program that prompts the user to enter an integer n that represent the number of values in
a list and then prompt the user to list of floating point numbers. After the numbers are read the
program will calculate the average of the positive numbers.
3.24 Write a program to check if a given number is an element of Fibonacci sequence
3.25 The numbers in the sequence 1 ,2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,. . .are called Fibonacci numbers. Write a
program using a do-while loop to calculate and print the first m numbers.(Hint: After the first
two numbers in the series, each numbers is the sum of the two Preceding numbers.)
3.26 Write a program to print the numbers that dont appear in the Fibonacci series. The number of
such terms to be printed should be given by the user
3.27 Caluclate the values of the function
f(x) = 2xsinx +tan-1(x)+ex for x in the range of -1<=x<=5 with a step size of 0.25
3.28 Write a program to print the values of the function
f(x) = 3ex+ 4 sinx + 0.6 for x=0,0.1,0.2,.1.0
3.29 Write a program to read an integer number between 0 and 25. Print out the character
corresponding to the input number of the ASCII value. Give an error message if the
input number is outside the specified range. The program terminates when the input
number is -1.
3.30 Write a program that reads an integer and determines wehter it is a prime number. If it is not a
prime number, print out the smallest divisor. Otherwise, print out the prime number.
3.31 Write a program to find the sum of the series
1+ x + x 2 + . xn.
3.32 Write a program to find the sum of series
1+ x + x2/2 + x3/3 + . x n-1/(n-1)
3.33 The cosine function can be expanded as a Taylor series as follows:
cosx = 1- x2/2! + x4/4! x6/6! + ------ . Write a program to find the value of cosx to a given
precision.
3.34 The sin function can be expanded as a Taylor series as follows:
sinx = x- x3/3! + x5/5! x7/7! + . Write a program to find the value of sinx to a given
precision.
3.35 The Taylor series expansion of ex is
ex=1+x+x2/2!+x3/3!+ Write a program to find the value of ex to a given precision
3.36 Eulers number,e, is used as the base of natural logarithms. It can be approximated using the
following formula;
e=1+1/1! +1/2! +1/3! +1/4! +1/5! +1/6! + . . . +1/ (n-1)! +1/n!
Write a program that approximates e using a loop that terminates when the difference between two
successive vales of e differ by less than 0.0000001.
3.37 Write a do-while loop that will display the following sequence of numbers
7,9,11,13 67.

3.38 Write a programs to print the following triangles

a) *
* *
* * *
* * * *
- - - upto nth line

Control Statements 86
b)
*

* *

* * *

* *

- - - upto nth line

c) 1
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 4
th
- - - - upto n line

3.39 Calculate the values of the function


f(x,y)= x2-y2+5xy for x in the range of -1 x 5 with a step of size 1 and for y in the range of
2 y 4 with a step of size 0.5.
3.40 Write a program to print all values of the function f(x,y)= ex+y-2(x+y) for all combinations of
x= -5,-3,-1,1,3,5 and y = 0, 0.5, 1.0,1.5,. 10.0.
3.41 Write a program to find maximum among a given list of numbers entered through keyboard Stop
reading the data whenever zero is entered.
3.42 Write a program to find the average of a given list of numbers entered through keyboard .Stop
reading the data whenever -1 is entered.
3.43 What are the various looping statements? Explain the syntax giving one example to each.
3.44 Write a program to read a particular number and to check whether it is a perfect number or not.
3.45 To evaluate by numerical integration , divide the interval [a, b]into n sub-intervals,
taking the equidistant points of subdivision as
x 0, x1, , xn . The trepizoidal rule is

= (h/2) [y0 + 2(y1 + y2 + .. + y n-1) + yn]

where h = (b a)/n and yi = f(xi) , i = 0, 1, 2, .. , n

Write a program to evaluate dx with n = 10 by trapezoidal rule.


3.46 Program to print all multiplication tables between two limits.
3.47 Write a program to display all prime numbers between two given limits.
3.48 Write a program to add all prime numbers between two given limits.
3.49 Write a program to display first n prime numbers.
3.50 Write a program to print all elements of Fibonacci sequence between two limits.
3.51 Write a program to print perfect numbers between two given limits.
3.52 Write a program to print all two digit perfect numbers.
3.53 Write a program to display each digit of a number as many times as the digit.
3.54 Write a program to check a given number is strong or not.

Control Statements 87
3.55 Write a program to evaluate the following investment equation V=P (1+r) n and print the tables
which would give the value of v for various combinations of the following values of p,r and n.
P: 1000, 2000, 3000. . . , 10000
r: 0.10, 0.11,0.12,. . . ,0.20
n: 1, 2,3,. . . 10
(Hint, P is the principal amount and V is the value of money at the end of n years. The equation
can be recursively written as

V=P

P=V

That is, the value of money at the end of first year becomes the principal amount for the next year
and soon.)
3.56 Given a set of integer numbers containing positive negative and zero values. Write a program to
find average of only positive values using continue statement.
3.57 Create an indefinite for loop that each input value for even or odd.If the value is odd display it
otherwise continue with next iteration. Use break statement to terminate the loop when ever the list
inout values is exhausted .

Control Statements 88
Chapter 4
ARRAYS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this chapter the reader will be able to
declare and use one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays
initialize arrays
use subscripts to access individual array elements
write programs involving one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays
write programs for matrix operations

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Consider the following program


main( )
{
int x ;
x = 10;
x=15;
printf (x=%d \n ,x);
}
This program will print the value of x as 15. Because, when a value 15 is assigned to x, the earlier value
of x, i.e., 10 is lost. Thus ordinary variables are capable of holding only one value at a time (as in the
above example). However, there are situations in which we would want to store more than one value at a
time in a single variable.

For example, we wish to arrange the total marks obtained by 100 students in ascending order. To do this,
it is needed to store all 100 values in the memory simultaneously. In this situation an array is used.

What is an array?

An array is a collective name given to a group of related quantities belonging to same data type. These
related quantities can be total marks of 100 students or salaries of 500 employees or heights of 200
students. For example, we can use an array name tmarks to represent a set of total marks of a group of
100 students in a class. We can refer to the individual marks by writing a number called index or
subscript in square brackets after the array name.

Example4.1:

To store the total marks of 100 students an array will be declared as follows,

float tmarks[100];

tmarks [0], tmarks [1], tmarks [2] etc. represents the total marks of 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. students. In general,
tmarks[i], i can take values 0,1,2,3, represent the total marks of (i+1)th student. Here tmarks is the array
name and i is its subscript.

Thus the array tmarks is the collection of 100 memory locations referred as below:

tmarks[0] tmarks[1] tmarks[2] ... tmarks[99]

3000 3002 3004 3198

Arrays 89
In the above figure, it is assumed that integer value occupies 2 bytes. Thus 200 bytes of space will be
allocated to the array tmarks.

We can use arrays to represent not only single lists of values but also tables of data(like matrix, marks of
100 students in 6 subjects, sales of a departmental store in a week) in two, three or more dimensions.

This chapter explain the use of arrays, types of arrays, declaration and initialization of one dimensional
and two dimensional arrays with the help of examples.

4.2 ARRAY DECLARATION

Before discussing an array, first of all let us look at the characteristic features of an array

i) Array is a data structure storing a group of elements, all of which are of the same
data type.
ii) All the elements of the array share the same name, and they are distinguished from one another
with the help of an index called subscript
iii) Random access to every element using a numeric index (subscript) is possible
iv) A simple data structure which is extremely useful

The declaration of an array is just like any variable declaration with additional size part, indicating the
number of elements of the array. Like other variables, arrays must be declared at the beginning of a
function.

The declaration specifies the data type of the array, the name and its size or dimension.

4.2.1 Declaration of one dimensional arrays

data-type array-name[constant-size]
[constant-size];

data-type refers to the type of elements to store and constant-size is the maximum number of elements.

The following are some examples of array declarations

Example4.2: int x[100]; // x is an array to store maximum 100 integers

float height[50]; //height is an array to store heights of maximum 100 persons

long int city[50]; //city is an array to store population of maximum 50 cities

int fib[15]; //fib is an array to store maximum 15 elements of the fibonacci


sequence

It is convenient to define array size in terms of a symbolic constant rather than a fixed integer quantity.
This makes it easier to modify a program that utilizes an array, since all references to the maximum array
size (eg. within for loops as well as in array definitions) can be altered simply by changing the value of
the symbolic constant.

Example4.3: It is convenient to declare


# define SIZE 50;
int a[SIZE];
rather than int a[50];

Arrays 90
4.3 SUBSCRIPT

To refer the elements of an array subscript is used. In an array a with 50 elements, the individual
elements are referred by a[0], a[1], a[2], . . , a[48], a[49] as shown below:

a[0] a[1] a[2] a[48] a[49]

Here 0,1,2,3.49 are called subscripts.

The sub scripts of an array can be integer constants, integer variables or expressions that yield integers.

Example4.4:

If we want to represent a set of 5 numbers, say {10, 4, 18, 20, 35} by an array variable a, then we declare
the array a as follows:

int a[5];and the computer reserve 5 storage locations as follows:

a[0] a[1] a[2] a[3] a[4]

The values can be assigned to the array elements as follows:

a[0] = 10 ; a[1] = 4 ; a[2] = 18 ; a[3] = 20 ; a[4] = 35 ;

This could cause the array a to store the values as shown below:

10 4 18 20 35

a[0] a[1] a[2] a[3] a[4]

4.4 STORAGE OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS IN MEMORY

When an array is declared, memory is allocated automatically with respect to its type and size.
Array elements are stored in contagious memory locations. For example, a sample layout for the one-
dimensional integer array a of size 6 elements declared as

int a ;is shown below.


Address Memory Element number

2000 1
2002 2
2004 3
2006 4
2008 5
2010 6

a[0],a[1],a[2], represent the first, second, third etc. elements of the list &a[0],&a[1],&a[2] etc
represent the addresses of the first, second, third etc positions of the array

Arrays 91
4.5 INITIALIZATION OF ARRAY

After an array is declared, its elements must be initialized. Otherwise, they will contain
garbage. An array can be initialized at either of the following stages.

i) At compile time
ii) At run time

4.5.1 Compile time initialization

Arrays can be initialized at the time of declaration. The initial values must appear in the order in
which they will be assigned to the individual array elements, enclosed within the braces and separated by
commas.

Syntax of array initialization is as follows:

data type array-name[size]={val1, val2, . . ., valn};

val1 is the value for the first array element, val2 is the value for the second array element, and valn is the
value for the nth array element.

Example4.5: int = {10, 5, 8, 6, 2};

initializes integer array a such that


= 10,
= 5,
a[2] = 8,
= 6,
= 2.

Example4.6: char color[5]={G,R,O,B,\0};


initializes character array color such that
color[0]=G,
color[1]=R,
color[2]=O,
color[3]=B,
color[4]=\0
If the number of initializers in the list is less than the number of elements then only that array
elements will be initialized. The remaining elements will be set to zero automatically.

Example4.7: int = {10, 5, 8};


will initialize the array a such that
= 10,
= 5,
= 8,
= 0,
= 0.
If the number of initializers is more than the array size, then a syntax error would result.

Arrays 92
Example4.8: int = {10, 5, 8, 12, 7, 14, 20};
would result in syntax error.
An array can be initialized without specifying the array size. In this case, the number of
initializers is used to determine the size of the array.

Example4.9: int = {10, 5, 8, 12, 7, 14, 20};

would initialize a seven element array of int type.

4.5.2 Run time initialization

An array can be explicitly initialized at run time.

Example4.10: Consider the following segment of a C Program.

for (i=0; i < 20; ++i)


{ if (i < 5)
= 0.0;
else
= 1.0;
}

The first 5 elements of the array a are initialized to zero while the remaining 15 elements are initialized
to 1 at run time.

To initialize an array at run time scanf() function can be used.

Example4.11: The statements

int ;
for (i=0; i < 10;++i)
scanf (%d, & ;
will initialize the array elements with the values entered through the keyboard.

Program 4.1 Program to store n values in an array and display them in reverse order
#define SIZE 50
void main( )
{
int a[SIZE],i,n; Output
printf(Enter the number of values: ); Enter the number of values: 5
scanf(%d,&n); Enter the values: 20 5 10 9 14
printf(Enter the values: ); Given values in reverse order is:
for(i=0; i<n; ++i) 14 9 10 5 20
scanf(%d,&a[i]);
printf(Given values in reverse order is: \n);
for(i=n-1; i>=0; --i)
printf(%d\n,a[i]);
}

Program 4.2 Program to find the mean of n values.


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

Arrays 93
#define SIZE 50
main( )
{
float a[SIZE], sum, mean;
int n,i;
clrscr( );
printf(Enter the number of values : );
scanf(%d, &n); Output
printf(Enter the values : ); Enter the number of values: 5
for (i=0; i < n; ++i) Enter the values: 10 20 30 40 50
scanf(%f, & ); Mean of the n values : =30
/* find sum */
sum = 0 ;
for (i=0; i < n; ++i)
sum = sum + ;
mean= sum / (float)n ;
printf (Mean of the n values : = % f \n, mean);
}
Program 4.3 Program to arrange a list of numbers in increasing order.

To arrange a list of numbers in order is called sorting. Many sorting methods are available in literature.
The present program uses a simple sorting method known as Bubble sort.

If the list contains n elements, this method require (n-1) passes. In the first pass, adjacent pairs of
elements , ... are compared and the larger element is
pushed down. After the first pass largest element is pushed down to the last location. In the second pass,
the pairs of elements , ... are compared and the larger
element is pushed down . At the end of second pass, second largest element is pushed down to the last
but one location. Like this at the end of the (n-1)th pass, entire array will be re-arranged in increasing
order.

So, a for loop for the operations in pth pass is as follows:


for (j=0 ; j< n p ; + + j)
{
if
{
temp = ;

= temp;
}
}
This loop is to be repeated (n-1) times for the values of pass number p=1,2,3,..,(n-1).

Thus the program which implements the bubble sort is as follows:


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#define SIZE 50
void main( )
{
int a[SIZE],n,i,j,temp,p;
clrscr( );
printf("Enter the number of values in the list: ");

Arrays 94
scanf("%d",&n);
printf("Enter the values: ");
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
scanf("%d",&a[i]);
Output
/*sorting process*/
Enter the number of values in the list:5
for(p=1; p<n; ++p)
Enter the values: 50 31 41 23 11
{
The sorted list is:
for(j=0; j<n-p; ++j)
11 23 31 41 50
{
if(a[j]>a[j+1])
{
temp=a[j];
a[j]=a[j+1];
a[j+1]=temp;
}
}
}
/*output the sorted list*/
printf("The sorted list is: \n");
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
printf("%d\t",a[i]);
}
Program 4.4 Program to search for a specified number in a given list of numbers.

Given a list of n numbers, the program will search for a given number say, key in the list. Compare key
with ,a[n-1], whenever the key match with one of the values of the list stop the
comparisons and display a message that the number is found in the list. If the key does not match with
any element of the list display the message that the number is not found in the list.

# include<stdio.h>
# include<conio.h>
# define SIZE 50
void main ( )
{
int i, key, n, flag = 0;
int
clrscr( ); Output
printf(Enter the number of values in the list: ); Enter the number of values in the list:6
scanf(%d, & n); Enter the values:13 52 45 12 6 40
printf(Enter the values : ); Enter the number to be searched: 45
for(i=0; i < n; ++i) 45 is in the list at the position 3
scanf(%d, & );
printf(Enter the number to be searched:);
scanf(%d, &key);
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
{
if(key = = )
{
flag = 1;
break ;

Arrays 95
}
}
if (flag = = 1)
printf(\n%d is in the list at the position %d , key, i+1);
else
printf (\n%d is not in the list , key);
}
The method employed in the above program is called linear search method.
Program 4.5 Program to merge two sorted lists

The two input sorted lists are stored in the arrays a and b respectively. Merged list is stored in
array c. Corresponding elements of arrays a and b are compared and the smaller element is copied into
the array c. The process is repeated until one of the lists is exhausted ,If the elements of array b are
exhausted then the remaining elements of array a are copied into the array c, This is accomplished by the
loop.
while (i<m)
{
c[k]=a[i];
++i ; ++k ;
}
If the elements of array a are exhausted then the remaining elements of array b are copied into c. This is
accomplished by the loop

while(j<n)
{
c[k]=b[j];
++j;++k;
}
This procedure is implemented in the following program:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int a[10],b[10],c[20],i,j,k,m,n;
printf("Enter the number of elements of the first list: ");
scanf("%d",&m);
printf("\nEnter the elements of the first list in ascending order: ");
for(i=0; i<m; ++i)
scanf("%d",&a[i]);
printf("\nEnter the number of elements of the second list ascending order: ");
scanf("%d",&n);
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
scanf("%d",&b[i]);
i=j=k=0;
while(i<m&&j<n)
{
if(a[i]<b[j])
{
c[k]=a[i];
++i;

Arrays 96
}
else
{
c[k]=b[j];
++j; Output
} Enter the number of elements of the first list:5
++k; Enter the elements of the first list in ascending
} order:
while(i<m) 22 34 56 89 99
{ Enter the number of elements of the second list
c[k]=a[i]; ascending order:
++i; 25 43 52 85 90
++k; the merged list is:
} 22 25 34 43 52 56 85 89 90 99
while(j<n)
{
c[k]=b[j];
++j;
++k;
}
printf("the merged list is: \n);
for(i=0; i<m+n; ++i)
printf("%d\t",c[i]);
}/*end of main*/
Program 4.6 Program to find the binary representation of decimal integer

Divide given decimal integer by 2, remainder is the least significant digit of the binary representation .
Take the quotient and divide it by 2,remainder is the next binary digit . Take the new quotient and divide
it by 2. Repeat this process till the quotient is zero . The remainders obtained in reverse order are the
digits of the binary representation . Since the remainders are to be displayed in reverse order, store them
in a one-dimensional array and display them in reverse order. This procedure is implemented in the
following program

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h> Output
void main( ) Enter the decimal number :23
{ The binary representation of the decimal
short int bdigit[16],digit; integer 23 is :
int nd,num,i=0,j; 10111
clrscr();
printf(Enter the decimal number :);
scanf(%d,&num);
printf(The binary representation of the decimal integer %d is :\n,num);
while(num>0)
{
digit=n%2;
bdigit[i]=digit;
++i;
num=num/2;
}
nd=i; // nd is the number of digits in binary representation

Arrays 97
for(j=nd-1;j>=0;--j)
printf(%d,bdigit[j]);
getch();
}
Program 4.7 Program to insert an element at a given position in a list.

Let the given element be represented by key and the position be represented by pos. Move down all the
elements from the given position to the end by one position. Then assign the given elements to a[pos-1].
If the list contains 7 elements and the position to be inserted is 3,then move a[6] to a[7],a[5] to a[6],
..a[2] to a[3]. For this , the following code can be used

for(i=7;i>=3;--i)
a[i]=a[i-1];

Since an element will be inserted, the new list contains one extra element. Therefore increment the value
of n by 1. If this increment is done before the moving process, the code for n elements would be

++n;
for(i=n-1;i>=pos;--i)
a[i]=a[i-1];
a[pos-1]=key;
The program to implement this process is:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int a[10],n,i,key,pos;
printf(Enter the number of values in the list:);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(\nEnter the values);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
scanf(%d,&a[i]);
printf(Enter the number to be inserted:);
scanf(%d,&key);
Output
printf(Enter the position:);
Enter the number of values in the list:5
scanf(%d,&pos);
Enter the values 21 45 65 78 9
++n;
Enter the number to be inserted:50
for(i=n-1;i>=pos;--i)
Enter the position:3
a[i]=a[i-1];
The new list after insertion is : 21 45 50 65 78 9
a[pos-1]=key;
printf(The new list after insertion is :\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
printf(%d\t,a[i]);
getch();
}
Program 4.8 Program to delete an element from the list at a given position.

Let the position of element to be deleted be represented by pos. It is not possible to delete an element
physically from an array , but it can be overwritten by another number. After reading the value of pos
move up all elements of the array from pos to the end by one position. If the list contains 7 elements and
the value of pos is 3, the following code can be used to implement this process

Arrays 98
for(i=2;i<6;++i)
a[i]=a[i+1];
Since an element is to be deleted , new list contains n-1 elements only. Therefore the value of n should be
decrement by 1. If this decrement is done before the process, the code for n elements would be

--n;
for(i=pos-1;i<n;++i)
a[i]=a[i+1];
The program is

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int a[10],i,pos,n;
printf(Enter the number of values in the list:);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(Enter the values:); Output
for(i=0;i<n;++i) Enter the number of values in the list:5
scanf(%d,&a[i]); Enter the values:12 45 41 8 62
printf(Enter the position:); Enter the position:4
scanf(%d,&pos); The new list after deletion is :
if(pos<1 || pos>n) 12 45 41 62
{
printf(Invalid position \n);
exit(0);
}
--n;
for(i=pos-1;i<n;++i)
a[i]=a[i+1];
printf(\nThe new list after deletion is :\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
printf(%d\t,a[i]);
getch();
}
4.6 TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS

Two-dimensional array is defined as a set of one dimensional arrays each of same size. Two-
dimensional array is declared in the same manner as one-dimensional arrays. It will require two pairs of
square brackets.

A two-dimensional array declaration can be written as

data type array-name [constant-size1] [constant-size2];


we have already seen that an n-element, one-dimensional array can be thought of as a list of values.
Similarly, an mn, two-dimensional array can be thought of as a table of values having m rows and n
columns, as illustrated in the following figure:

Arrays 99
Column 0 Column 1 Column 2 Column (n-1)

a 0 0 a 0 1 a 0 2 a 0 n 1

Row 0

a 1 0 a 1 1 a 1 2 a 1 n 1

Row 1

a 2 0 a 2 1 a 2 2 a 2 n 1

Row 2

a m 1 0 a m 2 1 a m 3 2 a m 1 n 1

Row (m-1)

Some typical two-dimensional array definitions are shown below.

int mat[5][6] ; //mat is an array with 5 rows and 6 columns

float sales[6][4] ; //sales is an array with 6 rows and 4 columns

4.7 INITIALIZATION OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS

Like the one-dimensional arrays, two-dimensional arrays may be initialized by following their
declarations with a list of initial values enclosed in braces. For example,

int a[2][3] = {0,0,0,1,1,1};

initializes the elements of the first row to zero and the second row to one. The initialization is done row
by row and is called row major ordering.

The above statement can be equivalently written as

int a[2][3] = {{0,0,0},{1,1,1}},

by surrounding the elements of each row by braces.

When the array is completely initialized with all values, explicitly, we need not specify the row size.
That is, the statement

int a[ ][3] = {{0,0,0}, {1, 1, 1}}; is permitted.

If the values are missing in an initialization, they are automatically set to zero. For instance, the
statement

int a[ 2 ][3] = {{1,1}, {2}}; is permitted and will initialize the first two elements of the first row
to one, the first element of the second row to two, and all other elements to zero, that is

Arrays 100
a[0][0]=1 a[1][0]=2

a[0][1]=1 a[1][1]=0

a[0][2]=0 a[1][2]=0

When all the elements are to be initialized to zero, the following short-cut method may be used.

int a[3][4] = {{0}, {0}, {0}};

The first element of each row is explicitly initialized to zero while other elements are automatically
initialized to zero. The following statement also will achieve the same result:

int a[3][4] = {0};

The following initialization of the array will result in syntax error, since the number of values in each
inner pair of braces exceeds the defined size of the array.

int a[2][3]={{1,2,3,4},{9,8,6,4,7}};

Example4.12: To store the elements of a 3x4 matrix in a two-dimensional array a, the array declaration
will be

int a[3][4];

First row elements are stored in a[0][0],a[0][1],a[0][2] and a[0][3],second row elements are stored in
a[1][0], a[1][1], a[1][2] and a[1][3] and third row elements are stored in a[2][0], a[2][1], a[2][2] and
a[2][3].

In general, (i+1)th row elements are to be stored in a[i][0],a[i][1],a[i][2] and a[i][3]

For this the following loop will be used.

for(j=0; j<4; ++j)


scanf("%d",&a[i][j]);
To store the elements of all the rows, repeat this loop for i=0, 1, 2.

Hence the required code is

for(i=0; i<3;++i)
for(j=0; j<4; ++j)
scanf("%d",&a[i][j]);
To display the elements of a 3x4 matrix in the natural form first row elements are to be displayed on the
first line, second row elements are on second line and third row elements on third line. For this the
following code can be used.

for(i=0; i<3;++i)
{
for(j=0; j<4; ++j)
printf("%8d",a[i][j]);
printf(\n);
}

Arrays 101
Program 4.9 Program to add two matrices

Given two matrices A of order r1c1 and B of order r2c2, we write a program to find
their sum with suitable validation.
To find the sum matrix we have to find each element of the sum matrix .In general (i,j)th
element of the sum matrix C is obtained as
C[i][j]= A[i][j] + B[i][j];
for all combinations of i=0,1,2,,r1-1 and j=0,1,2,c1-1.
/*Program to find sum of two matrices*/
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define ROWSIZE 5
#define COLSIZE 5
void main ( )
{
int r1, c1, r2, c2, i,j;
int a[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE], b[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE],c[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE];
printf (Enter the number of rows and columns of first matrix:);
scanf (%d %d, & r1, & c1);
printf (Enter the number of rows and columns of second matrix:);
scanf (%d %d, & r2, & c2);
if
{
printf (Given matrices are not of same order and hence addition is not possible \n);
exit (0);
}
printf (Enter the elements of the first matrix row wise : \n);
for (i=0 ; i < r1 ; ++i)
for (j=0 ; j < c1 ; ++j)
scanf (%d, & ;
printf (Enter the elements of the second matrix row wise:\n);
for (i=0; i < r2 ; + + i)
for (j=0; j < c2 ; + + j) Output
scanf (%d, & b ; Enter the number of rows and columns of first
/* add the two matrices*/ matrix:3 3
for (i=0 ; i < r1 ; ++i) Enter the number of rows and columns of second
for (j=0 ; j < c1 ; ++j) matrix:3 3
{ Enter the elements of the first matrix row wise :
4 5 6
} 1 2 0
/*output the sum matrix */ 3 5 2
printf The sum matrix is : \n); Enter the elements of the second matrix row wise:
for (i=0; i < r1 ; ++i) 1 4 6
{ 2 1 5
for (j=0; j< c1 ; ++j) 7 2 0
printf (%8d, ; The sum matrix is :
printf(\n); 5 9 12
} 3 3 5
}/*end of main*/ 10 7 2

Arrays 102
Program 4.10 Program to find the product of two matrices

The following procedure will be used to find the product.

If A is a matrix of order m p and B is a matrix of order p n, then the (i, j)th element of the product
matrix is obtained by

b0 j
b j
1

ciJ aio ai1 ai 2 .... aip 1 b2 j


bP 1 j

=[ai0b0j+ai1b1j+ai2b2j++aip-1bp-1j]
p 1
= a
k 0
ik bkj

Thus, the following loop can be used to find the (i, j)th element

for (k = 0 ; k < p ; ++k)

/*Program to find the product of two matrices*/

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#define ROWSIZE 5
#define COLSIZE 5
void main ( )
{
int i, j ,k, r1, c1, r2, c2 ;
int a[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE], b[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE],c[ROWSIZE] [COLSIZE];
printf (Enter the order of the first matrix :);
scanf (%d%d, &r1, &c1);
printf (Enter the order of the second matrix :);
scanf (%d%d, &r2, &c2);
if (c1 ! = r2)
{
printf (product of given matrices does not exist \n);
exit (0);
}
printf (Enter the elements of first matrix row wise : \n);
for (i=0; i < r1 ; ++i)
for (j=0; j < c1; ++j)
scanf(%d, &a
printf(Enter the elements of second matrix row wise:\n);
for(i=0; i<r2; ++i)

Arrays 103
for (j=0; j< c2; ++j
scanf(%d, & b
/*find the elements of product matrix*/ Output
for(i=0; i<r1; ++i) Enter the order of the first matrix :3 3
for (j=0; j < c2; ++j) Enter the order of the second matrix :3 3
{ Enter the elements of the first matrix row wise :
c[i][j] = 0; 4 5 6
for(k=0; k<c1; ++k) 1 2 0
c[i][j] + = ; 3 5 2
} Enter the elements of the second matrix row wise:
printf (The product matrix is : \n); 1 2 5
for (i=0; i< r1; ++i) 0 7 6
{ 4 4 1
for (j=0; j< c2; ++j) The product matrix is :
printf (%8d, c[i][j]); 28 67 56
printf(\n); 1 16 17
} 11 49 47
}/*end of main */

Program4.11 Program to check wether a given square matrix is symmetric or not.


The matrix A=[aij]nm is symmetric if aij=aji for all combinations of i and j
Hence, check the condition
aij=aji for i=0,1,2,..n-2 and j=i+1,i+2,n-1.
If any one pair of elements is unequal, the matrix is not symmetric
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main ( )
{
int n,a[5][5],i,j,flag=0;
printf (Enter the order of the square matrix :);
scanf (%d, &n);
printf (Enter the elements of first matrix row wise : \n);
for (i=0; i < n ; ++i)
for (j=0; j < n; ++j)
scanf(%d, &a
for(i=0;i<n-1;++i) Output
{ Enter the order of the square matrix :3 3
for(j=i+1;j<n;++j) Enter the elements of the first matrix row wise :
if(a[i][j]!=a[j][i]) 4 5 6
{ 5 2 0
flag=1; 6 0 2
break; Given matrix is symmetric
}
if(flag==1)
break;
}
if(flag)
printf(\n Given matrix is not symmetric);
else
printf(\n Given matrix is symmetric);

Arrays 104
getch();
}
Note that, if any pair of elements are unequal, 1 is assigned to flag and break is executed. Since this break
statement is in the inner loop only that loop execution is terminated. Hence the value of flag must be
compared with 1 in the outer loop.

