«

In <4eb4605c$0$20319$> "Bill Cunningham" <> writes:

> I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't work.
> My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function only if it
> starts with a +. Kind of like cpp doesn't recognize preprocessor commands
> unless # is present.

> #include <stdio.h>
> #include <string.h>

> int main()
> {
> char *plus;
> char *string = "+ hello there\n";
> plus = strchr(string, '+');
> if ((int) plus[0] == '+')
> printf("ok\n");
> if ((int) plus[0] != '+')
> printf("no\n");
> }

> This code as it is works marvelously when finding + in a string. If
> something other than + is used, I do not get no but a segmentation fault. Is

That's because strchr returns NULL when the target character is not found,
which causes 'plus' to have a null value. Then, when you attempt to
look at plus[0], the program crashes.

> the only way around this to use strcmp to see if the first character of the
> string is + or not? Can the code be changed to accomplish what I want
> without using strcmp?

Using strchr seems like overkill in this case. You don't even need the
'plus' variable. Just look for the character directly:

char *string = "+hello there\n";

if(string[0] == '+')
printf("ok\n");
else
printf("no\n");

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"

On 11/4/2011 6:59 PM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
> I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't work.
> My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function only if it
> starts with a +.

If the string is in, say, an array named 'command',
just check as follows:

if (command[0] == '+') {
/* do stuff */
}
else {
/* don't do stuff */
}

I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't work.
My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function only if it
starts with a +. Kind of like cpp doesn't recognize preprocessor commands
unless # is present.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char *plus;
char *string = "+ hello there\n";
plus = strchr(string, '+');
if ((int) plus[0] == '+')
printf("ok\n");
if ((int) plus[0] != '+')
printf("no\n");
}

This code as it is works marvelously when finding + in a string. If
something other than + is used, I do not get no but a segmentation fault. Is
the only way around this to use strcmp to see if the first character of the
string is + or not? Can the code be changed to accomplish what I want
without using strcmp?

Bill

John Gordon wrote:
> In <4eb4605c$0$20319$> "Bill Cunningham"
> <> writes:
>
>> I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't
>> work. My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function
>> only if it starts with a +. Kind of like cpp doesn't recognize
>> preprocessor commands unless # is present.
>
>> #include <stdio.h>
>> #include <string.h>
>
>> int main()
>> {
>> char *plus;
>> char *string = "+ hello there\n";
>> plus = strchr(string, '+');
>> if ((int) plus[0] == '+')
>> printf("ok\n");
>> if ((int) plus[0] != '+')
>> printf("no\n");
>> }
>
>> This code as it is works marvelously when finding + in a string. If
>> something other than + is used, I do not get no but a segmentation
>> fault. Is
>
> That's because strchr returns NULL when the target character is not
> found,
> which causes 'plus' to have a null value. Then, when you attempt to
> look at plus[0], the program crashes.
>
>> the only way around this to use strcmp to see if the first character
>> of the string is + or not? Can the code be changed to accomplish
>> what I want without using strcmp?
>
> Using strchr seems like overkill in this case. You don't even need
> the 'plus' variable. Just look for the character directly:
>
> char *string = "+hello there\n";
>
> if(string[0] == '+')
> printf("ok\n");
> else
> printf("no\n");

Thanks that NULL completely slipped my mind.

Bill

On Nov 4, 10:36*pm, Martin Ambuhl <mamb...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 11/4/2011 6:59 PM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
>
> > * * *I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't work.
> > My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function only if it
> > starts with a +.
>
> If the string is in, say, an array named 'command',
> just check as follows:
>
> * * if (command[0] == '+') {
> * * * */* do stuff */
> * * }
> * * else {
> * * * */* don't do stuff */
> * * }

first ensuring that command contains at least one character

Nick Keighley <> writes:
> On Nov 4, 10:36Â*pm, Martin Ambuhl <mamb...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> On 11/4/2011 6:59 PM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
>>
>> > Â* Â* Â*I am doing a comparison here and the code works and then doesn't work.
>> > My goal is to start a string to be recognized by a function only if it
>> > starts with a +.
>>
>> If the string is in, say, an array named 'command',
>> just check as follows:
>>
>> Â* Â* if (command[0] == '+') {
>> Â* Â* Â* Â*/* do stuff */
>> Â* Â* }
>> Â* Â* else {
>> Â* Â* Â* Â*/* don't do stuff */
>> Â* Â* }
>
> first ensuring that command contains at least one character

If command is an array object, then no such check is necessary.
If it contains an empty string, command[0] is '\0'. If it's a
zero-length array, then, well, the program must be in a language
other than C that supports such things.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst- <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"