First Year Engineer in computer science

CHAPTER 11:

Strings

2023-2024 Sid Ahmed BERRABAH

Definition
2

● A string is a sequence of characters enclosed in double quotes

"".

Example: "this is a string".

● A variable of string type in the C language is an array of

characters (char) whose last character is the null character (\0).
Initializing a string
3

● A string can be initialized in the traditional way with a list of

constants:

char message[6] = {'h','e','l','l','o','\0'};

● C also offers the ability to initialize a string using a literal string

directly:

char message[6] = "hello";

The compiler automatically adds the null character at the end of

the string. The array must have at least one element more than the
number of characters in the literal string.
Initializing a string
4

● The declared size for the array can be larger than the size of the
string (it's the null character that specifies the end of the string to
the program).

char message[100] = "hello";

Only the first 6 characters of the message variable are used.

● It is also possible to not specify the size of the array. In this case,
the compiler will automatically allocate the correct size for the
array, including the null character.

char message[] = "coucou"; //allocates 7 bytes

● You can also use a pointer to a literal string
char *message = "this is a string";
Strings: Pointers vs Arrays
5

Example : char message[100];

message = "hello"; // error: not allowed

At runtime, message is converted to a constant char pointer that

contains the address of the first element of the array. The
instruction message = "hello"; tries to assign the address of the
beginning of the string to message, which is impossible (since it is
constant).

● On the other hand, the following example is perfectly legal:

char *message;
message = "hello";
This is because the char pointer message receives the address of
the beginning of the string "hello" that the compiler placed
somewhere in memory when it was created.
Strings: Pointers vs Arrays
6

● a string literal is constant and cannot be modified :

char *s1, s2[] = "message";

s1 = "hello";
s1[0] = 'H'; // ERROR not allowed
s2[0] = 'M'; // Correct
Read and write strings
7

● scanf
char str[10];
scanf("%s", str);
In the above code, the function scanf() reads a sequence of
characters from the keyboard and stores them in the array str and
automatically adding a null character at the end of the string. The %s
format specifier tells scanf() to read a string.

The reading stops when a delimiter (space or newline) is encountered.

Therefore, scanf cannot read a string starting with a space or

containing a space.
scanf only works with an array (or a pointer initialized by
malloc). The memory space must be reserved to
accommodate the string.
Read and write strings
8

Notes:
● The scanf() function can cause a buffer overflow if the user enters
more characters than the array can hold.
In the example
char str[10];
scanf("%s", str);
the array str is declared with a size of 10 characters. If the user
enters a string of 11 characters, the excess character will be placed
after the end of the array. This could overwrite other data in memory.
To prevent buffer overflows, it is important to generously reserve the
space needed to store the string. In the example above, the array str
could be declared with a size of 255 characters. This would ensure
that there is enough space to store any string that the user might
enter.
Read and write strings
9

● printf :
To display a string with printf, you can use the %s format

Example :
char s[100] = "good morning!";
printf("s = %s", s);
will output:
s = good morning!

It should be noted that printf cannot know the length of the string. It
only knows the start address of the string s (which is equal to &s[0])
and displays all the characters in the string until it encounters a null
character (\0)..
Read and write strings
10

● printf :
It is possible to use a string variable instead of the literal string of the
printf as in this example:

char s1[100] = "an example";

char s2[100] = "s1 = %s";
printf(s2, s1);
Displays:
s1 = an example
Read and write strings
11

● What do the following codes display?

1)
int main()
{
char *s;
s = "Good morning";
printf("%s\n", s);
s = "Sir !";
printf("%s\n", s);
}
Read and write strings
12

● What do the following codes display?

1)
int main()
{
char *s;
s = "Good morning";
printf("%s\n", s);
s = "Sir !";
printf("%s\n", s);
}

Good morning
Sir !
Read and write strings
13

● What do the following codes display?

1) 2)
int main() #define NB_CHAR 100
{ int main()
char *s; {
s = "Good morning"; char *s;
printf("%s\n", s); s1 = malloc(NB_CHAR * sizeof(char));
s = "Sir !"; scanf("%s", s);
printf("%s\n", s); printf("%s\n", s);
} }

Good morning enter : hello world !

Sir !
Read and write strings
14

● What do the following codes display?

1) 2)
int main() #define NB_CHAR 100
{ int main()
char *s; {
s = "Good morning"; char *s;
printf("%s\n", s); s1 = malloc(NB_CHAR * sizeof(char));
s = "Sir !"; scanf("%s", s);
printf("%s\n", s); printf("%s\n", s);
} }

Good morning enter : hello world !