Program4.12 Programto display n lines of the Pascal triangle. When n=6, the triangle is as follows

1 1

1 2 1

1 3 3 1

1 4 6 4 1

1 5 10 10 5 1

In each row, first and last elements are 1s. In general ith row elements are obtained as follows:

a[i][0]=a[i][i]=1

a[i][j]=a[i-1][j-1]+a[i-1][j], j=1,2,.(i-1)

Repeat this for i=0,1,2..n-1

The program which implement this procedure is : Output

#include<stdio.h> Enter the value of n:6


#include<conio.h>
void main ( ) The pascal triangle is:
{
int a[10][10],i,j,n; 1 1
printf (Enter the value of n:);
scanf (%d, &n); 1 2 1
for(i=1;i<n;++i)
{ 1 3 3 1
a[i][0]=a[i][i]=1;
for(j=1;j<i;++j) 1 4 6 4 1
a[i][j]=a[i-1][j-1]+a[i-1][j];
} 1 5 10 10 5 1
printf(The pascal triangle is: \n);
for(i=1;i<n;++i)
{
for(j=0;j<40-3*i;++j) //To leave 40-3i blanks in the line
printf( );
for(j=0;j<=i;++j)
printf(%3d ,a[i][j]);
}
}
Program4.13 Given the roll number and marks in three subjects of 4 students, write a program to
determine the following:

Arrays 105
i. Total marks obtained by each student
ii. The highest marks in each subject and the roll no, of the student who secured it.
iii. The student who obtained the highest total marks.
Store the roll numbers in a one dimensional integer array rno, marks in a two dimensional array m of
size 44, where the total marks are stored in 4th column. Find the sum of the marks in each row for total
marks of the each student, maximum marks in the first three columns for subject wise maximum marks
and maximum marks in the fourth column for highest total marks. Display the output in a tabular form

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main ( )
{
int rno[4],i,s1_rno,s2_rno,s3_rno,total_rno;
float m[4][4], s1_max,s2_max,s3_max,total_max;
printf( Enter the Roll no. and marks in 3 subjects of 4 students: \n);
for(i=0;i<4;++i)
scanf(%d%f%f%f,&rno[i],&m[i][0],&m[i][1],&m[i][2]);
/* To find total marks of each student */
for(i=0;i<4;++i)
m[i][3]=m[i][0]+m[i][1]+m[i][2];
/* To find subject wise maximum marks and the roll numbers of the students who secured
them */
s1_max=m[0][0];
s2_max=m[0][1];
s3_max=m[0][2];
total_max=m[0][3];
s1_rno=rno[0];
s2_rno=rno[0];
s3_rno=rno[0];
total_rno=rno[0];
for(i=1;i<4;++i)
{
if(s1_max<m[i][0]) Output
{ Roll no sub1 sub2 sub3 Total
s1_max=m[i][0]; 12007582 80 20 30 130
s1_rno=rno[i]; 12003546 35 55 65 155
} 12007652 40 10 70 120
if(s2_max<m[i][1]) 12003500 10 60 30 100
{ Maximum marks in subject 1 is 80 and the roll number of the student is
s2_max=m[i][1]; 12007582
s2_rno=rno[i]; Maximum marks in subject 2 is 60and the roll number of the student is
} 12003500
if(s3_max<m[i][2]) Maximum marks in subject 3 is 70and the roll number of the student is
{ 12007652
s3_max=m[i][2]; Highest total marks is 155 and the roll number of the student is
s3_rno=rno[i];
12003546
}
if(total_max<m[i][3])
{
total_max=m[i][3];
total_rno=rno[i];

Arrays 106
}
}
printf(\n\t Roll no \t Sub1 \t Sub2 \t Sub3 \t Total\n);
for(i=0;i<4;++i)
{
printf(\t %d \t %6.2f \t %6.2f \t %6.2f \t %6.2f \n,rno[i],m[i][0],m[i][1],m[i][2],m[i][3]);
}
printf(Maximum marks in subject 1 is %6.2f and the roll number of the student is %d \n,
s1_max,s1_rno);
printf(Maximum marks in subject 2 is %6.2f and the roll number of the student is %d \n,
s2_max, s2_rno);
printf(Maximum marks in subject 3 is %6.2f and the roll number of the student is %d \n,
s3_max, s3_rno);
printf(Highest total marks is %6.2f and the roll number of the student is %d \n, total_max,
total_rno);
getch();
}
SUMMARY

C uses arrays as a way of describing a collection of data items with identical properties. The
group has a single name for all its members, with the individual member being selected by an
index. We have learnt in this unit, the basic purpose of using an array in the program, declaration
of array and assigning values to the arrays. All elements of the arrays are stored in the contagious
memory locations. Without exception, all arrays in C are indexed from 0 up to one less than the
bound given in the declaration.
One important point about array declaration is that they dont permit the use of varying
subscripts. The numbers given must be constant expressions which can be evaluated at compile
time, not run time.
Global and static array elements are initialized to 0 by default, and automatic array elements are
filled with garbage values.
C never check whether the array index is valid either at compile time or when the program is
running.
Single operations, which involve entire arrays, like copying one array into another array, input or
output of all the elements of the array without subscripts are not permitted in C.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-10 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-8 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by B.A.Forouzan
& Ritchard F.Gilberg.

EXERCISES

Multiple choice Questions


4.1.What is the output when the following program segment is executed?
int a[5]={71,82,69,69,78};
for(i=0;i<5;++i)
printf(%c,a[i])
a) GREEN b)71 82 69 69 78 c)FQDDM d) ISFFO
4.2. What is the output when the following code is executed?
#include<stdio.h>

Arrays 107
void main()
{
int arr[6]={12,13};
printf(\n %d , %d,a[1],a[3]);
}
a)13,garbage b)12,13 c)12,garbage d)13,0
4.3.Array name is
a)is always an integer type b)a key word
c)a common name shared by all elements d)not used in a program
4.4. Array elements occupy
a)adjacent memory locations
b)random location for each element
c)varying length of memory locations for each element.
d) no space in memory.
4.5. Array is used to represent
a) a list of data items of integer data type.
b) a list of data items of real data type.
c) a list of data items of different data type.
d) a list of data items of same data type.
4.6. Array subscripts in C always starts at
a)-1 b)0 c)1 d)any value
4.7.If the size of the array is less than the number of initializes, then
a) extra values are neglected
b) it is an error
c) the size is automatically increased
d) the size is neglected.
4.8. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a[5]={1,2,3,4,5},sum=0,i=0;
begin:
sum+=a[i];
++i;
if(i<5)
goto begin;
printf(%d,sum);
}
a) 10 b) 1 c) 15 d)21
4.9. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a[5] = { 1,3,4 } , i ;
for ( i = 4; i> = 0; --i )
printf ( %d \t, a[i]);
}
a)0 0 4 3 1 b) 0 4 3 1
c)1 3 4 0 d) syntax error will occur during execution of the program
4.10. What is the output when the following program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>

Arrays 108
main()
{
int a[5], i;
for( i=0; i < 5; ++i)
a[i] = i * i ;
for( i=0; i< 5 ; ++i)
printf(%d , a[i]);
}
a)1 4 9 16 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c) 1 4 9 16 25 d)0 1 4 9 16

4.11. What is the output when the following program is executed?


#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a[5] = { 3,1, 10, 20, 30},i=0,x,y,z;
x = ++a[1];
y = a[i++];
z = a[i]++;
printf( x= %d , y = %d, z = %d \n , x, y, z );
}
a)x=2,y=3,z=2 b) x=4,y=3,z=1 c) x=4,y=1,z=2 d) x=3,y=3,z=1

4.12. Identify the error in the following code.


#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a[5]={9,11,3,6,4},b[5],i;
b=a;
for(i=0;i<5;++i)
printf(\n %d,b[i]);
}
a) variable subscript i is not allowed
b) since the array b is not initialized we cannot display the values of the array b
c) one array cannot be assigned to another array using assignment operator
d) array cannot be initialized in the type declaration statement
4.13. What is the output generated by the following program segment.
int a, b = 0 ;
int c[10] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0};
for(a=0; a < 10 ; + + a)
if
b+=c ;
printf(b = %d, b);
a)b=25 b) b= 20 c)b=45 d)15
4.14.What is the output generated by the following program segment?
int a, b = 0 ;
int c[10] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0};
for(a=0 ; a < 10 ; ++a)
if((c[a]%2)= = 0)
b+= ;
printf(b=%d, b);
a) b= 25 b) b= 20 c)b=45 d)15

Arrays 109
4.15.What is the output generated by the following program segment?
int i ;
int a[5]={0};
for(i = 1; i < 5 ; ++i)
=i+
for(i = 0 ; i < 5 ; ++i)
printf (%d \t, );
a)2 6 8 10 12 b)2 4 6 8 10 c)0 1 3 6 10 d) unpredictable output
4.16. What is the output generated by the following program segment?
int a, b, c ;
int x [3] [4] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12};
for(a=0; a < 3 ; ++a)
{ c = 999 ;
for (b=0 ; b < 4 ; ++b)
if (
c =x ;
printf (%3d, c);
}
a) 1 2 3 b)999 999 999 c) 999 5 999 d)1 5 9
4.17. What will be the output of the flowing program ?
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int arr[5], i=0;
while(i<5)
arr[i]=++i;
for(i=0; i<5; i++)
printf("%d\t ", arr[i]);
return 0;
}
a)0 1 2 3 4 b)garbage c)1 2 3 4 5 d)0 0 0 0 0
4.18. What is the output if the flowing program is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x[10],i,sum=0;
for(i=0;i<10;i+=3)
{ x[i]=i;
sum=sum+x[i];
}
printf(%d \n,sum);
}
a) 55 b) 18 c) 65 d)unpredictable output

ANSWERS
4.1)a 4.2)d 4.3)c 4.4)a 4.5)d 4.6)b 4.7)b 4.8)c 4.9)a 4.10)d4.11)a 4.12)c
4.13)a 4.14)b4.15)c 4.16)d4.17)c 4.18)b

Arrays 110
Comprehensive Questions
4.1 Write a program to rearrange the elements of an array in reverse order without using
a second array
4.2 Write a C program to find the binary equivalent of an integer number using array
4.3 Write a program to compare two one dimensional arrays containing two sets of numbers
4.4 Write a program to find the median height of students in a section
4.5 Write a program to implement the binary search alorigthm
4.6 A list of failed registered numbers of students is stored in an array. Write a program to
determine whether a given register number is in the list using linear search
4.7 Write a program for fitting a straight line passing through a set of points (xi, yi), i =1,2, . . . n.
The straight line equation is
y = mx + c
and the values of m and c are given by

All summations are from 1 to n.


4.8 Given a list of 200 integers each of them ranges from 0 to 10 write a program to count the
number of occurrences of each integer
4.9 Write a program to input 10 integers and sort them. Use a menu system to determine whether
the sort should be ascending or descending order. Also determine whether the elements have to
be sorted by their actual value or absolute value. The process should continue till the user
desires to exit.
4.10 Write a program to find the transpose of a matrix
4.11 Write a program to find the transpose of a square matrix without using additional array
4.12 Write a program to find the trace of a matrix
4.13 Write a program to check if a given matrix is symmetric
4.14 Write a program to sort the elements of each row of a matrix in ascending order
4.15 Write a program that fills a five-by-five matrix as follows:
i. Upper left triangle with 1s
ii. Lower right triangle with -1s
iii. Right to left diagonal with zeros
Display the contents of the matrix.
4.16 Write a program to check if a given matrix is upper triangular
4.17 Write a program to check if a given matrix is lower triangular

Arrays 111
Chapter 5
FUNCTIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this chapter, the readers will be able to
understand the need of writing a function.
write user defined functions for a task.
write programs using structured programming concept.
understand the use of global and local variables.
apply the storage classes of variables and functions.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Consider the following program to calculate area of a circle
void main ()
{
float r, area;
printf(\nEnter radius of circle:);
scanf(%f,&r);
area=3.14159*r*r;
printf(\narea=%f,area);
}
The above example is one of the functions which contain its own set of statements for the task to find
area of a circle. Now we can understand what is a function
A function is self-contained program segment which performs a specific task. For example
A function to find area of a circle
A function to find factorial of a number
A function to find gcd of two numbers
Here the task of each example is different and writing the set of statements is also independent to each
other.
Generally a C program consists of one or more modules called functions, one of these functions must be
called main. Execution of the program will always begin by carrying out the instructions in main. Other
functions are subordinate to main and perhaps to one another.
Program5.1 Program to read a negative number and find square root of its absolute value
void main ()
{
int a, b , c ;
printf( \n enter a negative number : );
scanf(%d, &a );
b = abs( a );
d = sqrt( b );
printf( \n a=%d b=%d c=%d , a, b, c );
}
In this program the different functions are
main() is the main function of the program
printf(), scanf(), abs() and sqrt() are the functions that are called by main( )
C functions can be classified as
i) Built-in functions(Library functions)
ii) User-defined functions

Functions 112
Built-in functions
These functions are already defined and stored in C Library files. The meaning and purpose of
these functions are fixed. It is not possible to change its meaning and purpose by the user, but user can
utilize these functions in their programs by including the corresponding header file.
Examples of library functions are
printf(), scanf(), sqrt(), abs(), fabs(), sin(), strlen(), toupper(), isalpha(), etc....

User-defined functions
These functions will be developed by the user at the time of writing the program. The function
name, meaning and the task of the function is decided by the user. However, a user-defined function can
later become a part of the C library. main() is also a user defined function.
Example5.1 Function to find area of a circle
float area(float radius)
{
float a;
a=3.14159*radius*radius;
return(a);
}
5.2 STRUCTURE OF A FUNCTION
The structure of a function is
return_type function_name (data type arg1, data type
arg2)
{
Local_variable declaration;
Executable statement 1;
Executable statement 2;

.
return(expression);(or) return expression;
}

Where first line is called the function header,

return_type indicates the data type of a value returned by the function and it may be of any data type like
int, float, double, void, array, structure, pointer etc

function_name is the name of the function given by the user and should follow the rules of an identifier.
arg1, arg2, arg3, are the list of arguments used to pass data from the calling function to the called
function. These arguments are called formal parameters.

Local_variables declaration is the declaration of local variables if required inside the function body.
Executable statements 1,2.:indicates any executable statements that are written to perform the task of
the function.

return(expression); is the statement that returns the value of expression to the calling portion of the
program. Only one expression can be included in return statement. Thus a function can return only one
value to the calling portion of the program. When a user defined function is written in the above form it is
called the definition of the function

Functions 113
Example5.2 Function to return the sum of two integers
Function_nam e
Return type
List of arguments

Local variable
int sum(int a, int b)
declaration
{
int s; Executable statement
s=a+b;
return(s); Return statement
}

Note1: Any function whether the library or user defined function will follow the same general form.
Note2: The return-type and arguments in a function are optional. When a function does not return a value
then its return-type is void and for the function with no arguments the function-name is followed by
void in the parentheses. With the combination of return-type and arguments the functions may be of
different categories shown as follows.
Example5.3 Function to return biggest of two integers
int big( int x, int y)
{
if( x > y)
return(x);
else
return(y);
}

Example5.4 Function to display a given integer is even or odd number


void odd( int n)
{
if( n%2 = = 0 )
printf(\n the number %d is even, n);
else
printf(\n the number %d is odd, n);
}
Example5.5 Function to display the message WELCOME
void wel(void )
{
printf(\n WELCOME \n);
}

Example5.6 Function to returns a mile in terms of kilometers

float mile_kilo( void )


{
return(1.6093440);
}

Functions 114
Advantages of writing functions

Every C program must have a function with the name main() and any number of other functions. Writing
all statements of a small task in main only is fine but if the main contains large number of statements say
100,1000,10000 lines for a big task, then it leads to a number of problems like

The program may become too large and complex.


It is difficult to understand, debug and test.
It is difficult to identify the logical errors.
Repetitions of same set of statements a number of times within the same program.
It is difficult to update the program.
If such a big program is divided into functional parts, then each part may be independently coded,
compiled and later integrated into a single unit. These independently coded program modules are called
subprograms. In C these subprograms are called functions and they have the following advantages.

It is easy to write, understand, debug and test a function.


It is easy to locate and isolate a faulty function for further investigation.
Writing redundant program code can be avoided and hence length of the program is reduced.
If the program is divided into subprograms, each subprogram can be written independentily by a
member of the team rather than having the whole team to work on the complex program.
A function can be accessed in many programs.

5.3 CALLING A FUNCTION

Every C program must have a function with the name main and may have one or more other functions.
Calling of a function means referring its name in a statement for utilizing its purpose at that point. For
example the following fun1 () is called in main function.

Program5.2 Program to display a message by calling a function in main to display the message.

void fun1()
{
printf(\n My Name is Raju \n); Output
}
main() My Name is Raju
{
fun1( );
}

Here the fun1() is termed as called function and the function main() is termed as calling function.
A function can be called by any other function but main cannot be called by other functions. Execution of
the program begins with main irrespective of the order of the functions.

Functions 115
Example5.7
main()
{ ..
fun3( );
..
}

void fun1( )
{ .
.
}

void fun2( )
{ .
fun1( );
.
}

void fun3( )
{
fun2( );
}
Here fun3( ) is called by main( ) and fun3( ) calls fun2( ) which calls inturn fun1( ).
5.3.1 Calling function with no return value
Since the function does not return any value, its call cannot be written in an expression but has to be by
an independent statement. For example,
Example5.8
void main()
{
h_line();
}
void h_line()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<10;i++)
printf(-);
}
Exampple5.9
void main() Wrong
{
int x;
x=h_line(); x=h_line();
}
void h_line(void)
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<10;i++)
printf(-);
}

Functions 116
5.3.2 Calling function with a return value
Since the function will return a value its call is written in expressions like assignment expression, logical
expression and as an argument of another function call. For example,

Example5.10 Example5.11
float PI(void); void main()
void main() {
{ float p,r=5.5,area;
float r=5.5 printf(\narea=%f, PI()*r*r);
p=PI(); prinf(\nArea of circle =%.2f,area);
}
}
float PI(void)
{
return(3.14159);
}

Program 5.3 Write a function to return GCD of two numbers and call this function in main to find GCD
and LCM of four given numbers;
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int n1,n2,n3,n4,gc1,gc2,gc,lc1,lc2,lc;
printf(\n enter any four integers:);
scanf(%d%d%d%d,&n1,&n2,&n3,&n4);
gc1=gcd(n1,n2);
gc2=gcd(n3,n4);
gc=gcd(gc1,gc2);
lc1=n1*n2/gc1;
lc2=n3*n4/gc2;
lc=lc1*lc2/gcd(lc1,lc2);
printf(\n GCD=%d and LCM=%d,gc,lc);
}

int gcd(int a, int b)


{
int r;
while((r=a%b)!=0)
{
a=b;
b=r;
}
return (b);
}

5.3.3 Calling a function with arguments


The function call with arguments is used to pass the data to the called function by the calling function.
The arguments in the function call are called actual arguments / parameters and arguments in the
function header are called formal parameters or dummy arguments

Functions 117
Example5.12 Program to find sum of two integers using function

int sum(int a, int b) void main()


{ int s; { int x=20,y=30,k;
s=a+b; k=sum(x,y);
return(s); printf(\nvalue=%d,k);
} }
Here the arguments a, b are dummy arguments and the arguments x, y are actual arguments
Note1:Dummy argument must be a valid variable name , whereasactual argument can be a variable
name, array name, a constant, an expression or it may be a function call which will return a value.

Example5.13 void main()


{
int x=20,y=30,s1,s2,s3,s4;
s1=sum(x,y); // Function call with variables as arguments.
s2=sum(50,70);// Function call with constants as arguments.
s3=sum(x-5, y+20);// Function call with expressions as arguments.
s4=sum(sum(x,30),sum(50,70));// Function call as an argument of the function call.
}
Note2:The names of dummy arguments and actual argument may or may not be same. Whatever the
names may be compiler allocate different memory locations for the actual and dummy arguments.
Example5.14
void fun1( int a )
{
a+ = 5; Output
printf(\n value of dummy arguments after modification is ); value of actual argument is
printf(\n a=%d , a ); x = 20
}
main() value of dummy arguments after
{ int x = 20; modification is
printf(\n value of actual argument x is); a=25
printf(\n x=%d ,x );
fun1(x);
}
In the calling function main ( ) the actual argument x = 20 is passed to the called function fun1( ). In its
definition the formal parameter a is incremented by 5.

Passing data

Data can be passed from calling function to the called function in two ways
1. Call by value
2. Call by reference
In call by value a copy of the values of actual arguments from calling function are passed to the formal
parameters of the called function
Example5.15

Functions 118
Output
values of x and y before swap
x=20 y=30
values of x and y after swap
x=20 y=30
Note: It is noticed that there is no change in the values of x and y of the function main after the call of the
function swap. Because, the function swap interchanged the values of a and b in the copy and this change
is not reflected in the original arguments x and y.
In call by reference the addresses of actual arguments are passed to the formal parameters. Since the
formal parameters hold addresses, they must be declared as pointers.

Example5.16

Output
Values of x and y before swap
x=20 y=30
values of x and y after swap
x=30 y=20

Functions 119
Note: Since addresses of the actual parameters x and y are passed to the function swap, the interchange
made by the function swap is reflected in the actual arguments
5.4 FUNCTION PROTOTYPE

In a multi-function program there is no restriction on the order of the functions. That is the definition of
calling function can precede the called function definition and vice-versa.
But the convention is to write the definition of calling function before the definition of called function.
In this case if the called function returns a non-integer value, the calling function definition should be
preceded by a forward declaration about the type of value returned by the called function. This forward
declaration is called function prototype

The general form of function prototype is


return_type function_name(data type arg1,data type arg2,.);

This is illustrated in the following example

Example5.17 Program to find area of a circle using a function which will calculate and return area
float area( float radius)
{
return(3.14159*radius*radius);
}
void main()
{
float r,a;
printf(\n Enter radius of circle:);
scanf(%f,&f);
a=area(r);
printf(\n area value=%f,a);
}
Since the definition of the called function area appears before the calling function there will be no syntax
error, as the function area is compiled before main.
But the convention is to write the definition of the calling function before the called function shown as
follows.
void main()
{
float r,a;
printf(\n Enter radius of circle:);
scanf(%f,&r);
a=area(r);
printf(\n area value=%f,a);
}
float area( float radius)
{
return(3.14159*radius*radius);
}
In this case as the function main is compiled first, as there is no declaration regarding the function area
compiler assumes that area is the name of a function and it return, an integer value. But in the function
header
float area( float radius)

Functions 120
it is mentioned that the return data type is float. Hence, syntax error will occur when the function header
is encountered during compilation . To avoid this error we give advance information to the compiler
about the type of value returned by the function and the number and type of arguments. This is achieved
by writing the function prototype before the definition of main.
Note: Function prototype is required for all the functions except the functions of return_type int.

Program5.4 Program to find area of a circle using function


float area(float radius); //Function prototype
void main()
{
float r,a;
printf(\n Enter radius of circle:);
scanf(%f,&r);
a=area(r);
printf(\n area value=%f,a);
}
float area( float radius)
{
return(3.14159*radius*radius);
}

Program5.5 Program tofind median of a list of numbers using a function that will sort the list of
numbers.
void bub_sort( int n, float a[10]); // Function prototype
void main()
{
int n,i;
float a[10], median;
printf(\n Enter the no of values:);
scanf(%d, &n);
printf(\n Enter the values)
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
scanf(%f, &a[i]);
bub_sort(n,a);
if(n%2)
median = a[(n-1)/2];
else
median = (a[n/2] + a[n/2-1])/2;
printf(\n median =%.2f, median);
}
void bub_sort(int n, float a[10])
{
int p,j; float temp;
for (p=1; p<n; ++p)
for(j=1; j<n-p; ++j)
if(a[j]>a[j+1])
{
temp= a[j];
a[j] = a[j+1];
a[j+1] = temp;
}

Functions 121
return;
}
5.5 CATEGORIES OF FUNCTIONS
Based on the arguments present or not and a value is returned or not, the function may belong to one of
the following categories.
1. Functions with arguments and return value
2. Functions with arguments and no return value
3. Functions with no arguments and return value
4. Functions with no arguments and no return value

5.5.1 Functions with arguments and return value


Functions with arguments means the data required by the called function is passed through arguments
from the calling function and with return value means, the calling function will receive a value of type
return_type from the called function.
That is the data is passed from the calling function to the called function and the called function return a
value to the calling function. The general form of this function is
return_type function_name (data type arg_1, data type arg_2,, data type arg_n)
{ ..
..
..
return(expression);
}
Example5.18 Function to return simple interest for given values of principle in rupees, time in years and
rate of interest
float simple_intrest(float principle, float time, float rate )
{ float I;
I = principle * time * rate/100;
return( I);
}
Example5.19 Function to return area of a circle.
float area(float radius)
{
float a;
a=3.14159*radius*radius;
return(a);
}
Program5.6 Write a function power that computes x raised to the power y where x is float and y is a
integer.

#include<stdio.h>
double power(float x, int y);
void main()
{
int y ;
float x;
double p;
printf(\n Enter base and exponent:);
scanf(%f%d,&x,&y);
if(y>0)
p=power(x,y);
else

Functions 122
p = 1.0/power(x,y);
printf(\n value of %f to the power of %d is %lf,x,y,p);
}
double power(float x,int y)
{
double p=1;
while(y--)
p*=x;
return(p);
}

5.5.2 Functions with arguments and no return value


Function with arguments means, the required data is passed from the calling function to the called
function through arguments and function with no return value means the called function does not return
any value to the calling function. In this case the return data type is void.
The general form of this type of function is

void function_name (data type arg_1, data type arg_2,data type arg_n)
{ ..
..
..
return;
}
Example5.20 Function to display a matrix
void display(int m,int n,int a[10][10])
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<m;++i)
{
for(j=0;j<n;++j)
printf(%5da[i][j]);
printf(\n);
}
return;
}
In the above function the called function receive the address of the array which contains the matrix and
display it. It does not return any value to the calling function.
Example5.21 Function to print the given title.
void title(char str[] )
{
printf (%s, str);
return;
}
5.5.3 Functions with no arguments and return value
Functions with no arguments means, no data is passed from the calling function to the called function
through the arguments, and with return value means, the called function will return a value of type
return_type to the calling function.
return_type function_name ( void)
{ ..
..
..

Functions 123
return(expression);
}
Eample5.22 Function to return pi value
float pi ( void)
{
return(3.14159);
}

5.5.4 Functions with no arguments and no return value


Function with no arguments means, no data is passed from the calling function to the called function, and
function with no return value means; the called function does not return any value to the calling function.
In this case the return data type is void
The general form of this type of function is
void function_name (void)
{ ..
..
..
return;
}
Example5.23 Function to print the title K L University
void title(void)
{
printf (K L University);
return;
}
Example5.24 Function to clear the screen
void clear_screen(void)
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=25;++i)
printf(\n);
return;
}
Program 5.7 Write a function to return factorial of a number and call this function in main to find the
value of the Binomial coefficient C(n,r)

#include<stdio.h>
long int factorial(int n);
void main()
{
int n,r;
long ncr;
printf(\n Enter the values of n and r :);
scanf(%d%d, &n, &r);
ncr = factorial(n)/(factorial( r )*factorial(n-r));
printf(\n C(%d, %d) = %ld, n, r, ncr);
}
long int factorial(int n)
{
long int f=1;

Functions 124
int i;
for(i=1; i<=n; i++)
f = f * i;
return(f);
}
5.6 PASSING ARRAYS TO FUNCTIONS

5.6.1Functions with One-Dimensional Arrays


Arrays can be passed to a function through arguments when an array is passed through argument, base
address of the array is passed. Therefore passing array is always call by reference
To pass one-dimensional array to a called function, simply write the name of array as actual argument
without any subscripts, and size of array.
Program 5.8 Write a function to return largest of a list of integers and call this function in main to find
largest of a given list of integer values.
#include<stdio.h>
int max(int a[50], int n);
void main()
{
int a[50], larg,i,n;
printf(\n Enter no of elements in the list);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(\n Enter %d elements:,n);
for(i=0; i<n; i++)
scanf(%d,&a[i]);
larg=max(a,n);
printf(\n largest number of the list is %d, larg);
}
int max(int a[50], int n)
{ int i,big;
big=a[0];
for(i=1; i<n; i++)
{
if(big<a[i])
big=a[i];
}
return(big);
}
Program 5.9 Given the total marks of n students,write a program to give ranks to the students.
#include<stdio.h>
void sort(int a[50], int n);
void main()
{
int tmarks[50],i,n;
printf(\n enter the no of elements in the array:);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(\n enter %d elements:,n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
scanf(%d,& tmarks [i]);
sort(tmarks,n);
printf(\n\nThe ranks of the students are :\n);
printf(\TOTAL MARKS\t RANK\n);

Functions 125
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf(\t %d\t \t%d, tmarks [i],i+1);
}
sort(int x[50], int n)
{
int p,i,temp;
for(p=1; p<n; ++p)
{
for(i=0; i<n-p;++ i)
{
if(x[i]>x[i+1])
{
temp=x[i];
x[i]=x[i+1];
x[i+1]=temp;
}
}
}
}
Program 5.10 Write function to reverse the elements of an array .Use this in main to display the given
list in reverse order.
#include<stdio.h>
void print_rev(int a[ ], int );
void main()
{
int a[50],n,i;
printf(\n Enter no of elements in the array:);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(\n Enter %d number of elements:,n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
scanf(%d,&a[i]);
printf(\nElements in reverse order:\n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf(%5d,a[i]);
}
void reverse( int a[50],int n)
{
for(i=0,j=n-1;i<j;++i,--j)
{
temp=a[i];
a[i]=a[j];
a[j]=temp;
}
return;
}
5.6.2 Functions with Two-Dimensional Arrays
To pass multi-dimensional array to a function we should fallow the following rules

In the function definition, the formal parameter must be two-dimensional array by indicating two
subscripts.
The size of second subscript must be specified.

Functions 126
The prototype declaration should be similar to the function definition
The function must be called simply by passing the array name only.

