Sorting strings in C

Question

I was assigned the task of making a program to sort string (without the use of pointers, because we haven't been taught about those yet). But I'm stuck and I need a little help. This is what I have so far:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    printf("Enter text to be sorted alphabetically:\n");
    char a[100][100]; // This is my array of text. 
    // It has a maximum of 100 words, each with 100 characters.
    int i = 0;
    while(scanf("%c", a[i][100]) != EOF)
    {
            i++; // This is where I get the string from the user.
            // I think this is where the problem is.
    }
    int l, x, j, m = 0;
    char k[100]; // This is the swap variable for the bubble sort.
    for(l = 0; l < i; l++)
    {
            for(j = 0; l < i - l; j++)
            {
                    if(a[j][m] > a[j+1][m]) 
                    { 
                            for(x = 0; x < 100; x++)
                            {
                                    k[m] = a[j][m]; // Bubble sort.
                                    a[j][m] = a[j+1][m];
                                    a[j+1][m] = k[m];
                            }
                            m = 0; // m is set back to 0.
                    }
                    if(a[j][m] == a[j+1][m])
                    {
                            m++; // m is supposed to represent the mth letter.
                            // so if the first two letters are equal, it increases m.
                            j--;
                    }
            }
    }
    printf("Sorted text is: /n");
    for(l = 0; l < i; l++)
    {
            for(j = 0; j < 100; j++)
            {
                    printf("%s", a[l][j]); // Print out the final result.
                    // I think I messed up this one too.
            }
            printf("\n");
    }
}

This code refuses to compile. It says:

format ‘%c’ expects argument of type ‘char *’, but argument 2 has type ‘int’

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

Actually, the word int in the error could be important. Are you sure you have char a[100][100]? Could it be int a[100][100]? — Aaron McDaid
– Aaron McDaid, Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 18:27

chill · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-09 18:20:02Z

1

For strings, the scanf format specifier is %s

scanf ("%s" ...

and you have to provide the address where to store the string

&a[i][0]

and prey nobody inputs more than 99 chars :)

answered Nov 9, 2013 at 18:20

chill

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1 Comment

user2973526 Over a year ago

Thanks. That worked beautifully. The code still doesn't work right, but I resolved my error. I can take it from here.

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