Sir ! hello
Read and write strings
15

● What do the following codes display?

3) int main() {
char *s = "hello world !";
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
putchar(s[i]); //printf("%c",s[i]);
printf("\n");
i = 0;
while(s[i] != '\0')
putchar(s[i++]);
printf("\n");
i = 0;
while(s[i])
putchar(s[i++]);
}
Read and write strings
16

● What do the following codes display?

3) int main() { hell

char *s = "hello world !"; Hello world !
int i; Hello world !
for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
putchar(s[i]); //printf("%c",s[i]);
printf("\n");
i = 0;
while(s[i] != '\0')
putchar(s[i++]);
printf("\n");
i = 0;
while(s[i])
putchar(s[i++]);
}
Read and write strings
17

● Exercise : modify the previous program using only pointers.

Read and write strings
18

● Exercise : modify the previous program using only pointers.

3) int main() {
char *s = "hello world !";
char *p;
for (p=s; p < s+4; p++)
putchar(*p); //printf("%c",*p);
printf("\n");
p = s;
while(*p != '\0')
putchar(*p++);
printf("\n");
p = s;
while(*p)
putchar(*p++);
}
Read and write strings
19

● C also offers the gets function to read a string and puts to display
a string.
They only handle strings.
Example : char s[100];
gets(s1);
puts(s1);

The execution gives::

^^one^^two^^three↵
^^one^^two^^three
The gets(s) statement will read a sequence of characters and store
it in s1, terminated by a null character.
The puts(s) statement displays the characters found from &s[0]
until reaching the null character, then performs a line feed (this is
the only difference with printf).
Read and write strings
20

It should be noted that, unlike scanf(), when using gets():

● No delimiter is skipped before reading.

● Spaces are read like other characters.

● Reading stops only when a newline character is

encountered, which is not copied into the string.

● Since there is no control over the number of characters to be

read, an overflow is quite possible if the input string is too
long. This is a major security flaw in the C language.
Read and write strings
21

Exercise : Write a C program with the following behavior using the

functions gets, puts, scanf, and printf.

What is your name and first name: Berrabah Ahmed ↵

Where do you live? Tlemcen ↵

Hello Mr. Berrabah Ahmed from Tlemcen

Read and write strings
22

● sscanf
sscanf is a function that reads formatted data from a string. It is
similar to the scanf function, but instead of reading data from the
keyboard, it reads data from a string.

Example :
char s1[100] = "1 2";
int x, y;
sscanf(s1, "%d%d", &x, &y);
printf("x = %d, y = %d", x, y);

This code will output:

x = 1, y = 2
Read and write strings
23

● sprintf
sprintf is similar to printf, but instead of printing to the screen, it
prints to a string.

Example :
char s1[100] ;
int x = 1, y = 2;
sprintf(s1, "x = %d, y = %d\n", x, y);
printf(s1);

This code will output:

x = 1, y = 2
Determining the Length of a String
24

The strlen() (STRing LENgth) function in string.h allows you to

determine the length of a string (between the start address of the
string and the null character).

It takes a string as input, which it cannot modify (this is the role of

the const type qualifier), and returns the length of the string.

The null character is not counted.

Determining the Length of a String
25

Example:

This code will output:

the length of the string hello is 5

Copying a string to another string
26

The strcpy() (STRing CoPY) function in string.h allows you to copy a

string to another string.

Its prototype:

char * strcpy(char *destination, const char *source);

It copies the source string (which it cannot modify) into the

destination string, including the null character. It returns the
address of the destination string.

Note: When you use strcpy(), the size of the destination string
should be large enough to store the copied string. Otherwise, it may
result in undefined behavior.
Copying a string to another string
27

Example
Copying a string to another string
28

Example

Output :
s1 = bonjour
s2 = bonjour
Copying a string to another string
29

The strncpy function is similar to the strcpy function, but it allows

you to specify the number of characters to be copied. This can be
useful for avoiding buffer overflows.

Example : the following code will copy the first 10 characters from
the source string to the destination string:
Copying a string to another string
30

The strncpy function is similar to the strcpy function, but it allows

you to specify the number of characters to be copied. This can be
useful for avoiding buffer overflows.