Program 5.11 Write functions to read and display a matrix .Call them in the main to read the elements of
a matrix from key board and display it.
#include<stdio.h>
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void print_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void main()
{
int a[10][10],m,n;
printf(\n Enter no of rows and calms of matrix:);
scanf(%d%d,&m,&n);
printf(\n Enter the elements of the matrix row wise:);
read_mat(a,m,n);
printf(\n Given matrix is:\n);
print_mat(a,m,n);
}
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
for (j=0; j<c; j++)
scanf(%d, &a[i][j]);
}
void print_mat(int a[][10], int r, int c)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
{
for(j=0; j<c; j++)
printf(%5d,a[i][j]);
printf(\n);
}
}
Program 5.12 Program for addition of two given matrices using the functions to read ,display and add
the matrices.
#include<stdio.h>
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void print_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void add_mat(int a[10][10], int b[10][10], int c[10][10], int r1, int c1);
void main()
{
int a[10][10], b[10][10], c[10][10], m1, m2, n1, n2;
printf(\n Enter the no rows and columns of first matrix:);
scanf(%d%d, &m1, &n1);
printf(\n Enter the no rows and columns of second matrix :);
scanf(%d%d, &m2, &n2)
if(m1!=m2 ||n1!=n2)
{

Functions 127
printf(Addition not possible \n);
exit(0);
}
printf(\n Enter the elements of first matrix row wise :\n);
read_mat(a,m1,n1);
printf(\n Enter the elements of secondmatrix row wise :\n);
read_mat(b,m2,n2);
add_mat(a,b,c,m1,n1);
printf(\n Sum matrix is:\n);
print_mat(c,m1,n1);
}
void add_mat(int a[10][10], b[10][10], c[10][10], int r1, int c1)
{
int i,j;
{
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
for(j=0;j<c1;j++)
c[i][j]=a[i][j]+b[i][j];
}
return;
}
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c)
{ int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
for (j=0; j<c; j++)
scanf(%d, &a[i][j]);
}
void print_mat(int a[][10], int r, int c)
{ int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
{
for(j=0; j<c; j++)
printf(%5d,a[i][j]);
printf(\n);
}
}
Program 5.13 Program for multiplication of two given matrices using functions to read, multiply and
display the matrices.
#include<stdio.h>
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void print_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c);
void mult_mat(int a[10][10], int b[10][10], int c[10][10], int r1, int c1, int r2, int c2);
void main()
{
int a[10][10],b[10][10],c[10][10],m1,m2,n1,n2;
printf(\n Enter the no rows and columns of first matrix:);
scanf(%d%d, &m1, &n1);
printf(\n Enter the no rows and columns of second matrix :);
scanf(%d%d, &m2, &n2)
if(n1!=m2)
{

Functions 128
printf(multiplication not possible \n);
exit(0);
}
printf(\n Enter the elements of first matrix row wise :\n);
read_mat(a,m1,n1);
printf(\n Enter the elements of second matrix row wise :\n);
read_mat(b,m2,n2);
mult_mat(a,b,c,m1,n1,m2,n2);
printf(\n Product matrix is:\n);
print_mat(c,m1,n2);
}
void mult_mat(int a[10][10], b[10][10], c[10][10], int r1, int c1, int r2, int c2)
{
int i,j,k;
for(i=0; i<r1; i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{
c[i][j]=0;
for(k=0;k<c1;k++)
c[i][j]+=a[i][k]*b[k][j];
}
}
}
void read_mat(int a[10][10], int r, int c)
{int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
for (j=0; j<c; j++)
scanf(%d, &a[i][j]);
}
void print_mat(int a[][10], int r, int c)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0; i<r; i++)
{
for(j=0; j<c; j++)
printf(%5d,a[i][j]);
printf(\n);
}
}
5.7 BUILT-IN FUNCTION

In C library, several functions are available to perform various tasks like data input/output, calculation of
the values of mathematical functions, string manipulations, etc.which are needed in writing different
application programs. These functions are called library functions or built-in functions. Since a large
number of built-in functions are available they are classified into different categories and their headers are
stored in different header files

Some of the header files corresponding to C standard libraries are

1. math.h contains the headers of mathematical functions and macros

Functions 129
2. stdio.h contains the headers of standard input and output functions and macros
3. string.h contains the functions for string manipulation and processing
4. conio.h contains the headers of console input/output functions
5. ctype.h contains the headers of character type and manipulation functions
Some important built-in functions stored in the header files are

S.No Header file Function Use of the function


1 abs( ) Gets the absolute value of an integer
2 fabs( ) Gets the absolute value os a real value
3 sqrt( ) Calculates the square root of the input value
4 sin( ) Computes the sign of the input value
5 cos( ) Computes the cos of the input value
6 tan( ) Calculates the tangent of the input value
7 math.h asin( ) Computes the arc sin of the value
8 acos( ) Computes the arc cosine of the input value
9 atan( ) Calculates the arc tangent of the input value
10 exp( ) Calculates e to the power of input value
11 pow(x,y ) Calculates x to the power y
12 log( ) Calculates natural logarithm of input value
13 log10( ) Calculates common logarithm of input value
14 scanf() To read input data in a given format through key board
15 printf( ) To display data in a given format on the screen
16 getchar( ) To read a character through key board
17 stdio.h putchar( ) To display a character on the screen
18 gets( ) To read a string through key board
19 puts( ) To display string on the screen
20 flushall( ) Clears all buffers associated with open input stream
21 strlen( ) Calculates length of a string
22 strcpy( ) Copies one string into another string
string.h
23 strcmp( ) Compares two strings
24 strcat( ) Joins two strings together
25 toupper() Convert the given alphabet into uppercase
26 tolower() Convert the given character into lower case
ctype.h
27 isalpha() Check whether the given character is alphabetic or not

abs( ) its prototype is int abs( int x);


fabs( ) its prototype is double fabs(double x);
Example5.25
int x= -1234, y;
double r=5.45, s;
y=abs(x);
s=fabs(r);
sqrt( ) its prototype is double sqrt(double x);
Example 5.26
double x=4.0, result;
result = sqrt(x);
sin( ) its prototype is double sin(double x); where x in radians
cos( ) its prototype is double cos(double x); where x in radians
tan( ) its prototype is double tan(double x); where x in radians

Functions 130
Example5.27

float angle=60, a1,a2,a3;

a1=sin(3.14159*angle/180);
a2=cos(3.14159*angle/180);
a3=tan(3.14159*angle/180);
exp( ) its prototype is double exp(double x);
pow( ) its prototype isdouble pow(double x, double y);
log( ) its prototype is double log(double x);
log10( ) its prototype is double log10(double x);
Example5.28

double p=8.687, x=2.0, y=3.0, r1,r2,3;


r1 = exp(p);
r2 = log(p);
r3 = pow(x,y);
5.8 RECURSION

Calling of a function by itself repeatedly until a condition is satisfied is called recursion.


Example5.29
void fun1()
{
--------
fun1();
--------
}
The function call fun1() is in the body of the function fun1().Thus fun1() calls itself. This feature is called
recursion.
Output
Example5.30 KLU
void main() KLU
{ etc. infinite number of times
printf(\nKLU);
main();
}
In this example main() calls itself indefinitely.

Since recursion process simulates repetitive process, it is required to check a condition for stopping the
repetitions.
Example5.31 Recursive function to find factorial of an integer
Factorial of an integer is a recursive function in Mathematics and is defined as follows

n!= 1 , if n=0 or 1
n(n-1)! , if n>1
Using this mathematical function we can write the corresponding C code.
long int factorial ( int n)
{
if (n==0 )
return(1)
else
return(n*factorial(n-1));

Functions 131
}

5.9 Global & Local Variables


Variables declared in programs may be classified into two categories

1. Local variables
2. Global variables
In all the programs written so far variables are declared inside of the functions. Such variables are called
local variables, However, variables may be declared outside the scope of a function such variables are
called global variables.

Local Variables
Local variables scope is confined within the block or function where it is defined. That is, it is
recognized within the block or the function
Example5.32
main() Output
{ value of i inside the block = 100
int i=4; value of i outside the block=5
int j=10;
i++;
if (j > 0)
{
int i=100;
printf("value of i inside the block = %d\n",i);
}
printf("value of i outside the block= %d\n",i);
}
Global Variables
Scope of the global variables is from the point of declaration through the remainder of the program. i.e.
any function which falls in their scope can access their values.
If the global variables declaration does not include initial values they are initialized by the system as
follows:

Functions 132
Datatype initialser
int 0
char \0
float 0
pointer NULL
If same variable name is being used for global and local variable then local variable takes precedence
in its scope. But it is not a good practice to use same name for both global and local variable.
Example5.33
int i=4; /* Global definition */
main()
{ i++; /* Global variable scces */ Output
func(); Value of local variable in the function func
printf( "Value of global variable\ n i = %d\n", i ); i = 11
}
Value of global variable
func()
{ int i=10; /* Local declaration of i */ i=5
i++;
printf( "Value of local variable in the function func \n i = %d\n", i );
}
Note: differences between local and global variables
Local variables Global variables

1. Variables declared inside a 1. Variables declared outside a


function or a statement block are function are called global
called local variables. variables.
2. For example 2. For example
void main( ) int x,y;
{ int x,y; void main( )
.. { .
} }
3. Local variable can be accessed 3. Global variable can be accessed
only within the function in which it throughout the program
is defined 4. Global variables can be accessed
4. Variables defined in one function by any function which falls in their
cannot be accessed in other scope.
functions.
5. Values of local variable cannot be 5. Values of global variable can be
modified by other functions except modified by other function which
the function in which it is defined. fall in its scope.
6. If the values of local variables are 6. Since the global variables are
needed by other functions they recognized by any function within
must be passed through arguments their scope their values need not be
in the function call passed through arguments

Functions 133
5.10 Storage Classes
Each Variable in C is characterized by its

1 data type

2 storage class

Data type refers the type of data to be stored in the memory location allotted to that variable.
int x,y; // x and y are integer variables and represent integer data

float r; // r is a float variable and represent floating point type data

Storage class refers to the scope and longivity(life time) of a variable. It also describes the
default initial value and memory location

The scope actually determines the portion of the program that the variable is recognized.
The longivity of the variable determines how long the variable is alive or active.
There are four different storage classes in C and they are represented by the keywords
auto - automatic variables,
extern - external variables,
static - static variables and
register - register variables.
The general form of variable declaration with storage class is
Storage_class data_type variable_name1, variable_name2,..;

For example
auto int x; // x is an automatic integer variable
static float y // y is static floating point variable

5.10.1 Automatic variables


The automatic variables are declared inside a function or a block
void main()
{ auto int x,y; //x and y are automatic variables
.
..
}
However, local variables without any storage class specifier will have the default storage class auto
void fun1()
{ int c,k; // c and k are automatic variables
..
}
Scope: The scope of automatic variable is local to the function in which it is defined.

Life time: The lifetime of automatic variable is temporary. i.e. it is defined when a function is called
for execution and is destroyed when the control is exited from its defining function

Functions 134
void main( )
{ int i;
Output
for(i=1; i<=5; i++) x=11
printf(%d\n, fun1( )); x=11
} x=11
int fun1( ) x=11
{ x=10; x=11
return(++x);
}

Since x is automatic variable and is reinitialized with 10 in every call of fun1( ). Hence, fun1( ) returns
same value 11 to main( ) in every call.

Default initial value: The default initial value of automatic variable is garbage

void main( )
{
Output
int y;
printf(\n y=%d, y+=5); y= garbage
}

Since y is automatic variable and is not initialized, its default initial value is garbage.
Automatic variables can be initialized with expressions. For example,
int a=10, b=5, c = a+b; is allowed.
Memory location: These variables are located in main memory.
Note1: Variable defined in one function is not accessible to any other function.

Example5.34
void main()
{ int x=25;
printf(\n x=%d,x);
}
x- is local to main( ) but
void fun1()
{ int y=50; not accessed in fun1( )
printf(\n x=%d,x);
printf(\n y=%d, y);
} x- is local to main( ) and y- is
void fun2() local to fun1( ) but not
{ x=1000; accessed in fun2( )
y=2000;
}
Note2: If the name of global and local variables is same then in the scope of local variable the first
priority is for local variables. In such cases the value of global variable is temporarily put on shelf and
beyond the scope of local variable.
Example5.35 What is the output of the following program?

Functions 135
5.10.2 External variables
Variables that are declared outside the scope of any function are external variables. All global variables
are external variables.
int s; // s is global variable
void main()
{ s=96;
..

}
float r; // r is global variable
void fun1()
{
r=5.4; .
}
Scope: The scope of external variables extends from the point of definition through the remainder of
the Program
Life time: The lifetime of global variables is permanent i.e. they retain their values throughout the
execution of the program
Default initial value: The default initial value of external variable is zero. External variables cannot be
initialized with expressions. For example,
int a=5, b=10, c=a+b; is not allowed, if a,b,c are external variables
Memory location: These variables are located in main memory.

Note1: Since external variables are recognized globally, they can be accessed from any function that falls
within their scope, thus, an external variable can be assigned a value within one function, and this value
can be used within another function.
Example5.36 What is the output of the following program?
int x=96;
void main( )
{
printf(\n x=%dx)
fun1();

Functions 136
Output
fun2(); x=96
printf(\n x=%d,x); x=200
} x=200
void fun1( )
x=500
{
x=200;
printf(\n x=%d, x);
}
void fun2()
{
printf(\n x=%d,x);
x=500;
}
Note2: If a global variable is accessed before it is defined then it needs to be declared as an external
variable using the key word extern
Example5.37 What is the output of the following program
void main( )
{ extern int x; External variable
printf(\n x=%d, x ); declaration (memory
fun1(); not allocated)
}
int x; External
void fun1() variable Output
{ definition x=200
x=200; (memory x=200
printf(\n x=%d, x );
is
}
allocated)
Declaration Vs definition
The external declaration of x inside the function main informs the compiler that x is an integer type
defined somewhere else in the program. Note that the extern declaration does not allocate storage
space for variable x, where as variable definition outside the function does allocate storage space for
variable
The assignment of initial values can be included within an external variable definition whereas the
external variable declaration cannot include initial values as no storage space is allocated.
The storage class specifier extern is not required in an external variable definition whereas external
declaration must begin with the storage class specifier extern.

5.10.3 Static variables


In some of the applications, it is needed to retain the value of a variable even after the control is exited
from the function. For this purpose, variables of static storage class are used.
Static variables may be internal variables or external variables.
Internal static variables are declared inside a function using the key word static. Whereas external
static variables are declared outside of a function using the key word static.
static int c; // c is static external
int s; // s is external
void main()
{
static int x; //x is static internal variable
int i,j; // i and j are automatic variables
.

Functions 137
..
}
void fun1(void)
{
static int c,k;// c and k are static internal variable
..
}

Scope: The scope of internal static internal is local to the function in which it is defined and the scope
of static external variable is from the point of declaration through the remainder of the program
Life time: The lifetime of static variable is permanent. Internal static variable retain its value even after
the control is exited from the function

Example5.38 What is the output of the following program

void main( )
Output
{ int i;
x=11
for(i=1; i<5; i++)
x=12
printf(%d\n, fun1( ));
x=13
}
x=14
int fun1(void )
{ static int x=10;
return(++x);
}
The internal static variable x is initialized only once at compilation time. Since it retains its values during
successive function calls.The values returned by fun1( ) to the function main( ) are 11, 12, 13 and 14 in
the first, second, third and fourth calls.

Default initial value: The default initial value of internal or external static variable is zero
static int x;
void main( )
Output
{
x=1
static int y; y=5
printf(\n x=%d, ++x);
printf(\n y=%d, y+=5);
}

Since x and y are static variables they are initialized with zero rather than garbage.
Memory location: Both these variables are located in main memory.
The difference between static external variable and a simple external variable is that the static variable
is available only within the file where it is defined , while the simple external variable can be accessed by
other files.
5.10.4 Register variables
Storage space normally allocated for variable in main memory.
It is possible to tell the compiler that a variable should be kept in the CPU registers by defining it as
register variable.

Functions 138
Since a register access is much faster than memory access, keeping the frequently accessed variables
(like loop control variables) in the register will make the execution of the program faster.
Except the memory space allocation all the other properties of register variables are similar to that of
automatic variables.
Very few variables can be placed in the registers. Normally two or three per function.
Only local variables of type int, char can be declared with the storage class register
void main( )
{
register int i; // i is register variable.

for(i=0; i<=10000; i++) { }
..
...
}
Scope: The scope is local to the function in which a register variable is defined.
Life time: The life time of register variables is temporary
Default initial value: The default initial value is garbage
Memory location: These variables are located in registers of CPU

SUMMARY

A function is a module or block of program code which deals with a particular task. Defining
functions for each task is a way of isolating one block of code from other independent blocks of code.
A function can take a number of parameters, do required processing and then return a value. There
may be a function which does not return any value, but perform a given task.
You already have seen couple of built-in functions like printf( ); Similar way you can define your
own functions in C language.
Consider the following code
int total = 20;
printf(Hellow World);
total = total+1;
To turn it into a function you simply wrap the code in a pair of curly brackets to convert it into a single
compound statement and write the name that you want to give it in front of the brackets:

demo( )
{ int total = 20;
printf("Hello World");
total = total + l;
}
Paranthises after the function's name are required. One or more parameters to a function can be passed
as follows :
demo( int a, int b)
{ int total;
printf("Hello World");
total = a + b;
}
By default function does not return anything. But you can make a function to return any value as
follows:

Functions 139
int demo( int a, int b)
{
int total;
printf("Hello World");
total = a + b;
return (total);
}
A return keyword is used to return a value and datatype of the returned value is specified before the
name of function. In this case function returns total which is int type. If a function does not return a
value then the return data type is void.
Once a function is defined it can be used within a program:
main()
{ int s;
s=demo(20,30);
}

Each function behaves the same way as C language standard function main(). So a function will have
its own local variables defined. In the above example the variable total is local to the function demo.
A global variable can be accessed in any function in a similar way as it is accessed in main() function.
A function declaration does not have any body.
A function declaration is usually declared at the top of a C source file, or in a separate header file.
A function declaration is sometimes called function prototype. For the above demo() function which
returns an integer, and takes two parameters a function declaration will be as follows:
int demo( int a, int b);

A function can be called recursively. The following code prints the word Hallow repeatedly because the
main( ) is called recursively
void main( )
{
printf(Hallow);
main();
}
A recursive function code involves if....else control to decide whether the recursive call is to be
continued or to be stop. The following code prints the output 0 1 2
void f( )
{
static int x;
if(x==3) return;
else
{
printf( %d, x);
x++;
f( );
}
}

There are two ways to pass parameters to a function:

Functions 140
Pass by Value mechanism is used when you don't want to change the value of passed paramters. When
parameters are passed by value then functions in C create copies of the passed variables and do
required processing on these copied values.
Pass by Reference mechanism is used when you want a function to do the changes in passed
parameters and reflect those changes back to the calling function. In this case only addresses of the
variables are passed to a function so that function can work directly with original data through
addresses.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-6 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-4 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by B.A.Forouzan
& Ritchard F.Gilberg.

EXERCISES

Multiple choice questions

5.1 What is the output when the following code is executed?


#include<stdio.h>
int fun(int x);
main()
{
int p=10;
printf(%d,fun(p));
}
int fun(int x)
{
if(x>0)
return(x+fun(x-1));
else
return(0);
}
a) 0 b) 55 c) 45 d) 10
5.2. What is the output when the following code is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int n;
for(n=1;n<5;++n)
printf(\t %d , fun());
}
int fun(void)
{
static int x;
return(++x);
}
a) 1 1 1 1 1 b) 1 2 3 4 5 c) 1 2 3 4 d)Garbage value
5.3. What is the output when the following code is executed?
#include<stdio.h>

Functions 141
int i;
int fun();
int main()
{
while(i)
{ fun();
main();
}
printf("Hello\n");
return 0;
}
int fun()
{
printf("Hi");
}
a) Hello indefinitely b)Hello c)Hello two times on separate lines d) No Output

5.4. What is the output when the following code is executed?


#include<stdio.h>
int reverse(int);
int main()
{
int no=5;
reverse(no);
return 0;
}
int reverse(int no)
{
if(no == 0)
return 0;
else
printf("%d \t ", no);
reverse (reverse(--no));
}
a) 5 4 3 2 1 b) 5 4 3 2 1 c)5 5 5 5 5 d) 1 2 3 4 5

5.5. What is the output when the following code is executed?


#include<stdio.h>
void fun(int);
int main()
{
int a=3;
fun(a);
return 0;
}
void fun(int n)
{
if(n > 0)
{
fun(--n);

Functions 142
printf("%d,", n);
fun(--n);
}}

5.6 There is an error in the following program. Which statement will you add to remove it?
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{ int a;
a = f(10, 3.14);
printf("%d\n", a);
return 0;
}
float f(int aa, float bb)
{
return ((float)aa + bb);
}
a) a separate statement to add aa and bb in function f
b)Type declaration in the function f
c)function prototype
d) none of these
5.7. Point out the error in the program
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a=10;
void f();
a = f();
printf("%d\n", a);
return 0;
}
void f()
{
printf("Hi");
}
5. 8. Find the output of the following program segement.
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int j,ans;
j = 4;
ans = count(j);
printf("%d\n",ans);
}
int count(int i)
{
if ( i < 0)
return(i);
else
return( count(i-2) + count(i-1));
}
a) -18 b) -10 c)-4 d) 4

Functions 143
5.9 What will be the output when the flowing program segment is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
int i;
void increment(int i)
{
i++;
}
int main()
{
for(i=0;i<10;increment(i))
{ }
printf(i=%d\t ,i)
return 0;
}
a) 1 2 3 . 10 b)10 c)1 2 3 . 11 d) No ouput

5.10. What will be the output when the flowing program segment is executed?
#include<stdio.h>
void func()
{
int x=0;
static int y=0;
x++;
y++;
printf( x=%d,y= %d \t,x,y);
}
int main()
{ func();
func();
return 0;
}
a)x=1,y=1 x=1,y=2 b) x=1,y=0 x=1,y=1
c) x=1,y=1 x=2,y=2 d) x=1,y=1 x=1,y=1
5.11. What is the output when the flowing program segment is executed?
int a=1,b=2;
int f1(int a,int b);
main()
{
int i=1,c,d;
c=5*(i+1);
d=10*(i-1);
printf(% d, %d ,f1(a,c),f1(b,d));
}
int f1(int x,int y)
{
return(x*y);
}
a) 10,0 b)11,0 c)10,1 d)11,1

ANSWERS:
5.1)b 5.2)c 5.3)b 5.4)b 5.6)c 5.8)a 5.9)d 5.10)a 5.11)a

Functions 144
12. What is the need for functions?
13. Explain the general form of defining a function.
14. What do you mean by function call?
15. What are formal arguments?
16. What are actual arguments?
17. Define function prototype.
18. Mention the categories of functions.
19. What is calling function?
20. What is a called function?
21. The number of actual arguments and the number of formal arguments should be same
when a function is called. True / False
22. One function can be defined within another function. True / false
23. How many values can a function return?
24. What is meant by the scope of a variable?
25. What is meant by lifetime of a variable?
26. Mention different storage classes.
27. Define recursion and a recursive function
28. A function can returns float value by default. True / False
29. Variables declared within functions are by default of static storage class. True / False
30. The name of global variable and that of a local variable can be same. True / False
31. Only local variables can be of register storage class. True / False
32. Static variables retain their values between function calls. True / False
33. Write about storage classes in C along with their location, scope and life span.

Comprehensive Questions

5.1 Discuss how parameters are passed between functions in C by writing a function swap to exchange
the values of two integers passed to it by the main function.
5.2 Write about storage classes in C along with their location, scope and life span.
5.3 What is a recursion ? Write a recursive function two find n!
5.4 Write a non-recursive function to find the factorial of a given integer.
5.5 Write a function to find the greatest common divisor(gcd) of two integers passed as parameters to it
and a program to call the function repeatedly to find the gcd of four integers.
5.6 How do you pass data to a function? Explain the concept of call by value and call by reference
through suitable examples.
5.7 Write a function to find the factorial of an integer and use it to write a program for finding the
number of combinations C(n,r) , given the values of n and r.
C(n,r) = n!/ (n-r)!r!
5.8 Write a program that determines a students grade. It reads three tests scores (between 0 to 100) and
calls a function that calculate and returns a students grade based on the following rules:
a)If the average score is 90% or more, the grade is A.
b)If the average scores are 70% or more and less than 90%, it checks the third score. If the third score
is more than 90%, the grade is A; otherwise, the grade is B.
c)If the average score is 50% or more and less than 70%, it checks the average of the second and third
scores. If the average of two is greater than 70%, the grade is C; otherwise, it is D.
d)If the average score is less than 50%, then the grade F.

5.9 Write a recursive function that will generate a given element of Fibonacci sequence. Use this
function in main to print first n elements of Fibonacci sequence.

Functions 145
5.10 Write a function to find gcd of two numbers and use this function to find their lcm .
5.11 Write a recursive function for binary search with function prototype.
int binsearch(int data[], int key,int ll,int ul); and call this function in main() to test this function.
5.12 Write a function which imitates the behavior of strlen() function. Use this function to check if a
given string is a palendrome or not.
5.13 Write a recursive function power that computes ax , where a is a real constants and x is an integer.
5.14 Write a function that will scan a character string passed as an argument and convert all lower case
characters into their uppercase equivalents.
5.15 Write a function that can be called to find the largest element of an m X n matrix
5.16 Write a function that converts miles to kilometers. Note that 1 mile equals 1.6093440 km.
5.17 Write a function that will round a floating-point number to the specified decimal place. For example
the number 17.457 would yield the value 17.46 when it is rounded off to two decimal places.
5.18 Write a recursive function to find the binary code of a decimal integer.
5.19 Write a function isprime that returns 1 if its argument is a prime number and returns zero otherwise.
5.20 Calculate factorials of n from 1 to 20 using a factorial function with return type of unsigned long
long.
5.21 Discuss how parameters are passed between functions in C by writing a function swap to exchange
the values of two integers passed to it by the main( ) function.
5.22 Write a program to reverse an integer using a recursive function
5.23 The Fibonacci numbers are defined recursively as follows
F1 = 1
F2 = 1
Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2 if n>2
Write a function with local static variables to find n th element of Fibonacci sequence
5.24 Write a recursive function for binary search with function prototype
int binsearch( int n, double data[], double key );
and call this function in main to test binary search function

Functions 146
Chapter 6
POINTERS AND DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, the readers will be able to
understand the concept of pointer
know the operations on pointers.
learn the passing of pointers to functions
learn handling one-dimensional and two-dimensional numerical arrays and string manipulations
through pointers.
learn the `concept of dynamic memory allocation and usage of DMA functions.

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Pointer is a variable that refers to the location of another item such as a variable or array. Pointers have
number of applications, for example pointer can be used to back and forth between a function and its
point of reference. Using pointers we can pass multiple values through arguments and also return multiple
values. Arrays and pointers resemble in their operations to access or process elements. Multidimensional
arrays can be represented and processed through pointers. This feature enables us to represent
multidimensional arrays as lower-dimensional array of pointers. The above feature helps in representing a
string or a group of strings. Pointers can be used for implementation of DMA which reduce the wastage
of memory.

Background

All variables in a program reside in memory.

The statements
float x;
x = 10.5;
Requests the compiler to reserve 4 bytes of memory (machine dependent) for the floating-point variable
x, then stores value 10.5 in it.

`Sometimes we want to know where a variable resides in memory. The address (location in memory) of
any variable is obtained by placing the operator & before its name.

Therefore &x is the address of x.


Name of the location
x
Value at location
10.5

1562
Address of location

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 147


6.2 WHAT IS A POINTER?

Definition:Pointer is a variable that store the address of another variable.

Relationship between variables and pointers

If x is a variable and ptr_variable is a pointer variable then

ptr_variable=&x ( & is a unary address operator)

referring/pointing
Address of x Value of x

ptr_variable Variable _x

6.3 DECLARATION OF POINTER VARIABLES

Syntax: data_type *variable name;

Example 6.1

Memory
Declaration Interpretation
occupied
int *iptr iptr is a pointer variable holding address of an integer variable 2bytes
float *fptr fptr is a pointer variable holding address of a float variable 2bytes

char *cptr cptr is a pointer variable holding address of a character variable 2bytes

Address of a variable of any data type is unsigned integral value. Hence each pointer variable occupies
2bytes for 16 bit processor or 4 bytes for 32 bit processor.

Address of operator( &):The address of operator & is used to get the address of the memory location
allotted to a variable.

Example 6.2

ptr=&x ; Here ptr is a pointer variable holding the address of the variable x.

& is a unary operator that operates on variables and the associatively is from Right to Left and is of same
precedence group as other unary operators -,++, --, sizeof etc.. This group has higher precedence over the
other groups containing arithmetical operators.

& operator must act upon the operand that is associated with unique address, such as ordinary variables
or single array element.
&150, &(x+y) are not allowed.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 148


Indirection operator/Value at address operator/ dereferencing operator: *

Ex. ptr=&x; 10.23 2000

2000 x 3000 ptr

*2000 =>10.23

*ptr
In the above example ptr is a pointer variable storing the address of the variable x. * with ptr is called as
indirection operator used to give the value at the address ptr holds.

* is unary operator operating from Right to Left and is of same precedence group as other unary operators
-,++, --, sizeof etc.. This group has higher precedence over the other groups containing arithmetical
operators.

*operator must act upon the operand that is a pointer. It gives the value at that address or is said to refer to
the location.So it is called as indirect reference operator.

Program 6.1 Program to illustrate pointer declaration


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
main()
{
int *ptr;
int sum;
sum=45;
ptr=&sum;
printf (\n The value represented by the variable sum is %d, sum);
printf (\n The value pointed by the pointer variable ptr is %d, *ptr);
}

The variable name sum refer the data item stored in the memory location allocated to sum.That data iem
can also be refered through the pointer variable ptr. Hence first and second printf statements will result
in the same output.

