How to iterate over a string in C?

Question

Right now I'm trying this:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

    if (argc != 3) {

        printf("Usage: %s %s sourcecode input", argv[0], argv[1]);
    }
    else {
        char source[] = "This is an example.";
        int i;

        for (i = 0; i < sizeof(source); i++) {

            printf("%c", source[i]);
        }
    }

    getchar();

    return 0;
}

This does also NOT work:

char *source = "This is an example.";
int i;

for (i = 0; i < strlen(source); i++){

    printf("%c", source[i]);
}

I get the error

Unhandled exception at 0x5bf714cf (msvcr100d.dll) in Test.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation while reading at position 0x00000054.

(loosely translated from german)

So what's wrong with my code?

Answer 1

1. sizeof() includes the terminating null character. You should use strlen() (but put the call outside the loop and save it in a variable), but that's probably not what's causing the exception.
2. you should use "%c", not "%s" in printf - you are printing a character, not a string.

Answer 2

sizeof(source) returns the number of bytes required by the pointer char*. You should replace it with strlen(source) which will be the length of the string you're trying to display.

Also, you should probably replace printf("%s",source[i]) with printf("%c",source[i]) since you're displaying a character.

Answer 3

sizeof(source) returns sizeof a pointer as source is declared as char *. Correct way to use it is strlen(source).

Next:

printf("%s",source[i]); 

expects string. i.e %s expects string but you are iterating in a loop to print each character. Hence use %c.

However your way of accessing(iterating) a string using the index i is correct and hence there are no other issues in it.

Answer 4

One common idiom is:

char* c = source;
while (*c) putchar(*c++);

A few notes:

• In C, strings are null-terminated. You iterate while the read character is not the null character.
• *c++ increments c and returns the dereferenced old value of c.
• printf("%s") prints a null-terminated string, not a char. This is the cause of your access violation.

Answer 5

This should work

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

 int main(int argc, char *argv[]){

    char *source = "This is an example.";
    int length = (int)strlen(source); //sizeof(source)=sizeof(char *) = 4 on a 32 bit implementation
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) 
    {

       printf("%c", source[i]);

    }


 }

Answer 6

Just change sizeof with strlen.

Like this:

char *source = "This is an example.";
int i;

for (i = 0; i < strlen(source); i++){

    printf("%c", source[i]);

}