Example : the following code will copy the first 10 characters from
the source string to the destination string:

This code will output:

This is a
Compare two strings
31

The strcmp (STRing CoMPare) function in string.h allows you to

compare two strings character by character:

int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2);

It compares the two strings from the first character until the
characters are different or one string ends.

It returns an integer:
● < 0 if chaine1 is less than chaine2 (in the sense of ASCII codes),
● = 0 if the two strings are identical,
● > 0 if chaine1 is greater than chaine2.
Comparer deux chaînes
32
Compare two strings
33

Example :
Compare two strings
34

Example :

Output :
s1 is higher s2
Concatenate two strings
35

The strcat (STRing conCATenation) function in string.h allows you to

concatenate two strings, i.e. it places one string at the end of
another.

char * strcat(char *destination, const char *source);

It adds the source string (which it cannot modify) to the end of the
destination string. It returns the address of the destination string.
Concatenate two strings
36

Example :
Concatenate two strings
37

Example :

Output:
s3 = Hello World!
Concatenate two strings
38

The strncat function is similar to strcat, but it only

concatenates the first n characters of the source string.

For example:
strncat(s1, s2, 10);

This will only add the first 10 characters of s2 to the end of s1.
Searching for a character in a string
39

The strchr (STRing CHaRacter) function in string.h searches for a

character in a string.

char * strchr(const char *str, char c);

It searches the string chaine for the first occurrence of the character
c and returns a pointer to that character or a NULL pointer if the
character does not exist.
Searching for a character in a string
40

Example :
Searching for a character in a string
41

Example :

Output:
The character 'o' is at position 4 in the string 'Hello, world!'.
Searching for a string within another string
42

The strstr() (STRing STRing) function in string.h is used to search for

a string within another string.

char * strstr (const char *s1, const char *s2);

It searches the string s1 for the first occurrence of the string s2 and
returns a pointer to the character in s1 where s2 begins, or a null
pointer if s2 does not exist in s1.
Searching for a string within another string
43

Example :
Searching for a string within another string
44

Example :

Output
The string s2 is found at index 7 in the string s1.
Conversion Functions
45

● Converting a String to a Numeric Value

There are three functions in stdlib.h that can be used to convert a
string to a numeric value of type int, long, or double. These functions
ignore any spaces at the beginning of the string and use the following
characters to construct a numeric value (digits 0..9, the decimal point
(.), the exponent (e or E), the plus (+) and minus (-) signs)

The first invalid character stops the scan. If no characters are usable,
these functions return a null result.
 atoi ( str ) return an int
 atol ( str ) return a long
 atof ( str ) return a double

Note that these functions do the same job as sscanf applied to a

single variable, with the appropriate format code.
Conversion Functions
46

Example :
Conversion Functions
47

Example :

Output:
i = 123
i = 45
l = 1234567890
d = 3.141590
Arrays of strings
48

Arrays of strings are arrays where each elements are array od

characters. Arrays of strings are 2D arrays.

Example :

char tab[5][10] = {"zero", "one", "two", "three", "four"};

The memory storage can be represented as follows:

Arrays of strings
49

Example :

char tab[5][10] = {"zero", "one", "two", "three", "four"};

To read the fourth line (string) of the this array, use:

scanf("%s", &tab[3][0]);

scanf reads characters from the input and stores them in the array
starting at the address specified by &tab[3][0].
If the number of characters read is greater than 10, the characters
will wrap around to the next line.
Arrays of strings
50

Example :

char tab[5][10] = {"zero", "one", "two", "three", "four"};

strcpy(&tab[1][0], "This is a test string");

The array in the memory will be:

Arrays of strings
51

This method of declaring arrays of strings is not practical. In addition,

a large amount of memory can be wasted if the strings are of
different lengths.
There is a much more efficient way to solve this problem, which is to
use an array of pointers to char:

Char * tab[5] = {"zero", "one", "two", "three", "four"};

In the array tab, we now have 5 pointers (4 bytes per pointer).

Each pointer in the array stores the address of the corresponding
string's start location in memory.
This method minimizes memory wastage by only allocating space for
the actual characters in each string.
It also provides flexibility in handling strings of varying lengths.
Arrays of strings
52

Warning: If you only declare

char *tab[5];

no memory reservation is made to store strings. You have only

created an array of 5 pointers that point to nothing.

You must explicitly allocate memory for each string before using it.
Arrays of strings
53

Example:

Output :
enter an integer between 1 and 7 : 3
the day number 3 in the week is Tuesday