Program 6.2 Program to display the contents of the variable their address using pointer variable

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int num, *intptr;
float x, *floptr;
char ch, *cptr;
num=123;
x=12.34;

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 149


ch=a;
intptr=&num;
cptr=&ch;
floptr=&x;
printf(Num %d stored at address %u\n,*intptr,intptr);
printf(Value %f stored at address %u\n,*floptr,floptr);
printf(Character %c stored at address %u \n,*cptr,cptr);
}

6.4 POINTER TO A POINTER


In case of pointer to a pointer, the first pointer contains the address of the second pointer, which points to
the variable that contains the value desired.
Multiple indirections can be carried onto whatever extent desired, there may be few cases where more
pointer to a pointer is needed.

Pointer Variable

Pointer Pointer Variable

A variable that is a pointer to a pointer must be declared as given below. This is done by placing an
additional * in front of the variable name.

int **ptr; where ptr is a pointer which holds the address of another pointer.

Program 6.3 Program to declare pointer to pointer variable and to display their contents

#include<stdio.h>
void main(void)
{
int x,*ptr1,**ptr2;
x=10;
printf( x= %d,x);
ptr1=&x;
printf(x= %d,*ptr1);
ptr2=&ptr1;
printf(x= %d,**ptr2);
}
All the three printf() statements display the same output x=10

Program 6.4 Program to illustrate the contents of the variable their address using pointer

Var_name a aptr=&a aaptr=&aptr

Value 10 2000 4000

Address 2000 4000 8000


#include <stdio.h>

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 150


main()
{
int a, *aptr,**aaptr; Output
a=10;
10 is the value of a
aptr=&a ;
aaptr=&aptr; 2000 is the value of aptr
printf(\n\t %d is the value of a, a); 4000is the value of aaptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of aptr, aptr); 2000 is the value of &a
printf(\n\t %u is the value of aaptr, aaptr); 4000is the value of &aptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of &a, &a); 8000 is the value of &aaptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of &aptr, &aptr); 10 is the value of *&a
printf(\n\t %u is the value of &aaptr, &aaptr); 2000 is the value of *&aptr
printf(\n\t %d is the value of *&a, *&a); 4000is the value of *&aaptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of *&aptr, *&aptr); 2000 is the value of **&aaptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of *&aaptr, *&aaptr); 10 is the value of ***&aaptr
printf(\n\t %u is the value of **&aaptr, **&aaptr); 10 is the value of *aptr
printf(\n\t %d is the value of ***&aaptr, ***&aaptr); 10 is the value of **aaptr
printf(\n\t %d is the value of *aptr, *aptr);
printf(\n\t %u is the value of **aaptr, **aaptr);
}
}
From the above program we can observe the following :

a *&a *aptr **aaptr ***&aaptr

&a aptr *&aptr **&aaptr

&aptr aaptr *&aaptr *&aaptr


6.5 POINTER EXPRESSIONS &POINTER ARTHMETIC

Like any other variable, pointer variable can be used in arithmetic expressions.

For example if p1 and p2 are properly declared and initialized pointers, then the following statements are
valid.

y = *p1 * *p2;
sum = sum + *p1;
z = 5 - *p2/p1;
*p2 = *p2 + 10;
x=3+5/ *p1;

Note that there must be a gap between / and *,otherwise /* is taken as the beginning of a comment.
Increment and decrement operations can be applied on pointers. The expressions ++p1,--p2 etc are
allowed.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 151


Program 6.5 Program to illustrate the pointer expressions

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int ptr1,ptr2;
int a,b,x,y,z;
a=30;b=6;
ptr1=&a; ptr2=&b;
x=*ptr1+ *ptr2 6;
y=6*- *ptr1/ *ptr2 +30;
printf(\nAddress of a is %u,ptr1);
printf(\nAddress of b is %u,ptr2);
printf(\na=%d, b=%d,a,b);
printf(\nx=%d,y=%d,x,y);
ptr1=ptr1 + 70;
ptr2= ptr1;
printf(\na=%d, b=%d,a,b);

Pointer Arithmetic

The following operations can be performed on pointers:

1. An integer constant or variable can be added to a pointer or subtracted from the pointer.
int x,*p1,i;
p1=&x;
the expressions such as p1+1,p1+3,p1+i,
p1-1,p1-2,p1-i are allowed.
2. A pointer can be incremented or decremented.
The expressions such as ++p1,--p1,p1-- etc. are allowed.
3. Two pointers can be compared, if they are pointers to same datatype.
int *p1,*p2;
the expressions such as p1==p2,p1!=p2,p1<p2 are allowed.
4. One pointer can be subtracted from another pointer if both point to the same array.
int a[10],*p1,*p2;
p1=&a[0];
p2=&a[4];
k=p2-p1; is allowed
the value assigned to k is 4.

The following operations cant be applied on pointers:

1. Addition of two pointers


2. Subtraction of one pointer from another pointer when they do not point to the same array
3. Multiplication of two pointers
4. Division of one pointer by another pointer
The expressions such as p1+p2,p1*p2,p1/p2,p1/3 are not allowed .

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 152


6.6 PASSING POINTERS TO A FUNCTION

Pointers (addresses) can be passed to a function through arguments. This mechanism of passing is called
as pass by reference. In this mechanism any changes done to the parameters in the function definition will
be reflected on the actual parameters.

When addresses are passed through the actual parameters to the formal parameters, formal parameters
must be pointer type variables.

Program 6.6 Program to swap two integer values by passing pointers to the function swap

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void swap(int *,int *);
void main()
{
clrscr();
int a,b;
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the integer values to be swapped :");
scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
printf("\n\n\t\t The values before swapping are %d & %d",a,b);
swap(&a,&b);
printf("\n\n\t\t The values after swapping are %d & %d".a,b);
}
void swap(int *aptr,int *bptr)
{
temp=*aptr;
*aptr=*bptr;
*bptr=temp;
return;
}

Passing addresses from actual to formal parameters


a b aptr bptr
10 20 200 4000
0 7000
6000
2000 4000

*bptr=temp
temp=*aptr *aptr=*bptr

10 b
a
10 20 20 10
8000
2000 4000
a
a

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 153


Swapping of values

We know that a function can return single value only. However, multiple values can be returned
through pointer parameters. The following program will illustrate this.

Program 6.7 Write a function that will find the area and parameter of a triangle and return them through
pointer parameters. Call this function in main() to find area and circumference of a given triangle

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void find_ area_in(float a, float b, float c, float *pa, float *pc );
void main()
{
float a,b,c,area,circumference,*pa,*pc;
pa=&area;
pc=&circumference;
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the three sides of the triangle :");
scanf("%f%f%f",&a,&b,&c);
find_area_in(a,b,c,pa,pc);
printf(" area of the triangle=%.2f\n,*pa);
printf(" circumference of the triangle=%.2f\n,*pc);
}
void find_area_in(float a, float b, float c, float *pa, float *pc )
{
float s;
s=(a+b+c)/2.0;
*pa=sqrt(s*(s-a)*(s-b)*(s-c));
*pc=a+b+c;
return;
}
In the above program addresses of area and circumference and the sides are passed. The calculated values
of area and circumference are stored in the memory locations allotted for the variables area and
circumference in the function main through the de referencing *pa and *pc.

6.7 POINTERS AND ARRAYS

Arrays are abstract data types which store a group of logically related items belonging to same data type
and are referred by a common name.

Array name represent the base address of the array or address of first element of the array.Hence array
name is a pointer to the array

10 20 30 40 50

2000 2002 2004 2006 2006


2002 2002 2002
&a[0] a Base address 2000

Consider the array declaration

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 154


int a[5];
Then the compiler allocate 5 memory location as given below.
Array name a represent the base address i.e 2000. Thus both a and &a[0] represent the address of the
first element i.e 2000.

In general &a[i] is equivalent to a+i to get the i th elements address


similarly a[0] is 10 and *(a+1) also gives 10
a[1] is 20 and *(a+2) also gives 20
a[2] is 30 and *(a+3) also gives 30
a[3] is 40 and *(a+4) also gives 40
In general a[i] gives the value at i th location and is represented in pointers by *(a+i)

From the above we can say that the array name appearing as formal argument within the function
definition can be declared as pointer or as array of unspecified size. This will determine in which manner
the individual array elements are to be accessed within the function.

Program 6.8 Program to read and print the elements of one-dimensional array using functions and
pointers

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void READARRAY(int n,int *aptr);
void PRINTARRAY(int n,int *aptr);
void main(void)
{
int n,a[20];
clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the no. of elements to be read of the list : ");
scanf("%d",&n);
printf(\n\n\t\t Enter n elements of the list :);
READARRAY(n,a);
printf(\n\n\t\t Elements of array are : \n );
` PRINTARRAY(n,a);
}
void READARRAY(int n,int *aptr)
{
register int i;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
scanf(%d,aptr+i);
}

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 155


void PRINTARRAY(int n,int *aptr)
{
register int i;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf(%5d,*(aptr+i));
}
Array a is declared as int array of size 20. n is declared as int is used to accept the number of elements to
be stored in a, the value of which is between 1 and 20 and the variable i is subscript for the array. In the
calling function n is passed by value and a which is the array name giving the base address of the array is
passed by reference. In the function definition aptr stores the address passed by a. The expression aptr+i
gives the address of ith element of the array in the function READARRAY. The following segment
enables us to read the elements of the array

for(i=0;i<n;i++)
here aptr+i is equivalent to &a[i]
scanf(%d,aptr+i);

if aptr+i gives address of ith location in the array then *(aptr+i) gives the value at ith location.

The following segment of PRINTARRAY displays the values stored in the array

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

printf(%5d,*(aptr+i)); here *(aptr+i) is equivalent to a[i]

Program 6.9 Program to sort elements of one-dimensional array using functions and pointers

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void READARRAY(int ,int *);
void PRINTARRAY(int ,int *);
void SORTARRAY(int ,int *);
void main(void)
{
int n,,a[20]; clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the no. of elements to be read to the array : ");
scanf("%d",&n);
printf(\n\n\t\t Enter elements of the array for sorting:);
READARRAY(n,a);
SORTARRAY(n,a);
printf(\n\n\t\t Elements of array after sorting are : \n );
PRINTARRAY(n,a);
}
void SORTARRAY(int n, int *aptr)
{
register int i,p;
for(p=1;p<n;++p)
for(i=0;i<n-p;++i)
if(*(aptr+i)> *(aptr+i+1))
{ temp=*(aptr+i);
*(aptr+i)= *(aptr+i+1);
*(aptr+i+1)=temp;

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 156


}
return;
}
void READARRAY(int n,int *aptr)
{
register int i;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
scanf(%d,aptr+i);
}
void PRINTARRAY(int n,int *aptr)
{
register int i;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf(%5d,*(aptr+i));
return;
}

Array a is declared as int array of size 20. n is declared as int ,is used to accept the no. of elements to be
stored in a, the value of which is between 1 and 20 and the variable i is subscript for the array. Reading
of elements is defined through a function READARRAY, as explained in the previous example. In the
calling functions n is passed by value and a which is the array name giving the base address/address of
first location of the array. In the function definition aptr stores the address passed by a. The expression
*(aptr+i) gives the address of ith element of the array in the function SORTARRAY. *(aptr+i) and
*(aptr+i+1) are compared in the function and performs swapping as already discussed. The segment of
code for displaying elements of the array is done through PRINTARRAY as discussed in the previous
example.

Program 6.10 Program to SEARCH (BINARY SEARCH) for an element in one-dimensionalarray using
functions and pointers

int BSEARCH(int ,int ,int ,int *);


void main(void)
{
int n,i;int a[20],key,p;
clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the no. of elements to perform BSEARCH : ");
scanf("%d",&n);
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the elements in sorted order : ");
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
{
scanf("%d",a+i);
}
printf("\n\t\t Enter the key element for searching:");
scanf("%d",&key);
if((p=BSEARCH(0,n-1,key,a))==0)
printf("\n\n\t\t Element. is not in the array");
else
printf("\n\n\t\tThe element %d is in the array at the position%d,key,p);
}
int BSEARCH(int l,int u,int key,int *aptr) // recursive function for binary search
{

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 157


int m;
if(l<=u)
{
m=(l+u)/2;
if(key==*(aptr+m))
return (m+1);
else if(key<*(aptr+m))
return(BSEARCH(l,m-1,key,aptr));
else
return(BSEARCH(m+1,u,key,aptr));
}
else
return(0);
}
6.8 POINTERS AND TWO DIMENSIONAL / MULTIDIMENCTIONAL ARRAYS

Two dimensional array is a collection of one dimensional arrays.


If we can represent a two dimensional array as one dimensional, processing of two dimensional arrays
can easily be dealt with pointers.
Consider the following two dimensional array initialization
int a[3][4]= {10,20,30,40,50,60,70};
Here a[0][0]=10,a[0][1]=20,a[0][2]=30,a[0][3]=40,a[1][0]=50,a[2][0]=60,
The memory organization will be as given below:
*(a+1)+0 *(a+1)+1 *(a+1)+2

base address a[0][0] a[0][1] a[0][2]


2002
0 th one Dim. array
a+0
2000 2002 2004
*(a+1)+0 *(a+1)+1 *(a+1)+2
2002

base address
a[1][0] a[1][1] a[1][2]
1 th one Dim. array 2002
a+1
2006 2008 2010
so on 2002

Since a two dimensional array name is a pointer to a group of contiguous one-dimensional arrays,the
declaration int a[3][4] is also can be written as int (*a)[4];
In general data-type(*ptr_variable)[size];
For three dimensional array the declaration is
data-type (*ptr_variable)[size][size]; and this can be generalized for higher-dimensional array;
The parenthesis that surrounds the array name and the preceding * is the pointer version of the
declaration. Without which the declaration would be considered as array of pointers rather than pointer to
a group of arrays.

If you have difficulty in memorizing what notation is for pointer to array and array of pointers, try
this:

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 158


int (*array)[4] : (, ) operators have higher priority because it is on the left of the [,]. So, it is a Pointer to
[4]. That is,it is a POINTER to an array

int *array[4] : [,] have higher priority than *, so, it is array of pointers.

Example 6.11 Program to print base address of each one dimensional array & address of each location of
every one dimensional array

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void rowaddress(int,int (*) []);
void coladdress(int,int,int (*) []);
void main(void)
{
int a[4][6];
clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Base address of each one dimensional array is : \n");

rowaddress(4,a);
printf("\n\n\t\t Address of each element in two dimensional array is : \n");
coladdress(4,6,a);
}
void rowaddress(int r,int(*a)[6])

register int i,j;


for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
printf("\t%u",a+i);
printf("\n");
}
}
void coladdress(int r,int c,int(*a)[6])
{
register int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
printf("\t%u",*(a+i)+j);
printf("\n\n");
}
}

The program uses concept of functions and pointer to an array.

Here a[3][4] is the array which is allocated with 3 one dimensional arrays where each one dimensional
array contains 4 elements. It will occupy 12*2 bytes overall. The program contain two functions;
rowaddress which displays address of each one dimensional array as discussed in introduction;
address gives address of each location of each element of the two dimensional array. i & jare to
select rows and columns respectively.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 159


(a+i) is pointing to base address of each one dimensional array. *(a+i)+j in the function address gives
the address of each element of one-dimensional array.

Program 6.12 Program to read and print the elements of a matrix using functions and pointers

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void readmatrix(int,int,int (*) []);
void printmatrix(int,int,int (*) []);
void main(void)
{
int a[4][6],r,c;
clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter order of the matrix: ");
scanf("%d%d",&r,&c);
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the elements of matrix row wise:\n");
readmatrix(r,c,a);
printf("\n\n\t\t The given matrix in natural form is \n");
printmatrix(r,c,a);
}
void readmatrix(int r,int c,int(*aptr)[6])
{
register int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
{
scanf("%d",(*(aptr+i)+j));
}
}
}
void printmatrix(int r,int c,int(*aptr)[6])
{
register int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
printf("%6d",*(*(aptr+i)+j));
printf("\n");

}
}
Here a[4][6] is an array of 4 one dimensional arrays each of size 6 elements.It occupies 24*2 bytes
overall. The program contain two functions; readmatrix which reads and stores the elements of matrix
at a particular location; printmatrixdisplayselements of the matrix in natural form.

The program segment for accepting elements into the array a is

for(i=0;i<r;i++)
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
scanf("%d",(*(aptr+i)+j));

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 160


observe that &a[i][j] used for reading elements in to the array is replaced by *(aptr+i)+j

The program segment for printing elements of the array a is

for(i=0;i<r;i++)
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
printf("%d",*(*(aptr+i)+j));
observe that a[i][j] is replaced by *(*(aptr+i)+j)

Program 6.13 Program to multiply two matrices using functions and explicit pointers

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void readmatrix(int,int,int (*) []);
void printmatrix(int,int,int (*) []);
void matmultiplication(int ,int,int,int(*)[],int (*)[6],int (*)[6]);
void main(void)
{
int F[4][6],r1,c1,S[4][6],r2,c2,R[4][6]={0,0};
clrscr();
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter order of first matrix: ");
scanf("%d%d",&r1,&c1);
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter order of second matrix: ");
scanf("%d%d",&r2,&c2);
if(c1==r2)
{
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the elements of first matrix row wise:\n");
readmatrix(r1,c1,F);
printf("\n\n\t\t Enter the elements of second matrix row wise:\n:");
readmatrix(r2,c2,S);
matmultiplication(r1,c1,c2,F,S,R);
printf("\n\n\t\t The product matrix is \n");
printmatrix(r1,c2,R);
}
else
printf("\n\n\t\t Matrix multiplication is not possible");
}
void readmatrix(int r,int c,int(*aptr)[6])
{
register int i,j;
for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
{
scanf("%d",(*(aptr+i)+j));
}
}
}
void printmatrix(int r,int c,int(*aptr)[6])
{
register int i,j;

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 161


for(i=0;i<r;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c;j++)
printf("%6d",*(*(aptr+i)+j));
printf("\n");
}
}
void matmultiplication(int r1,int c1,int c2,int(*fptr)[6],int (*sptr)[6],int (*rptr)[6])
{
register int i,j,k;
for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{
*(*(rptr+i)+j)=0;
for(k=0;k<c1;k++)
{

*(*(rptr+i)+j)=*(*(rptr+i)+j)+((*(*(fptr+i)+k)) * (*(*(sptr+k)+j)));
}
}
}
}
The program contains two functions; readmatrixs which reads and stores the elements of matrix in a
given array; printmatrix display elements of the matrix in natural form. i, j ,k are register variables
whose values are used for identifying different elements of the array through pointers.

The function matmultiplication multiplies the matrices using the following code

for(i=0;i<r1;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<c2;j++)
{
for(k=0;k<c1;k++)
{
*(*(rptr+i)+j)=0;
*(*(rptr+i)+j)=*(*(rptr+i)+j)+((*(*(fptr+i)+k)) * (*(*(sptr+k)+j)));
}
}
}
In the above code (*(rptr+i)+j)) points/to the(i,j)th element of the product matrix R.

Similarly ,*(sptr+i)+k and *(str+k)+j points to the (i,k)th and (k,j)th elements of the matrices F and S
repectively

6.9 FUNCTIONS RETURNING POINTERS


In the previous sections we have seen that a function can return a single value by its name and return
multiple values through pointer parameters. It is possible that a function can return a pointer to the calling
function.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 162


Program 6.14 Write a function that receive pointers to two integers and return pointer to the smaller. Call
this in main() to find the smallest of two integers.

#include<stdio.h>
int *small(int *a,int *b)
void main()
{
int a,b;
int *p;
printf(enter two integers:);
scanf(%d,%d,&a,&b);
p=small(&a,&b);
printf(the smaller number is %d,*p);
}
int *small(int *a,int *a)
{
return((*a>*b)?a:b);
}

6.10 DYNAMIC MEMORY ALLOCATION

Variables are named memory locations and they are to hold data to be manipulated by the programs.
Memory allocation for the variables used so far is static memory allocation. Static memory allocation
is the phenomenon of allocation of memory during compilation time. The allocated memory is released at
the end of program execution.

The declaration
int a;
allocates 2 bytes of memory to the variable a at compilation time where as the array declaration
int b[6];
allocates 12 bytes of memory space at compilation time. In such a declaration there are few
shortcomings.
i) If we want to deal with more memory than the allocated memory during runtime of the program,
it is not possible to increase the size of array at runtime.
ii) Many a times all the memory allocated during compile time is not used; it is not possible to
decrease the allocated memory at runtime.

To overcome the above problems we have the concept of Dynamic Memory Allocation.

As the name indicates, memory can be allocated dynamically whenever required.

Dynamic Memory Allocation is the phenomenon of allocation of memory during run time. Allocated
memory can be released during runtime.

Memory Management Functions with DMA

C library has the following built-in-functions to manage dynamic memory allocation.

1. malloc()
2. calloc()
3. realloc()
4. free()

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 163


The above functions are available in alloc.h, and stdlib.h. Either of the header files can be included.

1. malloc()
The general form of malloc is:
ptr_variable=(cast type *) malloc(size of block);

The function allocates a block of memory. On successful memory allocation the function returns a pointer
to the first byte of the block. Allocated space is initialized with garbage.
In the above syntax size of block is block size to be allocated. (cast type * ) is the cast expression which
indicate the type of data that will be stored in the allocated block. ptr_variableis a pointer of the cast-
type which holds the address of the first byte of the block.
Example: ptr=(int *)malloc(10*sizeof(int));
Allocates 20 bytes of space and returns a pointer to the block which is assigned to the pointer ptr of type
int. This is illustrated in the following figure.

ptr
Size of the block= (10 *2) bytes

2000

2000

The storage space allocated will have no name and hence must be accessed through the pointer only. If
the allocation fails, malloc() function returns a NULL pointer. Therefore check whether the allocation is
successful before using the pointer.

Program 6.15 Program to arrange a list of numbers in ascending order


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int *ptr , n,temp;
register int i;
clrscr();
printf(Enter the number of values: );
scanf(%d,&n);
ptr=(int *)malloc(n*sizeof(int));
if(ptr==NULL)
{
printf(Memory not allocated);
exit(0);
}
printf(Enter the numbers\n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
scanf(%d , ptr+i ) ;
for(p=1;p<n;p++)
for(i=0;i<n-p;i++)
if( *(ptr+i) > *(ptr+i+1) )

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 164


{
temp= *(ptr+i);
*(ptr+i)=*(ptr+i+1);
*(ptr+i+1)=temp;
}
printf(The sorted list is : \n);
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf( %d\t ,*(ptr+i) );
getch();
}
The program is to arrange a list of n numbers in ascending order. The method employed is bubble sort.
To store the n numbers in the memory a block of space is allocated using malloc() function .
For this , the statement
ptr=(int *)malloc(n*sizeof(int));
is used.
ptr, ptr+1, ptr+2,. . . are the pointers to first, second ,third , elements of the array. Thus the statement
scanf(%d ,ptr+i);
is used to read the data from the keyboard and store in the allocated block.
The indirection operator * is used to access the data item at the address given by (ptr+i). Thus the
statement
temp= *(ptr+i); would assign the value at the ith position of the block to temp.
2. free( )
The free()is used to release(free) the block of memory which has already been allocated by malloc or
calloc functions
This is done for reusability of the memory
The general form of free() function is:

free (ptr_variable);

Example: free (ptr);


Where ptr is a pointer which points to the block which is to be released/de-allocated.
It is not the pointer that is being released but what it points to.

3. calloc( )

calloc is used to allocate multiple blocks of memory, all of which are of same size and returns a pointer
to the first byte of the first block. Initialize the allocated space with 0s .

The general form of calloc() function is


ptr_variable=(cast type *) calloc(no of blocks, sizeof block);

calloc has two parameters first is the no. of blocks to be allocated and the second is the sizeof block.

ptr_variable is a pointer, which stores the address of the first byte of the first block allocated. If the
function is unable to allocate the requisite space, NULL pointer is returned and is assigned to the ptr
variable.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 165


Program6.16 Program to read two matrices and find out their product with proper validation

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
void main()
{
int *pa,*pb ,*pc m,n,i,j,p,q;
printf(Enter the number of rows and columns of first matrix : \n);
scanf( %d%d , &m,&n);
printf(Enter the number of rows and columns of second matrix : \n);
scanf( %d%d , &p,&q);
if(n!=p)
{
printf(Multiplication of matrices is not possible);
exit(0);
}
pa=(int *)calloc(m , n*sizeof(int));
pb=(int *)calloc(p , q*sizeof(int));
pc=(int *)calloc(m , q*sizeof(int));
if(pa==NULL)

{
printf(Memory not allocated);
exit(0);
}
printf(Enter the elements of the first matrix row wise\n);
for(i=0;i<m;++i)
for(j=0;j<n;++j)
scanf(%d , (pa+i*n)+j ) ;
printf(Enter the elements of the second matrix row wise\n);

for(i=0;i<p;++i)
for(j=0;j<q;++j)
scanf(%d , (pb+i*q)+j ) ;
for(i=0;i<m;++i)
for(j=0;j<q;j++)
{
*(pc+i*q+j)=0;
for(k=0;k<n;++k)
*(pc+i*q+j)+=(*(pa+i*n+k))*(*(pb+k*q+j));
}
printf(Product matrix is:\n);

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 166


for(i=0;i<m;++i)
{
for(j=0;j<q;++j)
printf( %5d *(pc+i*q+j));
printf(\n);
}
getch();
}

In this program calloc() function is used to allocate the memory space to store the two input matrices and
the output matrix.

In the statement pa=(int *)calloc(m , n*sizeof(int));


calloc() function is used to allocate m blocks of memory each of size sufficient to hold n integers .
pa+n*i+j is a pointer to ith row jth column element of the matrix(i=0,1,2 ,..m-1, j=0,1,2n-1)

4. realloc()

malloc() and calloc() are functions used to dynamically allocate memory for storage. But in some
circumstances we need to alter the memory allocated by the above functions during runtime. This is
achieved with the help of realloc().

The general form of realloc() function is:

ptr_variable=(cast type *) realloc(old_ptr, new size of block);

Here old_ptr is the pointer to the block which has been allocated and is to be altered (increased/
decreased).

On successful reallocation the function returns a pointer to the first byte of the reallocated block. If the
function is unable to allocate the additional size a NULL pointer is returned and the original block is
freed.
new size of block may be smaller or larger than the original block size. The location of old block and
new block may be same or different. If different data of old block will be copied to the new block,the
function will guarantee that the old data is intact.

Program 6.17 Program to concatenate two strings using DMA


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char *ptr1,*ptr2;
clrscr();
ptr1=(char *)malloc(sizeof("K.L."));
strcpy(ptr1,"K.L.");
printf("\n\n\t\t String 1 is %s",ptr1);
ptr2=(char *)malloc(sizeof("University"));
strcpy(ptr2,"University");
printf("\n\n\t\t String 2 is %s",ptr2);
ptr1=(char *)realloc(ptr1,sizeof("K.L.University"));

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 167


strcat(ptr1,ptr2);
printf("\n\n\t\t Concatinated string is %s",ptr1);
getch();
}
The program is to concatenate two strings .The required blocks of memory is allocated to store each of
the strings.Each string has its own size and to concatenate them the size of the first block is altered with
the help of realloc(). Here ptr1 is pointer to the first string K.L. of 5 bytes. ptr2is pointer to the second
string University of 11 bytes. Memory is allocated for the above strings using malloc function.

ptr1=(char *)realloc(ptr1,sizeof("K.L.University"));

Above statement reallocates the memory block represented by the pointer ptr1 to the new size 15 bytes.
strcat(ptr1,ptr2); statement appends the second string to the first string, resulting in K.L.University
SUMMARY
Pointer is a variable which stores address of another variable or address of block of memory.
Concept of pointers is extensively used with their operators & and *. Arithmetic operations on
pointers are used to relate pointers and arrays. Accessing of elements of array are done through
pointers. Strings can also be dealt with pointers. Allocation of memory at run-time is done through
Dynamic Memory Allocation. malloc, calloc are dealt as memory allocation functions where as
realloc as memory reallocation to change the memory and free to de-allocate memory that has been
allocated.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-11 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-10 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by B.A.Forouzan
& Ritchard F.Gilberg.

EXCERCISES

Multiple choice questions

6.1. Which of the following statements is true after execution of following program segment?
int a[5]={2,3},*p=a;
(*p)--;
(a) the value of a [0] will be 1 (b)the value of a[0] will be 2
(c) the value of a[1] will be 2 (d)none of these.
6.2. The fastest way to exchange two rows in a two- dimensional array is
a) exchange the address of each element in the two rows.
b) exchange the elements of two rows.
c) store the addresses of the rows in an array of pointers and exchange the pointers.
d) none of these.
6.3. Which is the correct way to declare a pointer ?
a ) int *ptr; b) *int ptr; c) int ptr*; d) int ptr x;
6.4. What will be the result of the following program?
main()
{
int a=8,b=2,c,*p=&c;
c=(a=a+b,b=a/b,a=a*b,b=a-b);
printf(\n %d,++*p);

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 168


}
a)45 b)46 c)50 d)51
6.5. What will be the value of x after execution of the following program?
void main()
{
int x,*p;
p=&x;
*p=2;
printf(\n x=%d,x);
}
a)x=2 b)x=0 c)x=65504 d)none of the above .
6.6. What will be the value of variable a1 and a2 after execution?
main()
{
int a1,a2,c=3,*p;
p=&c;
a1=3*(c+5);
a2=3*(*p+5);
}
a)a1=24,a2=24 b)a1=12,a2=24 c)a1=12,a2=24 d)none of the above.

6.7. What will be the values of variables a and b after execution?


void main()
{
int a,*b=&a,**c=&b;
a=5;
**c=15;
*b=**c;
printf(a=%d,b=%d,a,*b);
}
a) a=15,b=15 b)a=5,b=15 c) a=15,b=5 d)a=5,b=10
6.8. What is the output?
main()
{
int n[25];
n[0]=10;
n[5]=25;
printf(\n %d, *(n+0)+*(n+5));
}
a)compilation error b)40 c)15 d)35
6.9. What will be the output
main()
{
int b[]={10,20,30,40,50}
int *k;
k=&b[1]-1;
for(i=0;i<=4;i+=2)
{
printf(%d,*k);
k++;
}

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 169


}
a)10 20 30 40 50 b)10 30 50 c)20 40 d)compilation error.
6.10. What is the output?
main()
{
int a[]={1,2,3,4},i;
for(i=0;i<=3,++i)
{
*(a+i)=a[i]*i[a];
printf(%d,*(i+a));
}
}

a)2 4 6 8 b)0 4 9 16
c)1 4 9 16 d)compilation error because i[a] is not allowed.
6.11. What is the output?
main()
{
int a[]={0,1,2,3};
int *ptr;
for(ptr=&a[0];ptr<=&a[3];ptr++)
printf(%d,*ptr+5);
}
a)compilation error because ,the test expression in for is invalid.
b) compilation error because ,the expression *ptr+5 is invalid.
C) 5 6 7 8 d) Garbage
6.12. Pointer variable may be assigned
a) An address value represented in hexadecimal
b) An address value represented in octal
c) The address of another variable.
d) All the above.
6.13. Identify the invalid expression.
a)&35 b)&(x+y) c)&(x-y) d)all the above
6.14. Identify the correct declaration statements.
a)float a=5;int *p=&a; b)float *p=&a;float a;
c)int a=5,p=&a; d)all the above .
6.15. Identify the invalid expression given
int num=15,*p=&num;
a)*(&num) b)**&num c)p++ d)*num
6.16. Identify the invalid expression for given
float x=2.14,*y=&x;
a) &y b)*(&x) c)**&y d)(*&)x
6.17.The operand of the address of operator is
a)a constant b)an expression c)a register variable d)a variable
6.18. How does the compiler differentiate address of operator from bitwise AND operator?
a) by using the number of operands and position of operands
b) by using the declaration
c)both options a and b d)by using the value of operand.
6.19. The operand of indirection operator is
a)pointer variable b)pointer expression
c)both options a and b d)ordinary Variable

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 170


6.20. The operand of address operator may be
a)an ordinary variable b)an array variable
c)a pointer variable d)any of the above
6.21.Assume 2bytes for int ,4bytes for float and 8bytes for double data types respectively, how
many bytes are assigned to the following pointer variables?
int *ip;
float *fp;
double*dp;
a)2bytes for ip,4bytes for fp and 8 bytes for dp
b)2bytes for all pointer variables ip,fp and dp.
c)one byte for ip,2bytes for fp and 4bytes for dp.
d)2bytes for ip and 8bytes for each fp and dp
6.22. Identify the invalid expression for given syntax:
float fnum[10],*fptr=fnum
a)fnum+=4 b)fptr[4] c)fnum=++ftr d)&fnum[4]
6.23.Identify the correct statement for given expression float x[10];
a)x is a pointer variable b)x is a fixed address and not a variable
c)x is an address that can be modified d)all the above
6.24. Given the declaration int x[5],the address of the element x[2] is obtained by
a)&x[2] b)x+2 c)both a and b d)*(x+2)
6.25.Given the declaration float x[5],the element[2] is accessed by
a)*(&x[2]) b)x+2 c)*(x+2) d)both a and c
6.26.Given the declaration int x[5][5],the address of the element x[1][4] is obtained by
a)&x[1][4] b)x[1]+4 c)*(*(x+2)+4) d)all the above
6.27. Given the declaration int x[5][5],the element[2][4] is accessed by
a)x[2][4] b)*(x[2]+4 ) c)*(*(x+2)+4) d)all the above
6.28.Given
int *p1,**p2,***p3,v=25;
P1=&v;p2=&p1;p3=&p2;
How to obtain the value of v using pointer variable
a) *p1 b) **p2 c)***p3 d) all the above
6.29. The declaration float * a [5]; is
a) An ordinary array b) a two dimensional array
b) Pointer to an array d) an array of pointers
6.30. The declaration at (*p) [5]; is
a) Function returning a pointer b) pointer to function
c) An array of pointers d) a pointer to an array
6.31. Array of pointers such as int *p [5]; is used for
a) Fixed row size and varying column size
b) Fixed row size and fixed column size
c) Varying row size and fixed column size
d) Varying row size and varying column size
6.32. Pointer to array such as int (*a) [8]; is used for
a) Fixed row size and varying column size
b) Fixed row size and fixed column size
c) Varying row size and fixed column size
d) Varying row size and varying column size
6.33. Identify the invalid expression for the given syntax:
float x [10], *p=x;
a) x+4 b) p [4] c) &x [4] d) x= ++p;

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 171


6.34. Given float x [5] [5], (*y) [5]; the assignment of the array x to the pointer variable y may be
done as
a) y= &x; b) *y=x; c) y [0] =x d) y=x;
6.35. In the declaration int *f ();
a) f is a pointer to a function b) f is a function returning a pointer
c) f is an array of functions d) f is a pointer to an array
6.36. Identify the invalid assignment, for given int * p, x;
a) p = \0 ; b) p = 3142; c) p = & x; d) *p = 20;
6.37. The invalid pointer arithmetic is (are)
a) adding two pointers b) multiplying two pointers
c) dividing two pointers d) all the above
6.38. The invalid pointer arithmetic is (are)
a) Shifting pointers using shift operators b) addition of float or double values to pointers
c) both options a and b d) incrementing pointers
6.39. When applied to a variable what does the unary & operator field?
a) The variable value b) The variables address
c) The variables format d) The variables right value
6.40. Which of the following is true about pointers?
1. Pointers do not require memory storage
2. The size of a pointer depends on the type of the variable it points to
a) option 1 only b) option 2 only c) options 1 and 2 d) neither option 1 nor 2
6.41. If p1 and p2 are valid pointers in the same array, then which of the following statements is
valid?
a) p1 + 2 b) p2 p1 c) p1 * p2 d) both a and b
6.42. What will be the output of the following code is executed
main ()
{
int a [5] = {1,2,3,4,5};
int *b= &a [2];
printf(%d, *(b-1));
}
a) 2 b) 3 c) 4 d) 5
6.43. int x, y [10];
From the above statement which of the following is not a valid initialization?
a) int *p = *y; b) int * p = &x;
c) int *p = y + 2; d) int * p = (int *) ox1000;
6.44. What is the output when the following segment is executed?
int c [ ] = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 };
int j, *p = c;
for (j=0; j<5; ++j)
printf(%d, *c);
a) 1 2 3 4 5 b) 1 1 1 1 1 c) 5 5 5 5 5 d) compilation error
6.45. What is the output?
int c [ ] = { 1,2,3,4,5}, *p =c;
int j;
for(j=0;j<5;++j)
{
printf(%d, *p);
++p;
}
a) 1 1 1 1 1 b) 1 2 3 4 5

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 172


c) Base address of the array is printed five times d) compilation error
6.46. C program contains the following statement
float a= 0.001, *pa= &a;
If the value assigned to a stored at address 2432,
then what is the value represented by f(*pa)?
a)0.001 b) 2432 c) data not sufficient d)Syntax error
6.47. What is the output
float a=0.001,b=0.003, *pa,*pb;
pa=&a;pb=&b; *pa=4*a;
printf(%f,(*pa-*pb)*3);
a) 0.004 b) 0.003 c)0.002 d) Syntax error
6.48. Consider the C program segment
{ int a[10],*p;
p=++a;
} Suppose the code base address of array a is 1250 what value is assigned to p?
a) 1250 b) 1251 c)1252 d) syntax error.
6.49. Consider the C program segment
int a[5]={0,1,2,3,4,},*p;
p=a+1;
Suppose the base address of array a is 1250 ,What is assigned to p?
a) 1250 b)1251 c)1252 d) 1
6.50. What is the output of the following program segment?
int i,j=25;
int *pi,*pj=&j;
*pj=j+5;
i=*pj+5;
printf(%d,i+j);
a) 30 b)35 c) 60 d)65
6.51. What is the output?
int i,j=25;
int *pi,*pj=&j;
*pj=j+5;
i=*pj+5;
pi=pj;
*pi=i+j;
printf(%d,(*pi+2));
a) 57 b)62 c)72 d) 67
6.52. What is the output?
int f1(char a,char b);
main()
{ char a=X,b=Y;
int i;
i=f1(a,b);
printf(a=%c,b=%c,a,b);
}
int f1(char c1,char c2)
{ c1=P;c2=Q;
return((c1<c2)?c1:c2); }
a=P, b=Q b) a=X,b=Y c) a=Q,b=P d) a=Y,b=X;
6.53. What is the output?
void f(char*p a,char*p b);

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 173


main()
{ char a=X,b=Y;
f(&a,&b);
printf(a=%c,b=%c,a,b);
}
void f(char *pa,char*pb)
{ *pa=P;
*pb=Q;
return;
}
a) a=X, b=Y b) a=P,b=Q c) a=80,b=81 d) a=88,b=89
6.54. What is the output?
main()
{ int a[5] = { 10,20,30,40,50};
int sum=0,i;
for(i=0;i<5;++i)
sum+=*(a+i);
printf(sum=%d\n,sum);
}
a) sum= 150 b) sum=165 c) sum=65 d) sum=155
6.55. What is the output?
main()
{ int a[5] = { 10,20,30,40,50};
int sum=0,i;
for(i=0;i<5;++i)
sum+=*a+i;
printf(sum=%d\n,sum);
}
a) sum= 150 b) sum=165 c) sum=60 d) sum=155
6.56. What is the output?
void f(int *p);
main()
{static int a[5] = { 10,20,30,40,50};
f(a+3);
}
void f(int*p)
{
int i,sum=0;
for(i=0;i<2;++i)
sum+=*(p+i);
printf(sum=%d\n,sum);
}
a) sum= 30 b) sum=70 c) sum=50 d) sum=90
6.57. What is the output?
int *f(int *p);
main()
{ int a[5] = { 6,8,4,2,5};
int *p;
p=f(a);
printf(%d,*p);
}

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 174


int *f(int *p)
{ int i,imax,max=0;
for(i=0;i<5;++i)
if(*(p+i)>max)
{ max=*(p+i);
imax=i;
}
return(p+imax);
}
a) 5 b) 6 c)8 d)un predictable.
6.58. int *f(int *p);
main()
{
int *p,a[5]={0,1,2,3,4};
p=f(a);
}
int *f(int *p)
{ int i =2;
return(p+i); }
a)Return the third element of the array a b)Return the first element of the array a
c)Return the pointer to the third element of array a d)Return 0
6.59. A C program contains the following declaration
int a[6]={10,20,30,40,50,60};
What is the value of (*a+2)?
a) 32 b)12 c) 22 d) 23
6.60. A C program contains the following declaration
static int a[2][3]={1,2,3,4,5,6};
What is the value of *(*(a+1)+1)?
a) 4 b)5 c)2 d)3
6.61. A C program contains the following declaration
static int a[2][3]={{1,2,3},{4,5,6}};
What is the value of *(*a+1)?
a) 1 b)2 c)4 d)5
6.62. A C program contains the following declaration
static int a[2][3]={{1,2,3},{4,5,6}};
What is the value of *(*(a+1))?
a) 2 b)4 c)5 d)3
6.63. Which of the following is true about the following declarations is true?
i) int *f() ii) int (*f)()
a) both are identical b) the first is correct declaration and second is wrong
c) both are different ways of declaring pointer to a function
d) The first deceleration is a function returning a pointer to an integer and the second is
pointer to function retuning int.
6.64. What will be the output of the following
main()
{ int i;
char *p;
i=OX23;
p=(char *)i;
p++;
printf(%x\n,p); }

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 175


a) 25 b)24 c)26 d)28
6.65. What is the output?
int a[]={1,2,9,8,6,3,5,12,8,9};
int *p=a+1,*q=a+6;
printf(%d\n,q-p);
a) 6 b)5 c) 10 d) 4
6.66. What is the output?
int a[]={1,2,5,6,9,10}
int *b=&a[4];
printf(\n%d,b[-3]);
a) 6 b)9 c)2 d)5
6.67. int y[4]={1,2,3,4}
int *p=y+2;
printf(%d\n,p[1]);
What is printed when the above code is executed?
a)2 b)4 c)3 d)compilation error
6.68.main()
{
int a[4][2];
int b=0,x,i,j;
for(i=0;i<4;++i)
for(j=0;j<2;++j)
a[i][j]=b++;
x=*(*(a+2)+1);
}
What is the value of x in the above example?
a) 2 b)3 c)4 d)5
6.69. void f(int *a, int *b)
{
int *t;
t=a;
a=b;
b=t;
}
main()
{
int a =2,b=3;
f(&a,&b);
printf(%d,%d,a,b);
}
What will be the output?
a) Error in run time b)compilation error c)2,3 d) 3,2
6.70. What is the result of the expression for the following declaration ?
int a[]={1,2,3,4,5};
printf(%d,*a+2-*a+4);
a) 2 b) 5 c) 6 d) 1
6.71. p and q are pointers to same type of data items which of the following expressions is invalid?
a) p+2 b)q-p c)q-p+1 d) q+p
6.72. p and q are pointers to same type of data items which of the following expressions is valid?
i) *(p+q) ii)*(q-p) iii)(*p)*(*q)
a) all b) (i) and (ii) c) (ii)and(iii) d) (iii)

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 176


6.73. What is the output ?
main()
{
int a[5],*p;
for(p=a;p<&a[5];p++)
{ *p=p-a;
printf(%d,*p);
}
}
a) 0 1 2 3 4 b) 0 2 4 6 8 c) 1 2 3 4 5 d) compilation error

6.74. What is the output of the program?


main()
{
int b[]={5,9,10,13,14},*p;
p=b;
++*p;
p+=2;
printf(%d,*p); }
a) 9 b)10 c) 7 d)13
6.75. What is the output of the program?
main()
{ int b[]={5,9,10,13,14},*p;
p=b;
printf(%d,++ *p); }
a)Depends on the base address of the array b b)base address of b+1
c)6 d)9
6.76. What is the output of the program?
int x[]={5,3,9,8};
main()
{
int *p,*q;
p=x;
q=x+2;
*p++;
printf(%d\n,q-p);
}
a) 1 b)2 c) -2 d)base address of array x is required.
6.77. What is the output?
int a[]={5,10,15,20,25};
int *p,i;
p=a;
i=*p++;
printf(%d,i);
a) 6 b) 10 c) 5 d) 11
6.78. Which of the following is false?
a) Adding two pointers is an invalid operation
b) An integer can be added to a pointer
c) Pointer can not be multiplied
d) An array name can be used at the left side of an assignment.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 177


6.79. If m and n have been declared as integers and p1 and p2 are pointers to integers , then which of
the following is false?
a) p2=&*n; b) m=p2-p1; c) m=*p1+*p2++ d) *p1=&n;
6.80. A C program contains the following declaration :
int m,n,*p,**q;
Which of the following is true?
a)p=&25 b)q=&p c)q=&(*p+5); d)p=&(m+n);
6.81. What is the output?
main()
{
int a,b,*p1=&a,*p2=&b,x;
a=12, b= 4;
x=4*-*p2/ *p1+10;
printf(x=%d\n,x);
}
a) x=9 b)x=10 c)14 d)12
6.82. What is the output?
main()
{
int a=12,b=4,*p1=&a,*p2=&b;
int z;
*p2=*p2+3;
*p1=*p2-5;;
z=*p1**p2-6;
printf(z=%d\n,z);
}
a) z=6 b)z=42 c)z=12 d)z=8
6.83. What is the output?
main()
{
int x=20;
change(&x);
printf(%d\n,x);
}
change (int *p)
{
*p=*p+20;
}
a)20 b)40 c) 30 d) 60

Answers:
6.1)a 6.2)c 6.3)a 6.4)b 6.5)a 6.6)a 6.7)a 6.8)d 6.9)d 6.10)c 6.11)c
6.12)c 6.13)d 6.14)c 6.15)d 6.16)d 6.17)d 6.18)a 6.19)c 6.20)d 6.21)b 6.22)b
6.23)b 6.24)c 6.25)d 6.27)d 6.28)d 6.29)d 6.30)d 6.31)a 6.32)c 6.33)d 6.34)d
6.35)a 6.36)b 6.37)d 6.38)c 6.39)b 6.40)d 6.41)d 6.42)a 6.43)a 6.44)b 6.45)b
6.46)b 6.47)b 6.48)c 6.49)c 6.50)d 6.51)d 6.52)b 6.53)b 6.54)a 6.55)c 6.56)d
6.57)c 6.58)c 6.59)b 6.60)b 6.61)b 6.62)b 6.63)d 6.64)b 6.65)b 6.66)c 6.67)a
6.68)d 6.69)c 6.70)c 6.71)d 6.72)d 6.73)a 6.74)b 6.75)c 6.76)a 6.77)c 6.78)d
6.79)a 6.80)d 6.81)a 6.82)d 6.83)b

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 178


Comprehensive questions
6.1 Write a function that receives a floating point number and send back the pointers to integer and
fractional parts.
6.2 Write a function that receive the coefficients of a quadratic equation and pointers to the roots and
return the roots. Call this in main() to find the roots of a given quadratic equation.
6.3 Write a function that receive pointer to an array of integers and display its elements in reverse
order. Call this in main() to real and display a list of numbers in reverse order.
6.4 Write a function that receive pointer to an array and reverse its elements.
6.5 Write a menu driven program using pointers to add, subtract, multiply or divide two numbers.
6.6 Write a program to compare two arrays using pointers
6.7 Write a program to read and display values of an integer array allocate space dynamically for
the array.
6.8 Write a program using pointers to copy the last n charaters of a character array in another
Character array. Also convert the lower case letters into upper case letters while copying.

Pointers & Dynamic Memory Allocation 179


Chapter 7
DATA INPUT AND OUTPUT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, the readers will be able to
understand input and output concepts as they apply to C programs.
use different input and output functions available in the C library.
understand formatted input & output using prinf() & scanf() functions.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

One of the essential operations performed in a C language program is to provide input values to the
program and output the data produced by the program to a standard output device. We can assign values
to variable through assignment statements such as x = 5; a = 0; or initialize variables in the type
declaration statement like

int a= 10; float b=25.4;

Another method is to use scanf() function which can be used to read data from the key board. For
outputting results we have used extensively the function printf() which sends results out to a terminal.
There exists several functions in C language that can carry out input output operations. These functions
are collectively known as standard Input/Output Library.

7.2 SINGLE CHARACTER INPUT OUTPUT


The basic operation done in input/output is to read characters from the standard input device such as the
keyboard and to output or writing it to the output unit usually the screen.
7.2.1 getchar() function
The getchar() function can be used to read a character from the standard input device. The scanf()
function can also be used to achieve the purpose.. The getchar() function has the following form

variable _name = getchar();

where variable_name is any valid C identifier that has been declared as single character type. When this
statement is encountered, the compiler waits until a key is pressed and then assigns this character as a
value to getchar(). Since getchar() is used on the right-hand side of an assignment statement, the character
value of getchar() is in turn assigned to the variable_name on the left-hand side.
For example:
char ch;
ch=getchar();
will assign the character H to the single character variable ch when we press the key H on the
keyboard. Since getchar() is a function, it requires a set of parentheses as shown in the above example. It
accepts no arguments and returns a single character constant.
Program 7.1 Program for reading & writing a character

# include < stdio.h >

Data Input and Output 180


void main ( )
{
char ch;
printf (Type one character:) ;
ch = getchar () ; // gets a character from key board and stores it in the variable ch.
printf ( \nThe character you typed is = %c, ch) ; // displays value of ch on the screen.
}

Output:
Type one character
K
The character you typed is =K

C supports many other similar functions which are given in the table below .These character functions
are contained in header file ctype.h .Assume ch is declared as character type variable

Function Test Description

isalnum(ch) Is ch an alphanumeric character? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

isalpha(ch) Is ch an alphabetic character? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

isdigit(ch) Is ch a digit? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

islower(ch) Is ch a lowercase letter? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

isupper(ch) Is ch a uppercase letter? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

isprint(ch) Is ch a printable character? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

ispunc(ch) Is ch a punctuation mark? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

isspace(ch) Is ch a whitespace character? Returns value 1 if true or 0 otherwise

toupper(ch) If the variable ch is assigned with Converts to uppercase


lowercase alphabet converts it to
uppercase alphabet

tolower(ch) If the variable ch is assigned with Converts to lowercase


uppercase alphabet converts it to
lowercase alphabet

Data Input and Output 181


Program7.2 Program to test the type of input character

#include,stdio.h>
#include<ctype.h>
main()
{
Output:
char ch;
Press any key
printf(Press any key \n);
H
ch=getchar();
The character is a letter.
if (isalpha(ch)>0)
Press any key
printf(The character is a letter.);
5
else if (isdigit(ch)>0)
The character is a digit
printf(The character is a digit.);
Press any key
else
&
printf(The character is not alphanumeric.);
The character is not alphanumeric
}

7.2.2 putchar() function


The putchar() function which is analogus to getchar() function can be used for writing character data one
at a time to the output terminal. The general form is

putchar(variable /constant /expression);

The only one argument that is specified in the pair of parentheses should be either a single character
variable (or) a single character constant (or) an integer constant (or) any expression whose result should
be of single character type. No other data type is allowed.
variable is any C identifier containing a character declared as a single character type. If variable is used
as an argument to putchar(), the character that is stored in that variable is displayed.
Constant is any single character constant (or) an integer constant. If a single character constant is used as
an argument to the putchar(), it is directly displayed on the output terminal whereas if an integer constant
is used as an argument to putchar(), the character whose ASCII value is equivalent to the specified integer
constant will be displayed on the output terminal.

If an expression is used as an argument to the putchar() function, the result of that expression which is of
single character type will be displayed directly on the output terminal. If the expression whose result is of
integer type is used as an argument, its ASCII character will be displayed on the output terminal.
Example 7.1

(a) char ch;


ch=y; would print character constant y
putchar(ch);
(b) putchar(f); //prints single character constant f on the screen
(c) putchar(65); // prints A whose ASCII value is 65.
(d) putchar(65+35); // prints d whose ASCII value is 65+35(i.e.,100)
(e) putchar(65.2); // cause an error as floating point type is not allowed.

Data Input and Output 182


Program7.3 Program to read and display a single character
Output:
#include<stdio.h> please Enter one character
main()
{ H
char in;
printf(please Enter one character); H
in = getchar ( ) ; // assign the keyboard input value to in.
putchar(in); // out put in value to screen.
}
Program 7.4Program to read an alphabet from terminal and displaying it after case conversion.(lower
case to upper case & vice versa) .
#include<stdio.h>
#include<ctype.h> Output
main()
{ Enter an alphabet
char ch; a
printf(Enter an alphabet \n);
ch=getchar(); A
if (islower(ch))
putchar(toupper(ch); Enter an alphabet
else Q
putchar(tolower(ch));
} q

7.3 STRING INPUT AND OUTPUT


7.3.1 gets() function
The gets() function reads string from standard input device. A string is an array or set of characters. The
function gets( ) accepts the name of the string as a parameter, and fills the string with characters that are
input from the keyboard till newline character is encountered (that is till we press the enter key). At the
end function gets( ) appends a null character as must be done to any string and returns.
The standard form of the gets function is
gets (str)
Here str is a string variable. For example,
char str[15];
puts(enter any string:);
gets(str);
If the string entered is GREEN FIELDS ,it is stored as

G R E E N F I E L D S \0

The character \0 is appended automatically, indicating termination of string.


7.3.2 puts() function
puts() is a function that copies a string to the standard output device, usually the display screen. When we
use puts(), we include the standard input/output header file (stdio.h). puts() also appends a newline
character to the end of the string that is printed. The format string can contain escape sequences.
The standard form for the puts function is

Data Input and Output 183


puts (str)
Where str is a string variable.
Example7.2 puts("This is printed with the puts( ) function!");

Output
This is printed with the puts() function!
Example 7.3
puts("This prints on the first line. \nThis prints on the second line.");
puts("This prints on the third line.");
puts("If we used printf( ) instead of puts( ), all four lines would be on two lines!");

Output
This prints on the first line.
This prints on the second line.
This prints on the third line.
If we used printf( ) instead of puts( ), all four lines would be on two lines!

Program 7.5 Program to read and display a string

#include<stdio.h> Output:
main() Type a string less than 80
{ characters
char s[80]; the string typed is
printf (Type a string less than 80 characters); K L UNIVERSITY
gets(s);
printf(\n the string typed is\n);
puts(s);
}
7.4 FORMATTED INPUT
The formatted input refers to input data that has been arranged in a particular format. Input values are
generally taken by using the scanf() function. The scanf() function has the general form.

scanf(control string,&variable1,&variable2,.);

The control string contains format of the data being received. The ampersand symbol (&) before each
variable name is the address operator that specifies variable names address. The use of & is must in
scanf() function.

The control string also specifies the field format which includes format specifications. Each format
specification must begin with % sign followed by conversion character which indicates the type of
corresponding data item. and optional number specifying field. width.

The blanks, tabs and newlines will be real but are ignored. Multiple format specifiers can be contiguous,
or they can be separated by white space characters. If whitespace characters are used to separate the
formats, then they will be read but are ignored.

Data Input and Output 184


7.4.1 Commonly used format specifications

%c read a single character


%d read a decimal Integer
%e read a floating point value in exponential form.
%f read a floating point value
%i read a decimal, hexadecimal or octal Integer
%h- read a short integer
%x read a hexadecimal integer (Unsigned) using lower case a f
%X read a hexadecimal integer (Unsigned) using upper case A F
%o read an octal integer
%s read a string
%u read an unsigned decimal integer.
%[ character set]-read only the characters specified with in brackets when inputting string
%[^character set]- The characters specified after ^(circumflex) are not permitted in the input
string.
7.4.2 Input specifications for Integer
The general format for reading an integer number is :

%wd

Here
percent sign (%) denotes that a specifier for conversion follows
w is an integer number which specifies the width of the field of the number that is being read.
The data type character d indicates that the number to be read integer mode.

Example7.4
scanf (%3d %4d, &sum1, &sum2);

If the input is
175 1342 sum1
175 sum2
1342

175 is assigned to sum1 and 1342 to sum 2. sum1 sum2

If the input is 134 2


1342 175 .
The number 134 will be assigned to sum1 and 2 is assigned tosum2. Because of %3d first three digits of
1342 is taken and is assigned to sum1 and the remaining digit2 is assigned to the second variable sum2.
If floating point numbers are assigned then the decimal or fractional part is skipped by the computer and
scanf() skips reading further input.
Program 7.6 Program to read integer numbers using scanf()
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a,b,c,x,y,z;
printf (\n Enter three integers\n);
scanf(%3d %3d %3d,&a,&b,&c);
printf( %d %d %d,a,b,c);
}

Data Input and Output 185


Output
Suppose the input data items are entered as
12 35 45
Then the following assignments will result.
a=12 , b=35, c=45.
If the data had been entered as
212 359 458
Then the assignment would be
a=212 b=359 c=458
Now suppose that the data had been entered as
304685923
Then the assignment would be
a=304 b= 685 c=923
Finally, suppose that the data had been entered as
2385 4372 10
The resulting assignment would be
a=238 b=5 c=437
The remaining digit 2 and the number 10 would be
ignored, unless they were read by a subsequent scanf() statement.

Assignment Suppression
An input data item may be skipped without assigning it to the designated variable or array by placing *
after the % sign. For example,
scanf(%d %*d %d,&a,&b);
If the input is 123 789
123 456 789
123 assigned to a a b
456 skipped (because of *)
789 assigned to b

Program7.7 Program to read integer numbers


#include<stdio.h>
main() Output:
{ Enter three integers
int a,b,c; 12 23 45
printf (\n Enter three integers\n); 12 45 3050
scanf(%d %*d %d,&a,&b,&c);
printf( %d %d %d,a,b,c);
}

In the above example, as the second format contains the input suppression character *, the second input
item 23 is not assigned to any variable. Hence, 12 and 45 are assigned to a and b and c holds garbage
value.

7.4.3 Input specifications for floating point constants

Field specifications are not to be used while representing a real number. Therefore real numbers are
specified in a straight forward manner using %f or %e specifier. The general format of specifying a real
number input is

Data Input and Output 186


scanf (%f , &variable);
or
scanf (%e, &variable);
For example,

scanf (%f %f % f, &a, &b, &c);


321.76 4.321 678
with the input data 321.76, 4.321, 678 a b c
The value 321.76 is assigned to a, 4.321 to b & 678 to C.
If the number input is a double data type then the format specifier should be % lf instead of %f.
Similarly if the number input is a long double data type then the format specifier should be % Lf

Program 7.8 Program to read real numbers using scanf()


#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
float x,y;
double p,q;
printf(Enter values of x & y);
scanf(%f %e ,&x,&y);
printf(\nx=%f\t y= %f\n,x,y);
printf(Enter values of p & q);
scanf(%lf %lf ,&p,&q);
printf(\np=%.12lf\t q= %e,p,q);
}

Output:
Enter values of x & y 12.3456 17.5e-2
x=12.345600 y=0.175000
Enter values of p & q 4.142857142857 18.5678901234567890
P=4.142857142857 q= 1.856789e+01

7.4.4 Input specifications for single character and strings

In section 7.2.1 we have seen that a single character can be read from the terminal using getchar()
function .The same can be achieved using scanf() function also using %c format specifier or %1s
specifier The general format is %c or %1s. For example,
char ch;
scanf(%c, &ch);
Suppose the input data item is V, then the character V is assigned to ch.
If the control string contains multiple character formats same care must be taken to skip whitespace
characters in the control string. As the whitespace character is also interpreted as a data item, to skip such
whitespace characters and read the next nonwhite space character , the format %1s can be used.
Example 7.5 Consider the following program
#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
char ch1, ch2, ch3;
scanf(%c%c%c, &ch1, &ch2, &ch3);
printf(%c %c %c \n, ch1, ch2, ch3);
}

Data Input and Output 187


If the input data consists of
p q r
then the following assignments would result:
ch1=p , ch2 =<blank space> , ch3= q
We could have written the scanf function as
scanf(%c %c %c, &ch1, &ch2, &ch3);
with blank spaces seperaing the format specifier %c or we could have used original scanf statement with
the input data as consecutive characters without blanks; i.e., pqr.

A scanf() function with %wc or %ws can be used to input strings containing more than one character.
The general format is
% wc or %ws

Where c and s represents character and string respectively and w represents the field width.
scanf () function supports the following conversion specifications for strings.
%[character set] and %[^character set]
%[character set] specification means that only the characters specified with in brackets are
permissible in the input string. If the input string contains any other character, the string will be
terminated at the first occurrence of such a character.
%[^character set] specification does exactly the reverse.. i.e. The characters specified after
^(circumflex) are not permitted in the input string .The reading of string will be terminated when one of
these characters is encountered.
The address operator need not be specified while we input strings.
The specification %s terminates reading at the encounter of a white space character.
For example
char str[25]
scanf(%4c, str);
Reads characters from keyboard until the user enters a white space character. . Only first four characters
of the string will be assigned to the string variable str.
1. If the user input is
abcd ef ,the string variable str holds abcd
2. scanf(%s,str)
Read characters form keyboard and the specification %s terminates reading at the encounter of a
white space.
If the user input is abc def ,the string variable str holds abc
3. scanf(%[a-z],str);
Read characters form keyboard and terminates reading at the encounter of non alphabet.
If the user input is abc123 , the string variable str holds abc
4. scanf(%[^z],str);
Read characters form keyboard and terminates reading at the encounter of character z.
If the user input is abc123 z , the string variable str holds abc123.

Data Input and Output 188


Program 7.8 Program to read strings from keyboard
main()
{ Output:
char name1[15], name2[15], name3[15];
printf(Enter name1:\n); Enter name1
scanf(%15c,name1); K L UNIVERSITY
printf(Enter name2:\n); K L UNIVERSITY
scanf(%s,name2); Enter name2
printf(\n %15s,name2); GUNTUR DIST
printf(Enter name3:\n); GUNTUR
scanf(%15s,name3); Enter name3
printf(\n %15s,name3); DIST
}
In the above example;
string name1= K L UNIVERSITY
The specification %s terminates reading at the encounter of a blank space ,so name 2=GUNTUR
only.
Second part of name2 will be automatically assigned to name3.Hence name3wiill be printed as
DIST
Program 7.9 Program to illustrate %[ character set ] specification
main()
{ char address[80]; Output:
printf(Enter address \n); Enter address
scanf(%[a-z],address); Vijayawada 520001
printf(%s\n\n ,address); Vijayawada
}
The reading of the string is terminated when blank space is encountered. Hence the string will be
read as Vijayawada only.
Program 7.10 Program to illustrate %[ ^character set ] specification
main()
{
char address[80]; Output:
printf(Enter address \n); Enter address
scanf(%[^\n],address); Vijayawada 520001
printf(%-80s\n\n ,address); Vijayawada 520001
}

In the above example when newline(\n) is entered, reading will be terminated. Hence string
variable address will be Vijayawada 520001

7.4.5 Reading Mixed data Types


scanf() function can be used to input a data line containing mixed mode data. Care should be taken to
ensure that input data items match the control specifications in order and type
For example:
scanf(%d%c % f%s,&count,&code,&ratio,name);
If the input is
35 x 42.76 ABC
the character after 35 is space,so it is taken as value of character variable code and the character x is not
assigned to any of the variable.

Data Input and Output 189


To avoid this mistake one way is giving input without space between 35 and x i.e the input is
35x 42.76 ABC
Another way is skip the space by leaving a space in control string of scanf() function. The function
should be rewritten as
scanf(%d %c % f %s,&count,&code,&ratio,name);

7.5 FORMATTED OUTPUT


General format of printf( ) is as follows :

printf(control string,exp1,exp2,exp3,,expn);
The control string contains format of the data to be displayed and exp1,exp2,exp3,expn are output
expressions.

Control string consists of three items


1. Characters that will be printed on screen as they appear.
2. Format specifications that defines output format for display of each item.
3. Escape sequence characters such as \n, \t etc.

A simple format specification has the following form:

% flag w.p type-specifier


Where
Flag- used for print modifications - justification, padding, sign
w - is an integer specifies total number of columns for output value
p - is an integer specifies the number of digits to right of decimal part of
real number or no of characters to be printed from string
Note: flag , w , p are optional
7.5.1 Output of Integer Numbers
Format specification for printing an integer is

%wd
where
w-specifies minimum field width for the output .However , if a number is greater than specified
width it will be printed in full
d- specifies that value to be printed is an integer.
The number will be right justified
Negative numbers will be printed with sign
For example,
Format Output

printf(%d,9876); 9 8 7 6

printf(%6d,9876); 9 8 7 6

printf(%2d,9876); 9 8 7 6

printf(%-6d,9876); 9 8 7 6

printf(%06d,9876);
0 0 9 8 7 6

Data Input and Output 190


placing - sign after % causes the output left justified with in the field. Remaining field will be
blank
placing 0 before the filed width specifier causes leading blanks padded with zeros.

%2hd - output is short integer with 2 print positions


%4d - output is integer with 4 print positions
%8ld - output is long integer with 8 print positions(not 81)

7.5.2 Output of floating point constants


The output of floating point constants may be displayed in decimal notation using the following format
specification:
% w.p f
w indicates minimum number of positions that are to be used for the display of the value
p indicates number of digits to be displayed after decimal point (precision).Default precision is 6
decimal columns
The number will be right justified in the field of w columns
Negative numbers will be printed with sign
The output of floating point constants may also be displayed in exponential notation using the following
format specification: % w.p e

Let x=98.7654
Format output

printf(%7.4f,x) 9 8 . 7 6 5 4

printf(%7.2f,x) 9 8 . 7 7

printf(%-7.2f,x) 9 8 . 7 7

printf(%f,x) 9 8 . 7 6 5 4 0 0

printf(%10.2e,x) 9 . 8 8 e + 0 1

printf(%-10.2e,x) 9 . 8 8 e + 0 1

printf(%11.4e,-x) - 9 . 8 7 6 5 e + 0 1
7.5.3 Printing of single Character
A single character can be displayed in a desired position using following format specification

%wc
The character will be displayed right justified in the filed of w columns
We can make display left justified by placing - sign before the field width w
Default value of w is one
Output
Enter any character:
K
K

Data Input and Output 191


Example 7.6 K
main()
{
char ch;
printf(Enter any character:\n);
scanf(%c,&ch);
printf(\n % c,ch);
printf(\n % 5c,ch);
}
7.5.4 Printing of single strings
The format specification for outputting string is similar to that of real numbers. It is of the form
%w.ps
w specifies filed width for display
p instructs only first p characters of the string are to be displayed
The display is right justified
The following examples show the effect of a variety of specifications in printing a string
K L UNIVERSITY
Specification Output

%s
K L U N I V E R S I T Y
%20s K L U N I V E R E S I T Y

%20.5s K L U

%.5s K L U

%-20.8s
K L U N I V
%5s K L U N I V E R S I T Y

7.5.5 Mixed Data Output:


We can mix data types in one printf() statement. printf ()uses its control string to decide how many
variables to be printed and what their type are. The format specifications should match variable in number
,order, type .For example
printf(%d %f % s %c,a,b,c,d);

7.5.6 Commonly used printf() format codes


%c print a single character
%d print a decimal Integer
%e print a floating point value in exponential form.
%f print a floating point number
%g print a floating point value using either e-type or f-type, conversion depending on value. Trailing
zeros and trailing decimal points will not be displayed
%i print a decimal, hexadecimal or octal Integer
%h print a short integer
%u print an unsigned integer
%x print a hexadecimal integer (unsigned) using lower case a f
%X hexadecimal integer (unsigned) using upper case A F

Data Input and Output 192


%o print an octal integer without leading zero
%s print a string
The following letters may be used as prefixes for certain conversion characters

h for short integers


l for long integers or for double
L for long double
7.5.7 Output Format Flags

Flag Type Flag code Meaning

none
Output is right-justified
Justification
-
Output is left-justified
None Positive Value: no sign
Negative Value: -
sign
+ Positive Value: +
Negative Value: -
None
Space padding
0
Causes leading 0s to appear(Zero padding)
#(with 0 or
padding Causes octal and Hexa decimal numbers to be
0x)
preceeded by 0 or 0x,respectively
Causes a decimal point to be present in all
#(with e,f,g)
floating point numbers even for whole number.
Prevents truncation of trailing 0s in g-type

Example 7.7
Output
#include<stdio.h> Enter three integers
main() 12 34 45
{ Enter three floating numbers
int a,b,c,d; 23.456 89.1234 12.456
float x,y,z; 12 34 45
printf (\n Enter three integers\n); 00012 00034 00045
scanf(%d%d%d,&a,&b,&c); 23.46 89.12 12.46
printf (\n Enter three floating numbers:\n);
scanf(%f %f %f,&x,&y,&z);
printf( \n%5d\t %5d \t%5d,a,b,c);
printf( \n%05d\t %05d\t%05d,a,b,c);
printf( \n%-5.2f\t %-5.2f \t%-5.2f,a,b,c);

Data Input and Output 193


Example 7.8
#include<stdio.h>
main()
Output
{
Enter two integers
int a,b,;
12 -23
printf (\n Enter two integers\n);
12 -23
scanf(%d %d,&a,&b);
+12 -23
printf( \n%5d\t %5d,a,b);
00012 00-23
printf( \n%+5d\t %+5d,a,b);
printf( \n%05d\t %05d,a,b);
}
Example 7.9
#include<stdio.h>
main()
Output
{
Enter two octal integers
int a,b,c,d;
12 45
printf (\n Enter two octal integers\n);
Enter two hexadecimal integers
scanf(%o %o,&a,&b);
94 2d
printf (\n Enter two hexadecimal integers\n);
12 45
scanf(%x %x,&c,&d);
94 2d
printf( \n%o\t %o,a,b);
012 045
printf( \n%x\t %x,c,d);
0x94 0x2d
printf( \n%#o\t %#o,a,b);
printf( \n%#x\t %#x,c,d);
}

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-9 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-4: Programming with C by Byron S.Gottfried

EXERCISES
Review Questions
7.1.What will the values of each variable be after the input
command:
data input: Tom 34678.2AA4231
scanf("%s %3d %f %c %*c %1d %x",name,&m,&x,&ch,&i,&j);
name:Tom m :346 x :78.2
ch :A i :4 j :231
7.2. What output does each of these produce?
a) putchar('a');
b)putchar('\007');
c) putchar('\n');
d) putchar('\t');
e) n = 32; putchar(n);
f) putchar('\"');
7.3. For the different values of n, what is the output?
printf("%x %c %o %d",n,n,n,n);
a) n = 67 b) n = 20
c) n = 128 d) n = 255
7.4. What is wrong with each of the following statements?

Data Input and Output 194


a) scanf("%d",i);
b) #include stdio.h
c) putchar('\n');
d) puts("\tHello");
e) printf("\nPhone Number: (%s) %s",phone_number);
f) getch(ch);
g) putch() = ch;
h) printf("\nEnter your name:",name);
7.5. Which numbering system is not handled directly by the printf() conversion specifiers?
a) decimal b) binary
c) octal d) hexadecimal
7.6. Which one of the following conversion specifiers cannot be used for a number represented in binary
form in the computer?
a) %b b) %d c) %o d) %x

Comprehensive questions

7.1. Write a small program that will prompt for the input of a value for each of the following types:
%c - Yes or No
%s - Your Name
%f - Your Height
%ld - The Circumference of the Earth
%f - Your Bank Balance
%lf - The Distance from the Earth to the Moon
Read the values with scanf() and then print those values out on the display using printf().
7.2. Write a program that will prompt for the input of a temperature in Fahrenheit and will display as
output both the Fahrenheit value and the temperature converted to Celsius. Use the formula
Celsius Degrees = (Fahrenheit Degrees - 32) * 5/9
7.3. Write a program that uses scanf() and printf() statements to prompt for your first name, last name,
street, city, state and zip code. After input of the values, then print the values out with the following
format:
Name:
Street:
City:
State:
Zip:
7.4. Write a program that converts and prints a user supplied measurement in inches into
a.foot(12 inches) b. yard (36 inches)
c.centimeter (2.54/inch) d. meter (39.37 inches)

7.5. Write a program to accept three integers and to display them


with %d format specifier
with column width 5
with sign (+ or - ) as prefix
with column width 5 and left justified
with column width 5 & Padding 0s
7.6. Write a program to accept octal & hexadecimal integers and to display them
Using %o ,%x format specifiers
with column width 5
padding 0 for octal & 0x for hexadecimal

Data Input and Output 195


with column width 5 and left justified
with column width 5 & Padding 0s
7.7. Let a=6.789654,b=1.3e+02,write a C program to display the values of a &b in the following
format
Display a & b values in floating point notation with precision of 3digits
Display a & b values in exponential notation with left justified
For exercise 8 & 9 The variables count, price city declared as int ,float, char [] data type
and have the values. Count=1275, Price=235.74, City=Guntur
7.8. Show the exact output that the following statements will produce.
a. printf("%d %f ",count,price);
b. printf("%2d \n%f ",count,price);
c. printf("%d %f ", price,count);
d. printf("%10dxxxx%5.2f ", count price);
e. printf("%s", city);
f. printf("%-10d%-15s",count, city);
7.9. State what (if anything) is wrong with each of the following output statements.
a. printf(%d 7.2%f,year ,amount);
b. printf(%-s,%c\n,city,code);
c. printf(%f, %d, %s,price,city,code);
d. printf(%c%d%s\n,amout,code,year);

Data Input and Output 196


Chapter 8
STRINGS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going this chapter the reader will be able to
Use different input/output functions for string
Learn the usage of important string manipulation functions available in the header file string.h
Write his own functions for string manipulation
Learn the storage and manipulation of multiple strings.

8.1. INTRODUCTION:

String is a sequence of characters treated as a single data item.


Any group of characters(except double quotes) enclosed between double quotation marks is a
string constant.
Vijayawada ,green fields,1234 , 5 ,A are string constants

5 is integer constant and is assigned to an integer variable


5 is character constant and is assigned to a character variable.
5 is string constant and is assigned to a string variable
If the double quote is also a character of the string we may include it preceded by black slash sign.

welcome\ is a string constant

C does not support string data type . Strings in C are represented by arrays of characters.

A string is stored in an array of characters as shown below

The end of the string is marked with a special character , the null character \0 whose ASCII value is
zero.

char city [10] = HYDERABAD;

The above string is stored as


H Y D E R A B A D \0
The name of the character array city is pointer to the
beginning of the string. The compiler automatically append null character (\0) at the end of the string. The
ASCII value of the null character is zero.(null character and the null pointer are different . In the ASCII
character set , the null character is named as NUL)

Null string is represented as and it is stored as

\0

8.2. DECLARING AND INITIALIZING STRINGS

A string variable is any valid C variable name and it is always declared as an array. Hence to declare a
string variable we use character array. The general format is

Strings 197
char str[size];

Where str is a string variable and the size determines the number of characters in the string. Consider the
following array declarations

char city[10],name[20],address[25];

Where city, name and address are character arrays which can hold strings of length 9,19 and 24 characters
respectively

Initializing strings:

We can initialize a string the same way that we initialize any other variable by assigning a value to it
when it is defined. In this case the value is a string. For example

char city[10] = HYDERABAD;

If we declare city as

char city[9] = HYDERABAD;

then the null character will not be appended automatically to the character array . because , city can hold
9 characters and the string HYDERABAD has already 9 characters filling the 9 spaces.

Since a string is stored in a character array , while initializing through type declaration, size of the array
can be omitted as shown below.

char city[ ] = HYDERABAD;

In this case compiler will create an array of 10 bytes and initialize it with HYDERABAD followed by
null character

A string may be initialized as an array of characters.


char city[ ] = {H,Y,D,E,R,A,B,A,D,\0};

A character pointer may be initialized with a string.


char *city = HYDERABAD;

Since a string variable is a character array, one string variable cannot be assigned to another
string variable.
char str1[6 ] = green,str2[6];

str2 = str1;

The above assignment leads to compilation error.

When pointers are initialized with strings we can assign one string to another string.
char *str1=green,*str2;

str2=str1;

The above assignment is valid.

Strings 198
A character array cannot be initialized with a string by an assignment statement.
char city[10];

city = HYDERABAD;

The above assignment is invalid.

8.3. READING STRINGS FROM KEYBOARD

There are different methods to read a string

Using %s control with scanf()

The familiar input function scanf ( ) can be used with %s conversion specification to read string of
characters.

Example 8.1:

char city[15];

scanf(%s,city);

If the input is

VIJAYAWADA

then it is stored in the memory as given below.

V I J A Y A W A D A \0 ? ? ? ?

The \0 (null character) is appended automatically after the last character to designate the end of the
string.

Note: Thus the unused locations are filled with garbage

The problem with the scanf function is that it terminates its input on the occurrence of first white space .

Example8.2:

char city[20];

scanf(%s,city);

If the input is

GREEN FIELDS

Only first word GREEN is read and is stored in the memory as given below

G R E E N \0

Using gets() function:

gets() function is useful to read strings from the keyboard. The general syntax is

Strings 199
gets(str);

str is any valid string variable name and it will read a string of characters until enter key is pressed(i.e
until new line character is entered).

Example8.3:

char city[20];

gets(str);

If the input is

GREEN FIELDS

then the string GREEN FIELDS is stored in the memory as

G R E E N F I E L D S \0

The \0 (null character) is appended automatically at the end of the string to designate the end of the
string.

Using scan set:

The function scanf() also allows for the input of string through the scan set , which is a sequence of
characters enclosed in square brackets[] and proceeded by a % sign . The scan set causes the function
scanf() to search for the characters in the input string that matches those in the scan set. Only those
matching characters are stored in the corresponding array. The scan set operation terminates once a
character not contained in the scan set is encountered.

Example 8.4:

char str[10];

scanf(%[pqrst],str);

If the input is pqrsx

Then the string pqrs is stored in the memory as

p q r s \0

Using inverted scan set:

The inverted scan set can also be used for character input. The inverted scan set does the opposite of scan
set. This means that only characters not appearing with in the square brackets are stored inside the
character array. An inverted scan set is identified by a caret ^ with in the square brackets and preceding
the character sets

Example 8.5:

char str[20];

Strings 200
scanf(%[^\n],str);

The string entered through key board until new line character is taken and is stored in the array str.

If the input string is GREEN FIELDS

Then it is stored in the memory as

G R E E N F I E L D S \0

Using getchar() function:

A string may also be read character by character using getchar() function.

Example8.6:

char str[50];

int i=0;

while((str[i]=getchar()) !=\n)

++i;

str[i] =\0;

Note that null character(\0) must be appended explicitly in this case. We can also use any other
character in place of \n and the string will be read until that character is entered.

8.4.WRITING STRINGS TO THE SCREEN:


Using %s control with printf():
We can use printf ( )function with %s conversion to print string. The string is taken from the memory
until the occurrence of null character and is displayed. For example,

char str[ 20];

printf(%s,str);

Unlike scanf() even if the string contains white space characters entire string is displayed

Example8.7:

char str[20]=GREEN FIELDS;

printf(%s,str);

would output

GREEN FIELDS

Note that the stored string has a white space characters.

Strings 201
Using puts() function :
puts() function is useful to print/display string on the screen. The general syntax is
puts(str);

Where str is any valid string variable name.

Program 8.1 program to read and write string using gets and puts functions.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char name[20];
clrscr();
printf(enter string from keyboard\n);
gets(name);
printf(the string is\n );
puts(name);
getch();
}
The output for above program is
Enter string from keyboard
Good morning
The string is
Good morning
Program 8.2 Program to copy one string into another string
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char source[20],destination[20];
int i=0;
clrscr();
printf(enter any string from keyboard\n);
gets(source);
while((source[i] = destination[i] ) !=\0)
i++;
printf(the destination string is \n,);
puts(destination);
getch();
}
The character of the string destination are copied into the string source one by one until null character is
copied. After the null character is copied, while loop condition becomes false and control is exited from
the loop.

8.5. STRING MANIPULATION FUNCTIONS

C language supports several functions useful for string manipulation. Whenever these functions are used
the header file string.h must be included. Some of the functions are:

1. strlen(): This function returns length of a string, that is counts no of characters in the string
excluding null character. If the string is empty it returns zero. The general format of this function is

Strings 202
n=strlen(str);

Where n is an integer variable which receives the length of the string str.

Program 8.3 Program to find length of string.


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str[20];
int n;
clrscr();
printf(enter any string \n);
scanf(%s,str);
n=strlen(str);
printf(the length of string %s is %d,str,n);
getch();
}
The output for above program is

Enter any string

Welcome

The length of the string welcome is 7

2.strcat(): This function is useful to join two strings together. The general format of strcat() function is

strcat(str1,str2);

str1, str2 are two string variables. When strcat() function is executed str2 is appended to strg1 and str2
remains unchanged.

Program 8.4 Program to join two strings hello and world

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str1[20] =hello,str2[20] =world;
clrscr();
printf(the two strings before concatenation\n);
printf(the first string is %s,str1);
printf(\n second string is %s,str2);

Strings 203
strcat(str1,str2);
printf(the two strings after concatenation\n);
printf(\nthe first string is %s,str1);
printf(\n second string is %s,str2);
getch();
}

3.strcmp(): This function is useful to compare to strings. If the two strings are similar then it returns 0 ,
otherwise , it returns the difference between the ASCII values of first pair of non-matching characters.
The general syntax is

strcmp(str1,str2);

str1 and str2 may be string variables or string constants.

The returned value is

Zero if the strings are identical.

Positive if the strings are not in alphabetical order.

Negative if the strings are in alphabetical order.

Program8.5. Program to check the given strings are same or not.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
int n;
char str1[20],str2[20];
clrscr();
printf(enter any two strings\n);
scanf(%s%s,str1,str2);
n=strcmp(str1,str2);
if (n==0)
printf(two strings are same);
else
printf(strings are not same);
getch();
}

4.strcpy(): This function is useful to copy one string into another string. The general syntax is

strcpy(str1,str2);

Strings 204
The content of str2 will be copied into str1.

Program8.6: Program to copy one string into another string.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str1[20],str2[20];
clrscr();
printf(Enter the first string\n);
gets(str1);
printf(Enter the second string\n);
gets(str2);
printf(strings before copying\n)
printf(%s\t%s,str1,str2);
strcpy(str1,str2);
printf(two strings after copying\n);
printf((%s\t%s,str1,str2);
getch();
}
Program8.7 : Program to check the given string is palindrome.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str[100];
int i,n,j,flag=0;
printf(enter the string to be checked\n);
gets(str);
n=strlen(str);
for(i=0, j=n-1; i<j; ++i, --j)
{
if(str[i] != str[j])
{
flag=1;
break;
}
}
if (flag ==1)
printf(given string is not a palindrome);
else
print(given string is palindrome);
}
Using the function strlen() length of the string is obtained and is assigned to n. Initial values of i and j
are 0 and n-1 respectively, represents the first and last positions of the string. If the given string is not
palindrome, a pair of corresponding characters from the beginning and end are unequal and the loop is

Strings 205
terminated after 1 is assigned to flag, otherwise, the initial value of flag 0 is not changed.

The following are some other string functions which we commonly use in c programming language.

S.No Function name Description

1 strrev() reverses a string

2 strstr() locates a substring in a string

3 strchr() locates the first occurrence of given


character in a string

4 strlwr() converts a string into lower case

5 strupr() converts a string into upper case

1.strrev(): This function reverses the string. The general syntax is

strrev(string);
Example 8.8:

char str[10] = GREEN;


strrev(str);
printf(the reverse string is %s\n,str);

Output:

the reverse string is NEERG.

2.strstr(): This function is used to locate a sub string in a string. The general syntax is

strstr(str1,str2);
This function searches str1 to see whether str2 is contained in str1.If yes, then the function returns the
position of the first occurrence of the sub string str2 otherwise, it returns a NULL pointer.

3.strchr() This function is used to locate the first occurrence of a character in a string. The general
syntax is

strchr(str1,character);
Example 8.9:

strchr(this is an example,a);

4.strlwr(): This function is useful to convert upper case string into lower case. The general syntax is

Strings 206
String is any valid string variable which holds upper case data.
strlwr(str);
5.strupr(): This function is useful to convert lower-case data into upper-case.The
general format for this function is
strupr(str);

str" is any valid string variable , which contains lower-case data.

8.6. ARRAY OF STRINGS:

A list of names can be treated as a table of strings and two dimensional character arrays can be used to
store the entire list.

The character array str[20][15] may be used to store a list of 20 names.

Since a two dimensional array is an array of one dimensional arrays, str[0],str[1],str[2] etc represent the
pointers to first, second third etc rows of the two dimensional array str.Thus the following code can be
used to store the list of names in the two dimensional array.

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

gets(str[i]);

Similarly , the following code can be used to display the list of names.

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

puts(str[i]);

Program 8.9 Program to sort a list of names.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str[10][20],temp[20];
int n,p,i,j;
clrscr();
printf(Enter the strings one by one ,at the end of the list type END:\n);
i=0;
while(i)
{
gets(str[i]);
if(strcmp(str[i],END)==0)
break;
++i;
}
n=i;
/* sorting process begins*/
for(p= 1; p < n;pi++)
{

Strings 207
for(j = 0; j <= n-p; j++)
{
if (strcmp(str[j],str[j+1]>0)
{
strcpy(temp,str[j]);
strcpy(str[j],str[j+1]);
strcpy(str[j+1],temp);
}
}
}
printf(\n The sorted list of names is :\n);
for(i=0; i<n; i++)
printf(%s\n,str[i]);
getch();
}

This program allows the user to enter unspecified number of strings until the string END is entered. The
program will count the strings as they are entered, ignoring the last string END. Here str is a two-
dimensional character array.str[0],str[1], str[2] etc are pointers to 0th, 1st, 2nd etc rows of it, i.e they are
pointers to 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc strings entered through keyboard. strcmp( ) function used at two places: while
testing for a stopping condition, and in rearrange, to test the need for interchange of strings. The actual
interchange of strings is done through strcpy( )function.

8.7.POINTER TO STRINGS

In section 8.1 we have seen that strings are one-dimensional arrays of type char and therefore they are
declared and initialized as follows.

char str[10]=GREEN;

The compiler automatically append null character at the end of the string.

The following examples specify that how the pointers are used in string manipulation functions.

Example 8.10: Function to find length of a string using pointers

int str_len(char *p)


{
char *q=p;
while(*p != \0)
++p;
return(p-q);
}
The local pointer variable q is initialized with the address of the first character of the string. Since a string
is terminated by the null character, the while loop

while(*p!=\0)

++p;

is executed until the end of the string is reached . When the while loop is terminated, the pointer p holds
the address of the null character. Hence the expression (p-q) gives the length of the string.

Strings 208
Example 8.11: Function to copy one string to another string.
void str_cpy(char *ptr1, char *ptr2)
{
while((*ptr1 = *ptr2) !=\0)
{
++ptr1;
++ptr2;
}
return;
}
The content of the second string represented by pointer ptr2 is copied in to the string represented by ptr1
until the null character is copied.

Example 8.12: Function to concatenate one string at the end of another string.

void str_cat(char *ptr1, char *ptr2)


{
while(*ptr1 !=\0)
ptr1++;
while((*ptr1 = *ptr2) != \0)
{
++ptr1;
++ptr2;
}
return;
}
When the loop while(*ptr1!=\0)
prt1++;
is executed, ptr1 points to the null character of the first string. When the second while loop is executed,
the content of second string represented by the pointer ptr2 is appended to the first represented by ptr1
character by character until the null character is copied.

The pointer to charter is can be taken as a pointer to string

Example 8.13:

char *str[10]=EXAMPLE;

char *p=&str[0];

then p is a pointer to the string.

E X A M P L E \0

P
A character pointer may be initialized with a string constant

Char *str = EXAMPLE;

Strings 209
The address of the constant is stored in the pointer variable str . The pointer str now points to the first
character of the string EXAMPLE as:

Where p represent the address 2000 of E and p+1 ,P+2,p+3, etc.. represent the addresses (2001,2002,2003
etc..) of the characters X,A,M etc.. We can also give values to the string pointer by assigning strings
during runtime using scanf() with %s format or gets() function.

Example 8.14:

char *str;
p+1
scanf(%s,str); (or)

gets(str);

The contents of the string str can be printed using either printf() or puts() functions.

printf(%s,str); (or)

puts(str);

Here no need to use indirection operator * as str is a pointer

Strings 210
A constant character string always represents a pointer to that string Hence the following statements are
valid.

char *ptr;

ptr = GREEN FIELDS;

so the character string GREEN FIELDS; is assigned to the pointer to character str.

This type of assignment is not allowed to character array.

Example8.15:

char place[20];

place = GREEN FIELDS;

is not allowed.

Example 8.16: Function to compare two strings.

int str_cmp(char *ptr1, char *ptr2)


{
while(( *ptr1 == *ptr2) && (*ptr1 !=\0) && (*ptr2 != \0))
{
++ptr1;
++ptr2;
}
return(*ptr1-*ptr2);
}

The comparison of the strings is done until there is a mismatch or one of the strings terminated in to a null
character, whichever occurs first When the control exits from the loop the difference between the ASCII
value of the first pair of non-matching characters is returned.

Example 8.17: Function to reverse a string.

void str_rev( char *sptr)


{
char *eptr = sptr,*temp;
while( *eptr != \0)
++eptr;
for(--eptr; sptr <eptr; ++sptr,--eptr)
{
temp = *sptr;
*sptr=*eptr;
*eptr=temp;
}
return;
}
/*sptr is the pointer to first character and eptr is the pointer to the last character*/
When the loop
while(*eptr!=\0)

Strings 211
++eptr;
is executed eptr points to the null character .When it is decremented in the initial expression of the for
loop it points to the last character of the string.Initially first and last characters are interchanged and then
second and last but one characters are interchanged and so on . To access the next characters starting
pointer str is incremented by 1 and the end pointer eptr is decremented by 1 in each repetition.

Array of pointers to strings :

A list of strings can be stored in the memory in another way. For each string, a memory block is allocated
through malloc() function and the pointer to that block is stored in an array of pointers to strings . The
declaration

char *str[20];

would represent an array of pointers to strings.

The following program code can be used to allocate the memory block for each string and store the string
in that block

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

str[i]=(char * ) malloc(15*size of (char));

gets(str[i]);

The following program will illustrate the sorting a list of names using array of pointers.

Program 8.10 Program to arrange a list of names in alphabetical order using array of pointers

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char *str[20],*temp;
int i,n;
printf(Enter the number of names:);
scanf(%d,&n);
printf(Enter the names:\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
{
str[i]=(char*)malloc(15*sizeof(char));
flushall();
gets(str[i]);
}
for(p=1;p<n;++p)
for(i=0;i<n-p;++i)
if(strcmp(str[i],str[i+1]>0)
{
temp=str[i];
str[i]=str[i+1];

Strings 212
str[i+1]=temp;
}
printf(The list of names in alphabetical order :\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
puts(str[i]);
getch();
}
Note that if the strings are not in alphabetical order the pointers to the strings are interchanged rather than
the strings. This would result in the saving of execution time.

SUMMARY

A single character is assigned to 0 character variable , that is stored in the memory allocated to
a character variable .
A string is a group of characters and is stored in a character array.
Although C does not have a string data type , it allows string constant
scanf() function with %s conversion, gets[] function, scan set inverted scan set, using getchar()
function repeatedly can be used to input strings
When stored in the memory the string will be terminated by the null character \0 and is used to
identify the end of the string.
printf() function with %s conversion , puts() functions can be used for string output.
There are several library functions in the header file <string.h> for manipulations of strings
List of strings can be stored in a two dimensional character array.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-12 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-11 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by B.A.Forouzan
& Ritchard F.Gilberg.

EXERCISES

Review Questions:

8.1 Describe the limitations of getchar(), gets() and scanf() functions in reading string

8.2 Explain the feature of null character in the strings?

8.3 Can we use strings in switch statement?

8.4 How can we compare two strings?

8.5 _______ conversion specification is used in scanf() function to read a string.

8.6 _______ function does not require any conversion specification to read a string from the key board.

8.7 When reading a string with scanf() , terminating null character is automatically inserted(T/F).

8.8 When reading a string with scanf() using the conversion specification %s , stop reading when
white space character is encountered (T/F)

8.9 While concatenating two strings the function strcat() insert a space between them (T/F)

Strings 213
8.10 ______ string manipulation function is used to determine whether a character is present in a
string.

Multiple choice questions:

1. Which library function is used to append one string at the end of another string

1) strcpy 2) strstr 3) strcat 4) strcmp

2. What is the output when the following code is executed ?

#include<stdio.h>

main()

char str[]= VIJAYAWADA;

int i=0;

while(str[i]!=\0)

if(i%2==0)

printf(%c,str[i]);++i;

a) 02468 b)VJYWD c)IAAAA d)13579

3) Which of the following is true ?

a) String must have at least one character

b) String is terminated in the memory by the character \n

c) String is a group of characters enclosed between single quotation marks

d) A string is stored in a one dimensional character array.

4) Which of the following initialization is invalid ?

a) char str[10]=HELLO ; b) char str[5]=HELLO ;

c) char str[6]={H,E,L,L,O,\0} d) char str[]=HELLO

5) Which of the following is invalid string.

a) 356 b) 3 c) 3\0 d) HONRBLE

6) What is the output when the following code is executed ?

Strings 214
char str[][10]={BLUE,RED,ORANGE,GREEN,YELLOW}

puts(str[2]);

a) RED b) ORANGE c) puts(str[2]) is invalid d)Invalid initialization

7) Which of the following code is invalid ?

a) char str[10],str2[10]=HELLO; b) char str[6],str2[10]=HELLO;

strcpy(str1,str2); strcpy(str1,str2);

c) char str[10],str2[10]=HELLO; d) char *str;

str1=str2; str=HELLO;

8) What will be the output of the following statement?

printf(%d,strcmp(Rahul,Rajiv));

a)2 b)0 c)-2 d)Given statement is not correct

9) Which of the following statements will correctly store the concatenation of the strings str1 and str2 in
the str3

a) strcpy(str3,strcpy(str1,str2)); b) strcpy(str1,str2,str3);

c) strcpy(str3,strcat(str1,str2)); d) strcpy(strcat(str1,str2),str3);

10) What will be the output of the following code ?

char str[10]=GREEN;
int i=0;
while(str[i]!=\0)
{
putchar(str[i]+1);
++i;
}
a) HSFFO b)5 c)FQDDM d)Invalid code

11) What will be the output of the following code ?


char str[10]= GREEN;
while(str[i]!=\0)
{
printf(%d,str[i]);
++i;
}
a)70,8,68,68,77 b)67,69,69,75,81
c)71,82,69,69,78 d)none of these

Strings 215
Comprehensive Questions:

8.1 What are the different ways in which a single character and a string can be accepted and
displayed
8.2 Write a program to read two strings and compare them using the function strcmp() and print a
message that the first string is equal , lesser or grater than the second one
8.3 Develop a program to check given name is present in the given list or not.
8.4 Write a program to accept a list of strings and display the largest string.
8.5 Write a program to accept a string and a character and find out whether this character is present in
the string.
8.6 Write a program to find length of string including and excluding spaces.
8.7 Write a program to copy source string to destination string up to a specified length. Length is to
be entered through the keyboard.
8.8 Write a program to extract a substring of given length from a string starting from a given
position.
8.9 Write a program to delete all occurrence of vowels in a given text assume that the text length will
be of one line.
8.10 Write a program to encrypt the text INDIA the output should be KPFKC (A should be
replaced with C, B with D and C with E and so on).
8.11 Write a program which will read a text and count all occurrences of a particular word.
8.12 Write a program which will read a string and rewrite it in alphabetical order. for
example the word HELLO should be written as OLLEH.
8.13 Write a program to enter a string containing combination of capital, small, symbols and
numerical characters. Carry out separation of capitals, small, symbols and numerical by using
ASCII values from 48 to 122.
8.14 Write a program to display alphabets as given below .
az by cx dw ev fu gt hs ir jq kp lo mn nm ol pk qj ri sh tg uf ve wd xc yb za.
8.15 Given a string
char str[]=123456789;
write a program that displays the following:

1
232
34543
4567654
567898765

8.16 Write a program to display the following pattern

K
KL
KLU
KLUB
KLUB S
KLUB
KLU
KL
K

Strings 216
8.17 Write a program to convert each character of a string into the next character and print the same.

8.18 Write a function that takes a string and number between 0 and 9 as parameters and display the string
that many times and returns its length.

8.19 Write a program to read a sentence and count the number of times each of the vowels appears in it,
count the consonants separately.

8.20 Write a program to copy its input to its output,replacing each string of one or more blanks by a
single blank

8.21 Write a program to copy its input to its output,replacing each tab by \t and each backslash by \\ .

8.22 Write a program to print all input lines that are longer than 80 characters.

8.23 Write a program to remove trailing blanks and tabs from each line of input and to delete entairly
blank lines.

8.24 Write a function reverse(s) that reverses the character string s,use it to write a program that reverse
input a line at a time.

8.25 Write a program detab that replaces tabs in the input with the proper number of blanks to space to
the next tab stop. Assume a fixed set of tab stops , say every n columns.

8.26 Write a program to fold long input lines in to two or more shorter lines after the last non-blank
character that occurs before the nth column of input .

8.27 Write a function htoi(s) which converts a string of hexadecimal digits(including an optional 0x or
0X) into its equivalent integer value.The allowable digits 0 through 9 ,a through f,and A through
F.

8.28 Write a function that deletes each character in string s1 that matches any character in the string s2.

Strings 217
Chapter - 9
STRUCTURES, UNIONS AND ENUMERATED DATA TYPES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, the readers will be able to
understand the purpose of the user defined data types Structures, Unions and Enumerated data
types.
declaration of structure data types and variables.
access, initialize and process the structure members and the entire structures.
use array of structures and nested structures.
use structures as function arguments and return values.
use pointers to access structures and their members.
learn about union data types.
learn the purpose of enumerated data types.

9.0 typedef

The typedef keyword allows the programmer to create a new data type name for an existing data type. No
new data type is created but an alternative name is given to any standard data type or derived data type.
The general form of the declaration statement using the keyword typedef is

typedef <existing data type> <new data type>

We can redefine int to INTEGER with the statement shown below

typedef int INTEGER;

typedef statements can be placed anywhere in a C program as long as they precede to their first use in
the program.
The typedef identifier is traditionally coded in uppercase.
Example 9.0
typedef int MARKS;
typedef int ID_NUMBER;
typedef float HEIGHT;
typedef char UPPER_CASE;

In the first two statements typedef used to give new data type name MARKS and ID_NUMBER
respectively to the standard type int, while HEIGHT is the new name given to the data type float and
UPPER_CASE is the new name given to the data type char .
The declarations of the variables with the new data type names would be as follows:
MARKS English, physics, chemistry;
ID_NUMBER student, employee;
HEIGHT building, tower, hill;
9.1. INTRODUCTION

We have seen that arrays can be used to represent logically related data items that belong to the same data
type using a single name. However, array cannot be used to represent a collection of logically related
items belonging to different data types using a single name. To tackle this suitably, C supports a user
defined data type known as structure that can store related information of same data type or different data

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 218


types together under a single name. For example, it can be used to store the related items of different data
types : employee number, name, basic pay, da, hra, gross pay and net pay together under a single name.
Some other examples of structure are:

complex : real part, imaginary part


fraction : numerator, denominator
date : day, month, year
student : roll number, name, age, marks in three subjects
address : name, door number, street, locality, city, pin code

Each element in a structure is called a field. It has many of the characteristics of the variables that have
been used in the programs so far. It has a type, and it exists in memory. It can be assigned values, which
in turn can be accessed for selection or manipulation. The primary difference between a field and variable
is field is part of a structure.

The difference between an array and a structure is that all elements in an array must be of the same type,
while the elements in a structure can be of the same or different types.

9.2 STRUCTURE TYPE DECLARATION

There are two ways to declare a structure : tagged structure and type defined structures.

Tagged structure

A tagged structure can be used to define variables, parameters, and return types. The general syntax is

struct TAG
{
data type field1;
data type field2;
. .;
data type fieldn;
};
A tagged structure begins with the key word struct followed by TAG. The TAG is the identifier for the
structure, and it allows us to declare structure variables, function parameters and return type.field1 ,field2,
fieldn can be variables ,arrays, pointers or other structure variables. After the closing brace, if
semicolon is there no variables are declared.

Example 9.1

struct student
{
long int id_no;
char name[20];
int age;
float cgpa;
};
Type declaration with typedef

The more powerful way to declare a structure is to use a type definition typedef . The general syntax is

typedef struct
{

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 219


data type field1;
data type field2;
. .;
data type fieldn;
}TYPE;
An identifier TYPE is required at the end of the block , this identifier is the type definition name.

Example 9.2

typedef struct
{
long int id_no;
char name[20];
int age;
float cgpa;
}STUDENT;

Structure

id_no name age cgpa

STUDENT
9.3 Declaring structure variables

After a structure has been declared, we can declare variables using it. The structure variable declaration is
similar to the declaration of any other data type. The following examples will demonstrate the declaration
of structure type and the variables that use it.

Example 9.3
typedef struct
struct STUDENT
{ {
long int id_no; long int id_no;
char name[20]; char name[20];
int age; int age;
float cgpa;
float cgpa;
};
struct STUDENT first, second , third; }STUDENT;
STUDENT first , second, third;

Note that in the second form of variable declaration, the keyword struct is not required because
STUDENT is the name of the structure data type.

Remember that the fields of structure themselves are not variables. They do not occupy any memory until
they are associated with structure variables such as first, second, third. When the compiler encounters
declaration statement, it allocates memory space for the structure variables.

The declaration of structure variables can be combined with the definition of tagged structure as
shown in the following example.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 220


Example 9.4
struct STUDENT
{
long int id_no;
char name[20];
int age;
float cgpa;
}first, second, third;

If the variables are declared in the definition of tagged structure the use of tag is optional

Example9.5

struct
{
long int id_no;
char name[20];
int age;
float cgpa;
}first, second, third;
But the problem with this definition is without tag name we cannot use it for future declarations.

Initialization

We can initialize structure. The rules for structure initialization are similar to the rules for array
initialization. The initializers are enclosed in braces and separated by commas. They must match with
corresponding types in the structure definition.

Example 9.6

typedef struct
{
long int id_no;
int age;
char gender;
float cgpa;
}STUDENT;
STUDENT ex6={11000136,16,M,7.8};
In this example there is an initial value for each structure member.

11000136 16 M 7.8
Id_no age gender cgpa
If the number of initializers is less than the number of fields, like in arrays, the structure members will be
assigned null values, zero for integers and floating point numbers, and null(\0) for characters and
strings.

Example 9.7

STUDENT ex7= {11000136,16};

Since there are no initial values for gender and cgpa, they are initialized with null and zero respectively.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 221


Individual members cannot be initialized in the structure definition .The following initialization is not
valid
struct student
{
long int id_no=11000035;
char name[20]=XXX;
int age=16;
float cgpa=7.2;
};

9.4 ACCESSING STRUCTURE MEMBERS

Any field of a structure cannot be accessed directly. It can be accessed through the structure variable by
using the operator . Which is also known as dot operator or period operator. The general syntax is

<structure variable name> . <fieldname>

In example 9.3, the fields of the structure id_no, name, age and cgpa through the structure variable first
can be accessed by

first.id_no
first.name
first.age
first.cgpa
Structure members can be used in expressions like ordinary variables or array elements.
We can read data into and write data for structure members just as we can for individual variables. The
value for the members of the structure in example 9.3 can be read from the keyboard and placed in the
structure variable first using the following scanf() statement.

scanf(%d%[^\n]%d%f,&first.id_no,first.name,&first.age,&first.cgpa);

Note that the address operator at the beginning of the structure variable name.

The structure member operator . has highest priority along with the operators( ) and [ ], and the
associatively is left to right.
Increment and decrement operators can be applied to numeric type members
first.age ++;

++ first.age; are allowed.

In both cases value of the field age is incremented by 1.

Program 9.1 program to read and display the data of a student consisting of id_number, name,age and
cgpa.

typedef struct
{
long int id_no;
char name[20];
int age;
float cgpa;
}STUDENT;

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 222


#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
STUDENT first;
printf(Enter the Id number:);
scanf(%ld,&first.id_no);
printf(Enter the name :) ;
flushall();
gets(first.name);
printf(Enter the age:);
scanf(%d,&first.age);
printf(Enter the CGPA:);
scanf(%f,&first.cgpa);
printf(ID number=%ld\n,first.id_no);
printf(Name=%s\n,first.name);
printf(Age=%d\n,first.age);
printf(CGPA=%.ef\n,first.cgpa);
}
Operations on structures

Only one operation , assignment is allowed on the structure itself. That is, a structure can only be copied
to another structure of the same type using the assignment operator.

Example 9.8

Consider the definition of the structure in program 9.7

STUDENT x={11000025,xxx,16,9.1}, y={11000047,yyy,16,9.3};

y=x; /* structure x is copied to the structure y*/

Before

11000471 YYY\0 16 9.3 11000025 XXX\0 16 9.1


Id_no name age cgpa Id_no name age cgpa
a a
y x

y=x

After

11000025 XXX\0 16 9.1 11000025 XXX\0 16 9.1


Id_no name age cgpa Id_no name age cgpa
char a
y nam x
e[20
C does not permit any relational or logical operations on structures. The expressions such as
];

char
Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes
nam 223
e[20
x==y, x!=y, x&&y

are not allowed.

Program 9.2 Define a structure COMPLEX whose fields are the real and imaginary parts of a complex
number. Write a program to read two complex numbers through keyboard and find their sum.

#include<stdio.h>
typedef struct
{
float real;
float imaginary;
}COMPLEX;
void main()
{
COMPLEX z1,z2,z3;
printf(Enter the real and imaginary part of first complex number:);
scanf(%f%f,&z1.real,&z1.imaginary);
prinf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of second complex number:);
scanf(%f%f,&z2.real,&z2.imaginary);
z3.real=z1.real+z2.real;
z3.imaginary=z1.imaginary+ z2.imaginary;
printf(Sum of given complex numbers=(%.2f,%.2f)\n,z3.real,z3.imaginary);
}

9.5 ARRAY OF STRUCTURES

We can create the array of structures like array of integers. For example, to store the data of a group of
students, we can use an array of structures. By putting the data in an array,we can quickly and easily work
with the data.

Example 9.9
struct STINFO
{
int rno;
float height;
float weight;
};
strut STINFO stary[10];
stary is an array of structures of the type struct STINFO .To access the data for one student, we refer to
the array name with the subscript.

stary[0].rno, stary[1].rno, stary[2].rno etc will refer the roll numbers of first, second and third students.

stary[3].height refer the height of the 4th student

stary[4].weight refer the weight of the 5th student

Program 9.3 Create a structure to store the following details:

Roll number ,name ,marks1,marks2,marks3 and total.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 224


Write a program to read roll number, name and marks in three subjects of n students and find the total
marks of each student. Display all the above student details sorted by total marks.

typedef struct
{
int rno;
char name[20];
float marks1,marks2,marks3;
float total;
}STUDENT;
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
STUDENT stary[10],temp;
int i,n,p;
printf(Enter the number of students:);
scanf(%d,&n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
{
printf(Enter the roll number:);
scanf(%d,&stary[i].rno);
flushall();
printf(Enter the name:);
gets(stary[i].name);
printf(Enter the marks in 3 subjects:);
scanf(%f%f%f,&star[i].marks1,&stary[i].marks2,&stary[i].marks3);
}
/* To find the total marks of each students */

for(i=0;i<n;++i)
stary[i].total=stary[i].marks1+stary[i].marks2+stary[i].marks3;
/*To sort the student details on total marks */
for(p=1;p<n;++p)
for(i=0;i<n-p;++i)
if(stary[i].total<stary[i+1].total)
{
temp= stary[i];
stary[i]=stary[i+1];
stary[i+1]=temp;
}
printf(ROLL NO \t \t NAME \t \t MARKS1 \t MARKS2 \t MARKS3 \t TOTAL \n\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
printf(%d\t%s\t\t%6.2f\t%6.2f\t%6.2f\t%6.2f\n,stary[i].rno,stary[i].name,
stary[i].marks1,stary[i].marks2,stary[i].marks3,stray[i].total);
}

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 225


Note that when the total marks are not in order, the elements of the array, that is structures are
interchanged. During the interchange one structure is copied into another structure as shown in the
following program segment

{
temp=stary[i];
stray[i]=stary[i+1];
stary[i+1]=temp;
}

Structures containing arrays

Structures can have one or more arrays as members. We have already used arrays of characters inside a
structure. Similarly we can use one-dimensional or multidimensional arrays of type int or float

Example 9.10:

struct strecord
{
int rno;
float sub[6];
float total;
}stary[10];
In the above structure definition sub[6] is a field of the structure strecord.

The elements of the array sub[6] can be accessed using appropriate subscripts.

stary[0].sub[0], stary[0].sub[1], stary[0].sub[1], stary[0].sub[2] would refer to the marks of first student in
first, second ,third subjects.

stary[4].sub[5] would refer the marks of 5th student in sixth subject.

Program 9.4: Create a structure to store the following details:

Id.Number;
marks in six subjects;
total marks.
Write a program to read the Id.Number and marks in six subjects of a list of students, find the total marks
of each student, and display all the above student details in tabular form.

typedef struct
{
long int id_no;
float sub[6];
float total;
}STUDENT;
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
STUDENT stary[10];
int i,n;
i=0;

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 226


while(1)
{
printf(Enter the Id.Number at the end enter 0:);
scanf(%ld,&stary[i].id_no);
if(stary[i].id_no ==0)
{
n=i;
break;
}
printf(Enter the marks in six subjects:);
for(j=0;j<6;++j)
scanf(%f,&stary[i].sub[j]);
++i;
}
/* To find the total marks of each student */
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
{
stary[i].total=0;
for(j=0;j<6;++j)
stary[i].total=stary[i].total+stary[i].sub[j];
}
printf(ID-NUMBER \t SUB1 \t SUB2 \t SUB3 \t SUB4 \t SUB5 \t SUB6 \t TOTAL\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
{
printf(%ld\t,stary[i].id_no);
for(j=0;j<6;++j)
printf(%6.2f \t,stary[i].sub[j]);
printf(%6.2f\n,stary[i].total);
}
}//end of main

Marks in the six subjects are stored in a one dimensional array sub[6] . Marks of the (i+1) th student in
(j+1)th subject is referred by stary[i].sub[j]
The following loop is used to read the marks ith student and store in the array sub[6]
for(j=0;j<6;++j)
scanf(%f,stary[i].sub[j]);

9.6 NESTED STRUCTURES

Structure member can be another structure. When a structure includes another structure, it is a nested
structure. For example, we can have a structure called birth that stores the date and time of birth of a
baby. The DATE is a member structure that stores the day, month and year. The TIME is another member
structure that stores the hour, minute and second . The structure design is shown below.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 227


Although it is possible to declare a nested structure with one declaration it is not recommended. But it
will be more clear and easier if each structure is declared separately and then grouped in the higher level
structure

The nesting must be done from the lowest level to the most inclusive level.

The definition of the above design is given below

Example9.11:
typedef struct
{
int day;
int month;
int year;
}DATE;

typedef struct
{
int hour;
int min;
int sec;
}TIME;
typedef struct
{
DATE dob;
TIME tob;
}BIRTH;
BIRTH baby;
There is no limit to the number of structures that can be nested, normally we do not go beyond three

Referencing nested structures

The complete set of references for the structure baby are given below:
baby .dob
baby .dob.day
baby .dob.year
baby .tob
baby .tob.hour
baby .tob.min
baby .tob.sec
Nested structure Initialization

Initialization procedure for nested structure is same as the simple structure initialization. Each lower
level structure member values are enclosed in as set of braces. Definition and initialization for the
structure variable baby are shown below.

BIRTH baby={{05,06,2012},{15,30,20}};

First inner pair of braces contains values for day, month and year, and second inner pair of braces
contains the values for hour, minute and second.

Program 9.6 Program to read the roll number and date births of a list of students and display the output
sorted on date of birth.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 228


typedef struct
{
int day;
int month;
int year;
}DATE;
typedef struct
{
int rno;
DATE dob;
}STUDENT;
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
STUDENT x[10],temp;
int i,n,p;
i=0;
while(1)
{
printf(Enter the roll number, at the end enter 0:);
scanf(%d,&x[i].rno);
if(x[i].rno==0)
{
n=i;
break;
}
printf(Enter the date of birth in the format dd-mm-yy:\n);
scanf(%d-%d-%d,&x[i].dob.day,&x[i].dob.month,&x[i].dob.year);
}

/* To sort the student records on date of birth*/

for(p=1;p<n;++p)
{
for(i=0;i<n-p;++i)
if(x[i].dob.year<x[i+1].dob.year)
{
temp=x[i];
x[i]=x[i+1];
x[i+1]=temp;
}
else if(x[i].dob.year==x[i+1].dob.year)
{
if(x[i].dob.month<x[i+1].dob.month)
{
temp=x[i];
x[i]=x[i+1];
x[i+1]=temp;
}
else if(x[i].dob.month==x[i+1].dob.month)

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 229


{
if(x[i].dob.day<x[i+1].dob.day)
{
temp=x[i];
x[i]=x[i+1];
x[i+1]=temp;
}
}
}
}//end of outer for loop
printf(Rno\tDOB\n);
for(i=0;i<n;++i)
printf(%d\t\t%d-%d-%d\n,x[i].rno,x[i].dob.day,x[i].dob.month,x[i].dob.year);
}

After sorting the student records are arranged in the order of youngest to oldest.

9.7 STRUTURES AND FUNCTIONS

C supports the passing of structure members and structures to functions and return them. A function can
accesses the members of a structure in three ways:

1. Individual members of a structure can be passed through arguments in the function call and they
are treated as ordinary variables in the called function.
2. The second method is a copy of the whole structure can be passed, that is the structure can be
passed by value. Any changes to structure members within the function are not reflected in the
original structure. Therefore it is necessary to return the whole structure back to the calling
function.
3. The third method is to pass the address of a structure or member and the function can accesses
the members through indirection operator.

The following program will demonstrate the passing of structure members to a function.
Program 9.7 Program to find the modulus of a complex number.

typedef struct
{
float real;
float imaginary;
}COMPLEX;
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
float find_modulus(float x, float y);
void main()
{
COMPLEX z;
float modulus;
printf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of the complex number:);
scanf(%f%f,&z.real,&z.imaginary);
modulus=find_modulus(z.real,z.imaginary);
printf(Modulus of given complex number = %f\n,modulus);
}

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 230


float find_modulus(float x,float y)
{
return(sqrt(x*x+y*y));
}
In the above program the structure members z.real and z.imaginary are passed to the function
find_modulus through arguments. They are copied to the dummy arguments x and y.

The following program demonstrate the passing of structures by value and the function returning a
structure.
Program 9.8 Program to find the product of two given complex numbers, using a function which will
find the product
typedef struct
{
float real;
float imaginary;
}COMPLEX;
#include<stdio.h>
COMPLEX product(COMPLEX z1 , COMPLEX z2);
void main()
{
COMPLEX z1,z2,z3;
printf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of the first complex number:);
scanf(%f%f,&z1.real,&z1.imaginary);
printf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of the second complex number:);
scanf(%f%f,&z2.real,&z2.imaginary);
z3=product(z1,z2);
printf(Product=(%.2f,%.2f)\n,z3.real,z3.imaginary);
}
COMPLEX product(COMPLEX z1 , COMPLEX z2)
{
COMPLEX z3;
z3.real=z1.real*z2.real-z1.imaginary*z2.imaginary;
z3.imaginay=z1.real*z2.imaginay+z1.imaginary*z2.real;
return(z3);
}
In the above program the structure variables z1 and z2 are passed to the function by value. Within the
function product(), the product of the complex numbers is obtained and is stored in local variable z3of
the function product(). The value of z3 is returned to the called function and is assigned to the local
variable z3of main().

Passing structures through pointers

Structure can be passed through pointers. When the structure is in dynamic memory, it is common to pass
structure through pointer. Now let us rewrite Program9.8 by passing structures through pointers

Program 9.9 Passing structures through pointers.


#include<stdio.h>
typedef struct
{
float real;
float imaginary;

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 231


}COMPLEX;
void read_num(COMPLEX *pz);
void product(COMPLEX *pz1 , COMPLEX *pz2 , COMPLEX *pz3);
void print_num(COMPLEX *pz);
void main()
{
COMPLEX z1,z2,z3;
printf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of first complex number:);
read_num(&z1);
printf(Enter the real and imaginary parts of second complex number:);
read_num(&z2);
product(&z1,&z2,&z3);
print_num(&z3);
}
void read_num(COMPLEX *pz)
{
scanf(%f%f,&pzreal,&pzimaginary);
return;
}
void product(COMPLEX *pz1 , COMPLEX *pz2 , COMPLEX *pz3)
{
pz3real=pz1real*pz2real-pz1imaginary*pz2imaginary;
pz3 imaginary=pz1 real*pz2imaginary+pz2imaginary*pz2real;
return;
}
void print_num(COMPLEX *pz)
{
printf(product=(%f,%f)\n,pzreal , pzimaginary);
return;
}
The following points are to be noted in this program

1. The function read_num() is written to read the complex number. The pointers to the structure
variables z1and z2 are passed in the first and second calls of the function.
2. In the header of the function read_num() the dummy argument pz is a pointer to the structure.
3. Pointers to the structure variables z1,z2 andz3 are passed to the function product which will return
the pointer to the product of the two complex numbers z3.
4. The function print_num() is written to display a complex number.
5. To accesses the members of the structure through the pointer the indirection operator() is used,
which has the highest precedence along with . , ( ) and [ ] operators.
6. The expressions pz real and pz imaginary are used to access the values of the structure members.
7. In the expressions &pz real and &pz imaginary the operator & apply on the members real and
imaginary but not on the pointer pz.

Size of structure

The operator sizeof can be used to find the size of a defined structure data type . The expression

sizeof(struct ex)

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 232


If a is a variable of the type struct ex then the expression

sizeof(a)

would also give the same answer.

9.8 UNIONS
The union is a user defined data type that allows the memory to be shared by different types of data. The
union follows same syntax as the structure except the keywords struct and union, the formats are the
same but there is a major difference in the storage. In structure, each member has its own storage
location, where as all the members of a union share a common memory location.
Even though union contain many members in the program only one member is available at a time. The
general syntax of union declaration is

union TAG typedef union


{ {
data type member 1; data type member1;
data type member 2; data type member1;
. .
data type member n; data type member n;
}; }TAG;
A student in a section may be referred by roll number or id.number. Therefore depending on the
available data only one of them may be stored in the memory at any time. Thus a union can be defined to
allocate a common memory location for them.

Example 9.12:
union student_id
{
int rno;
long int id_number;
}x;
Both rno and id_number store at the same memory address

rno/id_number

student_id
rno/id_number
The rules for referencing a union are identical to those for structures. To reference individual fields
within the union we use the dot operator. When a union is being referenced through a pointer, the
arrow operator can be used.
x.rno and x.id_number canbe used to refer the union members rno and id_number.

Union may be initialized only with a value of the same type as the first union member. Other members
can be initialized either assigning values or reading from the keyboard.
Example 9.13

union student_id
{
int rno;
long int id_number;

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 233


};
union student_id x={35};
printf(rno=%d\n,x.rno);
printf(id_number=%ld\n,x.id_number);
The output of the above program segment is
rno=35
id_number=0
Example 9.14

union ex
{
int a ;
float b;
};
union ex x={19.75};
is invalid declaration . Because the type of first member is int , but x is initialized with float value.
When a union is defined, enough space is allocated to store the largest data type member in the
definition. In the above example the size of rno is 2 bytes and the size of id_number is 4 bytes.
Therefore 4 bytes of space is allocated regardless of what type of data is being stored.
Storage of 4 bytes
2146 2147 2148 2149

rno
id_number

During the accessing of union members we should make sure that we can access the member whose
value is currently stored.
x.rno=50;
x.id_number=11000132;
printf(%d,x.rno);
would produce erroneous output(which is machine dependent)

9.9 ENUMERATED TYPES


The enumerated type is a user defined data type based on the standard integer type. In an enumerated
type, each integer is given an identifier called an enumerated constant. We can thus use the enumerated
constants as symbolic names, which make our programs more readable.
Like standard types have identifiers(int for integer),a set of values and a set of operations , enumerated
type also will have a name, set of values and a set of operations defined on them.
Declaring an enumerated type
enum typename{ identifier 1, identifier 2,,identifier n};
Where enum is a keyword, typename is the name given to the enumerated type and identifier 1,
identifier2, ... are a set of enumerated. constants enclosed in a pair of braces.
Enumeration identifiers are assigned integer values beginning with 0. That is , the identifier 1 is assigned
0, identifier 2 is assigned 1 and so on.
Example 9.15
enum color {BLUE,GREEN,ORANGE,PURPLE,RED};
The enumerated type color has five possible values. The range of values BLUE representing the value
0,GREEN representing the value 1, ORANGE the value 2, PURPLE the value 3 and RED the value 4.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 234


The automatic assignments can be overridden by assigning values explicitly to the enumeration
constant.
Example 9.16
enum color{ BLUE=1,GREEN,ORANGE,PURPLE,RED };
Here the identifier BLUE is assigned the value 1. The remaining identifiers are assigned values that
increase successively by 1.
The explicit assignment can be made to any one of the identifier in the list
Example 9.17
enum color{ BLUE,GREEN,ORANGE=3,PURPLE,RED };
Here the identifier ORANGE is assigned the value 3. The remaining identifiers are assigned values that
increase successively by 1 in the forward direction and decrease successively by 1 in the backward
direction.

Declaring variables of enumerated type


We can declare variable of enumerated data type. The general syntax is
enum type name v1,v2,v3,vn;
The enumerated variables can have one of the values identifier 1,identifier 2, identifier n;
Example 9.18
enum color{ BLUE,GREEN,ORANGE,PURPLE,RED };
enum color foreground, background;

9.9.1 Operations on enumerated type


We can store values in enumerated type variables and manipulate them.
Assigning values to enumerated type.
Enumerated variables can be assigned values through assignment statement.
foreground=GREEN;
background=RED;
The value of one enumerated variable can be assigned to another enumerated variable.
foreground=background;

Comparing enumerated types


Enumerated types can be compared using the relational operators. Given two variables of enum type
color, they can be compared for equal, lesser than, greater than, not equal to. We can also compare
them to enumeration identifiers as shown follow:
if (foreground==background)
..
if (foreground==ORANGE)
.....
Since enumerated types are derived from integer types they can be used in switch statement.
Example 9.19
enum day {MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY,
SUNDAY};
enum day birthday;
switch (birthday)
{
case MONDAY: printf(The birthday is on MONDAY);
break;
case TUESDAY: printf(The birthday is on TUESDAY);
break;
---
}

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 235


Enumerated variable can be used as index of for loop.
for (birthday=MONDAY; birthday<=SUNDAY; ++birthday)
{

}

Input/output Operations
Since enumerated types are derived data types they cannot be read and written using the formatted
input/output functions. An enumerated type must be read as an integer and written as an integer.
enum day holiday, birthday;
scanf(%d%d,&holiday,&birthday);
printf(%d\t%d, holiday, birthday);
if the input is
12
The output is
1 2
Note that SUNDAY is a string, where as SUNDAY is an enumerated type identifier.
SUMMARY
Structure is used to pack a collection of logically related data items, possibly of different data types,
having a common name.
Each element of a structure is called a field or member.
One difference between array and structure is that all elements of the array must be of same data type
while the elements in a structure can be same or different data types.
Unlike arrays, structure data type must be defined first and will be used later for declaring structure
variables.
Structure members cannot be initialized in the structure data type definition
Structure variables can be initialized in the declaration. The rule for initialization is the same as that for
array initialization.
Structure members can be accessed using the dot(.) operator.
Structure members can also be accessed through structure pointer. For this the arrow () operator is
used.
Both the dot(.) and arrow() operators will have highest precedence along with () and [ ].
Structure members can be used in expressions like ordinary variable names or array elements.
The only operator allowed on entire structure is assignment.
The individual members or the whole structure or the pointer to the structure can be passed to a
function through arguments and a function can return a structure.
An array of structures can be declared and structure members can be arrays.
One structure can be embedded in another structure .This is called nesting of structure
A union is a structure all of whose members share the same storage.
A union can store only one of its members at a time.
An enumerated data type is a user defined data type to improve the readability of the program. It is built
on the integer data type.
An enumerated data type consists of collection of enumeration constants which are represented by
identifiers. Each identifier is given an integer value.

Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-13 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapters-12: Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by B.A.Forouzan
& Ritchard F.Gilberg.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 236


EXERCISES
Review Questions

9.1 How is a structure different from array?


9.2 How is a union different from structure?
9.3 What is the purpose of tag in structure type declaration?
9.4 What is the keyword used to define a structure data type?
9.5 What is the keyword used to define union data type?
9.6 Can we declare structure variable in the structure definition?
9.7 Is the tag of a structure mandatory?
9.8 Can the structure contain members of the same data type?
9.9 Can we use pointers to access the members of a structure?
9.10 Can a function return a structure?
9.11 Can we copy one structure to another structure?
9.12 Can we compare two structures using == operator?
9.13 Will type definition create a new data type?
9.14 Can we declare array of structures?
9.15 An array cannot be a member of a structure(T/F)
9.16 A structure cannot be a member of another structure(T/F)
9.17 Structure variables can be initialized in the declaration(T/F)
9.18 ________ operator is used to access the members of a structure?
9.19 ________ operator is used to access the members of a structure through its pointer?
9.20 Can we initialize the members of a structure in the structure definition?
9.21 Can a structure be member of a union?
9.22 Can a union be member of a structure?
9.23 Is structure a fundamental data type?
9.24 Any member of union can be intialized in the declaration of structure variable(T?F)
9.25 What is the error in the following structure definition?
struct
{
int a;
float b;
}

9.26 What is the error in the following structure definition?


struct ex
{
int a=5;
float x=3.75;
char ch=?;
};
9.27 Find the error in the following code?
struct ex
{
int a;
char b;
} ex x[10];
9.28 Find the error in the following code?
struct ex

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 237


{
int a;
char b;
};
struct ex x=10, *;
9.29 Is there any error in the following code?
struct ex1
{
int a;
float b;
};
struct ex2
{
double a;
char ch;
}
struct ex1 p;
struct ex2 q;
9.30 Find the error in the following code?
struct ex
{
int a;
float b;
};
void main()
{
struct ex p = {10,3.5},
struct ex q = {8,3.5};
if (p==q)
printf(The structures are equal\n);
else
printf(The structures are not equal\n);
}
Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the output when the following code is executed?


struct s
{
int i;
float f;
} x;
void main()
{
x.i=10;
x.f=14.5;
printf(i=%d; f=%f\n,x.i,x.f);
}
a) i=10, f=14.500000

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 238


b) error in the program as the structure members cannot be initialized through assignment statement
c) 10, 14.50000
2. What is the output when the following program is executed?
(Assume that the program is run on a 16 bit machine)

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
struct ex
{
int a;
float b;
char ch;
};
printf(No of bytes allotted for the structure=%d, sizeof(struct ex));
}
a) No of bytes allotted for the structure = 3
b) No of bytes allotted for the structure = 7
c) No of bytes allotted for the structure = 8
d) No of bytes allotted for the structure = 12
3. Consider the following declaration
struct ex
{
int rno;
char name[20], gender;
float height;
};
struct ex p;
How many bytes of space is allotted for the structure variable p if the program is run on a 16 bit
machine.
a) 4 b) 24 c) 27 d) 28
ANSWERS:

9.1)a 9.2)b 9.3)c

Comprehensive Questions

9.1 Explain the structure data types in C?


9.2 Explain how structures are passed to a function through arguments?
9.3 Define a structure with the following address fields: street, block, area, country. Write a program to
conduct search for an address based on any of these fields.
9.4 Create a structure to store the following employee details: employee number, designation, gender,
basic pay, da, hra, deductions, gross pay, net pay. Given the employee number, designation, gender,
basic pay, da rate, hra rate and deductions, write a program to calculate gross pay and net pay.
9.5 Define a structure POINT where members are the coordinates of a point in a plane. Write a
function that receive the coordinates of two points from the calling function and return the distance
between them. Write another function that return the coordinates of the midpoint. Write the
function main which accepts the coordinates of two points from keyword and option to perform the
specified operation by calling one of the two functions.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 239


9.6 Define a structure TIME with the following fields: hours, minutes and seconds. Write a function
that returns a time structure containing the time elapsed between two parameters. You must handle
the case when the start time is in the previous day.
9.7 Define a structure COMPLEX whose fields are the real and imaginary parts of a complex numbers.
Write a function that returns the quotient of two parameters. Call this function in main to divide one
complex number by another complex number. You must handle the case when the denominator is
zero.
9.8 Define a structure POINT whose members are the coordinates of a point in a plane. Write a
function that accepts the structure representing a point and return an integer (1,2,3 or 4) that
indicates in which quadrant the point is located.
9.9 Define a structure DATE with the fields: day, month and year. Write a function that will increment
the date by one day and return the new date. If the date is the last day in the month, the month field
must be incremented by one. If the month is December, the value of the year field must be changed
when the day is 31. Also check for the leap year.
9.10 Define a structure DATE with the fields: day, month and year. Define another structure STUDENT
whose fields are roll number, name, height and date of birth which is a structure of the type DATE.
Write a program to read and display the information.
9.11 Define a structure COMPLEX whose fields are real and imaginary parts of a complex number.
Write a function that receives the pointers to two complex numbers through arguments and return
pointer to the sum of the two complex numbers. Write the corresponding calling function main()
also.
9.12 Define a structure CRICKET whose fields are name of the player, number of innings played, total
runs scored and bating average. Using CRICKET declare an array x with 50 elements and write a
program to read the name, number of innings and total runs scored by each of the 50 players, and
find the batting average. Display all the 50 players details sorted by batting average in tabular from.
9.13 Define a structure FRACTION whose fields are the numerator and denominator of a fraction. Write
a function that will accept two fractions through arguments, return 0 if the two fractions are equal,
1 if the first fraction is less than the second, and 2 other wise.

Structures Unions and Enumerated Datatypes 240


Chapter 10
FILE PROCESSING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter the reader will be able to
understand the need of data file.
learn the operations on files.
use different data input/output functions on files.
write simple programs for creating a data file, reading data from the file for processing and
display.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
What is a file?
With any C program there are two major operations between the user and the program which are
To send data (input)into the program and
To get results data (output) from the program

So far we have done these two operation using the following input/output functions

scanf( ) printf( )
Input functions Output functions
getchar( ) putchar( )
gets( ) puts( )
.. ..

For example the following program reads input data and prints the out data

File Processing 241


In the above program the data that is input through keyboard and that is output on the screen is
temporary, because the data is stored in main memory. So whenever the application is closed or the
system is switched off the entire data on main memory is lost. So it is not possible to see the data in
future. Since these I/O functions use keyboard and screen, these functions are console oriented I/O
functions. Using these functions it is not possible to store data permanently in the system.
But in real application like student database, employee database and bank data, it is required to store data
permanently in the system. It is possible to store data permanently in the system by using secondary
memory. The console I/O functions do not support to handle data with secondary memory.
It is therefore necessary to have a flexible approach to operate input and output operations between a file
in secondary memory and the program. This can be achieved by using FILE concept.
For example assume that two files INPUT.DAT and RESULT.DAT in secondary memory and the
input/output operations between these files and the program shown as follows.

INPUT.DAT Example2.c RESULT.DAT

5 7 10 11 13 14 #include<stdio.h> x=5
void main( )
{ FILE *fp1, *fp2;
int x;
fp1=fopen(INPUT.DAT, r);
Input fp2=fopen(RESULT.DAT, w); Output
(from the file) f scanf(fp1, %d, &x ); (To the file)
fprintf(fp2, \n x=%d, x);
}

where
fscanf( ) is file input function used to read data from the file to the program
fprintf( ) is file output function used to write data to the file from the
program

With this explanation we can define a file


A file is some reserved space on the disk where a group of related data is stored permanently in the
system.
Example 10.1: Student data input with the file name STUDENT.IN

STUDENT.IN
RNO NAME SUB1 SUB2 SUB3
10 Ramu 18 15 16
11 Gopi 20 18 15

Example 10.2: Student data output with the file name OUTPUT.DAT

OUTPUT.DAT
RNO NAME SUB1 SUB2 SUB3 TOTAL AVG
10 Ramu 18 15 16 49 16.33
11 Gopi 20 18 15 53 17.67

File Processing 242


10.2 FILE OPERATIONS
The different basic file operations are
Naming a file
Creating / Opening a file
Closing a file
Writing data to a file
Reading data from a file
C supports a number of functions that have the ability to perform basic file operations, which includes:

10.2.1 Creating a new file / Opening an existing file


To create a new file or to open an existing file the function fopen( ) is used.
fopen( ) is a file function used to create a new file or to open an existing file. Its general form is

fp = fopen ( filename, mode );

where
fp is a file pointer which is of structure data type FILE defind in stdio.h
The general syntax to declare the file pointer is

FILE *file-pointer;
For example,
FILE *p1, *p2, *fp;
filename is the name of the file and is a string of characters that make up a valid filename for the
operating system. It may contain two parts, a primary name and an optional period with the extension.
For example,
input.data
STUDENT.DAT
RESULTS.OUT
mode specifies the purpose of opening the file. The mode of the file may be one of the following
w -- open a new file for writing data
r -- open an existing file for reading data
a -- open an existing file for appending data to it
r+ -- open an existing file for both reading and writing data
w+ -- same as w except both for reading and writing
a+ -- same as a except both for reading and appending

File Processing 243


Example10.3: Create a new file STUDENT.IN for writing

#include<stdio.h> fp STUDENT.IN
void main( )
{
FILE *fp;
fp = fopen( STUDENT.IN, w );


}
A new file with the name STUDENT.IN is created. If the file already exists, contents of the file are
deleted.
Example10.4: Open an existing file STUDENT.IN for data reading

#include<stdio.h>
void main( ) fp STUDENT.IN
{
FILE *fp;
fp = fopen( STUDENT.IN , r );


}
An existing file with the name STUDENT.IN is opened for reading data. If the file does not exist an
error will occur.
Example10.5: open the file STUDENT.IN for appending data

#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{ fp STUDENT.IN
FILE *fp;
fp = fopen( STUDENT.IN , a );


}
An existing file with the name STUDENT.IN is opened for appending data to it .If the file does not
exist a new file with the name STUDENT.IN is opened.

10.2.2 Closing a file


A file must be closed as soon as all operations on it have been completed. The function fclose() is used to
close the file that has been opened earlier.

fclose( ) is the counterpart of fopen( ). Closing file means delinking the file from the program and saving
the contents of the file. Its general form is
fclose(fp);

This would close the file associated with the file pointer fp.

File Processing 244


Example10.6
#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{
FILE *p1 *p2;
p1=fopen (Input,w);
p2=fopen (Output,r);
.

fclose(p1);
fclose(p2);
}
In the above example two files are opened and will be closed after all operations on them have been
completed. Once a file is closed its file pointer can be used to open another file.

10.3 FILE INPUT/OUTPUT FUNCTIONS


Input to a program may be through keyboard or from a file and output is to the screen or to a file.
Programs using files may involve the combinations of these different input/output operations and shown
as follows:

INPUT.DAT RESULT.DAT

5 7 10 11 13 14 Example1.c x=5

#include<stdio.h>
void main( ) Output
Input { (To the file)
(Through file) . fputc(), fputs(), fprintf()
fgetc(), fgets(), fscanf() .
.
.
Input data Output data
}
(Through keyboard) (On the screen)
getchar(), gets(), scanf() Putchar(), puts(), printf()

After a file is opened, we can read data stored in the file or write new data to it depending on the mode of
opening. C standard library supports a good number of functions which can be used for performing I/O
operations. File I/O functions are broadly classified into two types.
1. High level file I/O functions
2. Low level file I/O functions
High level file I/O functions are basically C standard library functions and are easy to use. Most of the C
programs handling files use these because of their simple nature. Low level file I/O functions are file
related system calls of the underlying operating system. These are relatively more complex in nature
when compared to high level file I/O functions but efficient in nature. The following are the high level
file I/O functions
Character data oriented functions
String data oriented functions
Mixed data oriented functions

File Processing 245


`10.3.1 Character data oriented functions
fputc( ) : This function is used to write a single character to a file. Its general form is
fputc( character/char-variable, fp);

Where the character/char-variable represents a character and fp is a pointer to the FILE. The function
writes the character or content of char-variable to the file pointed by fp.

Program10.1: Program to create a text file named TEXT.DAT

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fp;
char ch;
fp=fopen(TEXT.DAT,w);
if(fp==NULL)
{
printf(file is not opened\n);
exit(0);
}
while((ch=getchar())!=EOF)
fputc(ch,fp);
fclose(fp);
}
Text is read character by character from the keyboard and is written to the file. The end of the text is
indicated by entering an EOF character, which is control-Z in the DOS environment.(this may be control-
D on other environments).After the EOF is encountered the file is closed.

fgetc( ) : This function is used to read a single character from a file. Its general form is

char-variable = fgetc( fp);


The function reads a character from the file denoted by fp and returns the character value, which is
collected by the char-variable.

Program10.2: A file named TEXT.DAT is on the disk. Write a program to read the text from the file
and display the text on the monitor after converting to upper case.

File Processing 246


#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<ctype.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fp;
char ch;
fp=fopen(TEXT.DAT,r);
if(fp==NULL)
{
printf(Unable to open the file);
exit(0);
}
printf(The text stored on the disk after converting to upper case is \n);
while((ch==fgetc(fp))!=EOF)
putchar(toupper(ch));
fclose(fp);
}
The file TEXT.DAT is opened for reading. The text is read character by character ,converted to upper
case and is displayed on the screen. Reading is terminated when fgetc() encounters the end of file mark
EOF.

Program10.3:A file named INTEXT contains a text .Write a program to copy the text from this file to
the file OUTTEXT.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
File *fp1,*fp2;
char ch;
if((fp1=fopen(INTEXT,r))==NULLl)
{
prinf(Unable to open the file INTEXT\n);
exit(0);
}
if((fp2=fopen(OUTEXT,w))==NULL)
{
printf(Unable to open the file OUTTEXT\n);
exit(1);
}
while((ch=fgetc(fp1))!=EOF)
fputc(ch,fp2);
fclose(fp1);
fclose(fp2);
}

Program10.4: Program to count the number of words in a text stored in a file. Words are separated by
one or more whitespace characters i.e. by a space, a tab or a new line.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
FILe *fp;

File Processing 247


char curch;infile[20]; //curch represent the current character
int nw=0,flag=0;
printf(enter the name of the file containing text:\n);
gets(infile);
if((fp=fopen(infile,r))==NULL)
{
printf(Unable to open the file\n);
printf(\n);
}
while((curch=fgetc(fp))!=EOF)
{
if(curch== ||curch==\t||curch==\n)
flag=0;
else
{
if(flag==0)
{
nw++;
flag=1;
}
}
}
printf(the number of words=%d\n,nw);
}
The variable flag is used to identify the previous character. If flag=0,previous character is white space
otherwise it is not white space. Previous character is white space and current character is non-white space
indicate the beginning of a word and hence word count nw is incremented by one.
Program 10.5 Program to count number of characters and lines in a text stored in a file.
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int nc=0,nl=0;
FILE *fp;
char curch,prech; //curch represent current character
if((fp=fopen(TEXT,r))==NULL) //prech represent previous character
{
print(unable to open the file\n);
exit(0);
}
while((curch=fgetc(fp))!=EOF)
{
if(curch!=\n)
++nc;
else
++nl;
prech=curch;
}
if(prech!=\n)
++nl;
printf(number of characters=%d\n,nc);
printf(number of lines=%d\n,nl);

File Processing 248


fclose(fp);
}
The variable curch represent the character read in and prech represent the previous character. The variable
prech is used to know whether the text ends with new line. If it does not end with new line after the
control exits from the loop nl must be incremented by1 to count the last line of the text.
The statement
if(prech!=\n)
++nl;
is written for this purpose.

10.3.2 String data oriented functions


fputs( ) : This function is used to write a string to a file. Its general form is.

fputs( string/string-variable, fp);


Where the string/string-variable represents a string constant and fp is a pointer to FILE. The function
writes the string or content of string-variable to the file pointed by fp. Also, fputs() does not add a new
line to the end of the string. It must be included explicitly.
Program10.6: Program to create a file for writing strings to it using fputs( )
#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{ DATA.IN
FILE *fp;
char str[] = NEW ;
fp = fopen(DATA.IN , w );
fputs(str , fp); NEW
fputc(\n,fp);
fputs(OLD , fp);
OLD
fputc(\n,fp);
fputs(OLD OLD, fp);
fputc(\n,fp); OLD OLD
fclose(fp);
}

The function fputs() writes the content of string variable str first and then the strings OLD and OLD
OLD to the file
fgets( ) : This function is used to read a string from a file. Its general form is

fgets(string-variable , n, fp);
The function reads a string of n-1 characters from the file pointed by fp and returns the string value,
which is collected by the string-variable.

It will stop reading when any one of the following conditions is satisfied
It has read(n-1)characters
It encounters a new line character
It reaches the end of file
A read error occurs

fgets() automatically appends a null character to the string read.

File Processing 249


Program10.7 Program to read strings from a file using fgets( ).
#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{
FILE *fp;
DATA.IN char str1[ ], str2[ ];
fp = fopen(DATA.IN , r );
NEW fgets(str1, fp);
puts(str1);
fgets(str2, fp);
OLD puts(str2);
fclose(fp);
}
Initially the string NEW is read and stored in string variable str1 and next the string OLD is read
and stored in string variable str2.then theyare displayed on the screen.

10.3.4 Mixed data oriented functions

fprintf( ) :The function is used to write multiple data items which may (or may not) be of different
types to a file. Its general form is.

fprintf( fp,control-string, arg1, arg2, arg3,);


Where fp is a pointer to the file, control-string contains output specifications for the data to be written
and arg1, arg2 are the arguments list. The function writes the data values of arg1, arg2 to the file
pointed by fp.

Program10.8: Program to write student details to a file using fprintf( )

#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
{ STUDENT.IN
FILE *fp; 25 RAMU 450
char name[30] = RAMU;
int rollno = 25;
float total_marks = 450;
fp = fopen(STUDENT.IN , w );
fprintf( fp, \n%d\t%s\t%f, rollno, name, total_marks);
fclose(fp);
}

The contents of rollno, name and total_marks are written to the file pointed by fp.
fscanf( ) :- This function is used to read multiple data items which may be of different types from a
file. Its general form is

fscanf( fp,control-string, v1, v2, v3,);

The function reads data values in a given format from the file pointed by fp and returns the data values,
which are collected by the variable list.

File Processing 250


Program 10.9: Program To read student data from the file STUDENT.IN using fscanf()
#include<stdio.h>
void main( )
STUDENT.IN {
FILE *fp;
25 RAMU 450 char name[30];
int rollno;
float total_mark ;
fp = fopen(STUDENT.IN , r );
fscanf( fp,%d%s%f, &rollno,name,&total_marks);
fclose(fp);
}
The data values from the file STUDENT.IN are read and the values are collected by rollno, name and
total_marks respectively.

10.4 PROGRAMS USING FILES

Example program on getw() and putw() functions

Program10.10: Program to read integers through key board and write to the file DATA. Later read the
integers from the file DATA, and write even numbers to the file EVEN and odd numbers to the file
ODD. Read data from the files EVEN, ODD and display on the screen

#include< stdio.h >


main()
{
FILE *f1,*f2,*f3;
int number,i;
printf(Contents of the data file\n\n);
f1=fopen(DATA,w);
for(i=1;i< 30;i++)
{
scanf(%d,&number);
if(number==-1)
break;
putw(number,f1);
}
fclose(f1);
f1=fopen(DATA,r);
f2=fopen(ODD,w);
f3=fopen(EVEN,w);
while((number=getw(f1))!=EOF) /* Read from data file*/
{
if(number%2==0)
putw(number,f3); /*Write to EVEN file*/
else
putw(number,f2); /*write to ODD file*/
}
fclose(f1);
fclose(f2);
fclose(f3);

File Processing 251


f2=fopen(ODD, r);
f3=fopen(EVEN, r);
printf(\n\nContents of the ODD file\n\n);
while((number=getw(f2))!=EOF)
printf(%d,number);
printf(\n\nContents of the EVEN file);
while((number=getw(f3))!=EOF)
printf(%d,number);
fclose(f2);
fclose(f3);
}

Program10.11: Program to read inventory data; item, number, price and quantity for three items and
writes the data to the file. Later read the data from the file and display on the screen with total value.

/*Program to handle mixed data types*/


#include< stdio.h >
main()
{
FILE *fp;
int num,qty,i;
float price,value;
char item[10],filename[10];
printf(Input filename);
scanf(%s,filename);
fp=fopen(filename,w);
printf(Input inventory data\n\n);
printf(Item_name, number, price and quantity\n);
for i=1; i< =3; i++)
{
scanf(%s%d%f%d, item, &number, &price, &quality);
fprintf(fp,%s\t%d\t%f\t%d, item, number, price, quality);
}
fclose (fp);
fp=fopen(filename,r);
printf(\nItem_ name \t Number \t Price \t Quantity \t Value);
for(i=1;i< =3;i++)
{
fscanf(fp,%s%d%f%d,item,&number,&prince,&quality);
value=price*quantity;
printf(\n%s \t %d \t %f \t %d \t %d,item, number, price, quantity, value);
}
fclose(fp);
}

Program10.12: Define a structure emp with members as empno, name and salary. Write a program to
read information for n number of employees and write this data to the file EMP.DAT. Later read the
data from the file and display on standard output

#include<stdio.h>

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struct emp
{
int empno;
char name[30];
float salary;
}
void main( )
{
int n,i;
FILE *fp;
struct emp e;
fp = fopen(EMP.DAT, w);
printf(\nEnter number of employees:);
scanf(%d, &n);
printf(\n Enter empno, name and salary for %d number of employees:\n, n);
for(i=0; i<n; ++i)
{
scanf(%d%[^\n]%f, &e.empno, e.name, &e.salary);
fprintf(fp, \n%d\t%s\n%f, e.empno, e.name, e.salary);
}
fclose(fp);
fp=fopen(EMP.DAT, r);
printf(\nContents of the file EMP.DAT);
while(!feof(fp))
{
fscanf(fp, %d%[^\n]%f, &e.empno, e.name, &e.salary);
printf(\n%d\t%s\t%f, e.empno, e.name, e.salary);
}
fclose(fp);
}

SUMMARY
Real life situations involve large volume of data and in such cases the console oriented I/O operations
pose two major problems. It becomes cumbersome and time consuming to handle large volumes of data
through terminals. The entire data is lost when either the program is terminated or computer is turned off.
Therefore, it is necessary to have more flexible approach where data can be stored on the disks and read
whenever necessary, without destroying the data. This method employs the concept of files to store data.

The concept of files enables us to store large amount of data permanently on the secondary storage
devices. A defined data type FILE is used to represent a file within program. It acts as an internal file
name for a file. Before performing any operation over a file, it has to be opened. The purpose of the
opened file may be for writing data or reading data or may be for appending data to the file. Once the
intended operation is over the file has to be closed.
The file input/output operations are by using the functions fgetc( ), fputc( ) which are the character
oriented file I/O functions, fgets( ),fputs( ) are the string oriented functions and fscanf( ) and fprintf() are
the mixed data oriented functions.
Suggested Reading:

1. Chapter-14 : C for Engineers and Scientists by Harry H.Cheng.


2. Chapter-2 : Chapters-13 : Computer Science- A Structured Programming approach using C by
B.A.Forouzan & Ritchard F.Gilberg.

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EXERCISES
Review Questions
10. 1 What is a file? Why do we need to store data in files?
10. 2 What are the most commonly performed operations on files?
10. 3 What are the different modes of opening a file?
10. 4 What is the difference between w and a?
10. 5 Mention character oriented file I/O functions and syntax of their usage
10. 6 Explain the syntax and usage of fprintf( ) and fscanf( )
10. 7 File is a named storage on the secondary storage device (TRUE / FALSE)
10. 8 A file should be first opened before performing any operation (TRUE / FALSE)
10. 9 When a file is opened in w mode, the previous contents remain intact (TRUE / FALSE)
10. 10 When a file is opened in a mode, the previous contents are lost(TRUE / FALSE)
10. 11 Identify the error
a) FILE fp;
fp = fopen(text.dat, w);
b) FILE *fin;
fin = fopen(text.dat, r );
c) FILE *fp1, *fp2;
fp1 = fopen(text.dat, w); fp2 = fopen(text.dat, r);
d) #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
FILE *fp1;
char c;
fp=fopen(infile.txt,r); fclose(infile);
}
10. 12 Distinguish between fgetc()and getchar() functions
10. 13 Distinguish between printf() and fprintf() functions
10. 14 What is the significance of EOF
Comprehensive Questions
10. 1 Define a file.Explain any five operations on files.
10. 2 Write a program using a for loop to put the following numbers to a file named record.dat.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. 3 Write a program to read the file record.dat created in the above problem and print its contents to
the standard output.
10. 4 Write a program to count the number of characters in a text file.
10. 5 A file contains a list of names. Write a program to sort the names read from the file and
display them.
10. 6 What are the three steps followed while accessing a file? Write a program to convert the case of
alphabets in a text file. Upper case letters should be converted to lower case and vice versa.
10. 7 Write a program to read student data consisting of Id.No, Name and marks in six subjects from
the keyboard , write it to a file called INPUT, again read the same data from the file INPUT, and
find the total and percentage marks of each student. Display the output in tabular form.
10. 8 Write a program that accepts inventory details item name, number, price and quantity, stores
them in a file and display the data on the screen.
10. 9 Write a program that reads an input text file and tabulate the number of times that each of the 128
ASCII characters appears.

File Processing 254

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