Character String Arrays in C

Question

For part of a homework assignment I need to loop a prompt that has the user enters words until they either enter 20 words or until they enter the word 'done'. Currently, I have both parameters satisfied, but when if I enter the word 'done', it gets scanned into the array as well, which is not what I want to do.

This is my current function:

int row = 0;
int column = 0;
int i = 0;

while(i < 20)
    {
      printf("Enter words you would like hidden in the puzzle. Type 'done' when finished:\n");
      scanf("%s",a[i]);

      if(strcmp(a[i],"done") == 0)
      {
        break;
      }

      if((strlen(a[i]) > row) || (strlen(a[i]) > col))
      {
        printf("Error. Word was too long to enter into puzzle.\n");
      }

      else
      {
        i++;
      }
    }

The array 'a' is an array of character strings. I know that the line scanf("%s",a[i]); is scanning the word 'done' into the array, I just don't know how to tweak it so that doesn't happen. Can someone please help me figure this part out?

You could do a i--; in your "done" if. Or you could do a[i] = NULL depending on the type of a and what you're doing after this while. — Biduleohm
– Biduleohm, Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 2:01
Or you could read the name into a spare string (char data[32]; or whatever) and if it is not done, copy it into the target array — a in your code. But simply decrementing the count is simpler. — Jonathan Leffler
– Jonathan Leffler, Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 2:07
@Bidu - if a[i] is an array, that won't work. If it's a pointer then it should be pointing to dynamically allocated memory, so that would be a memory leak. — M.M
– M.M, Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 2:19

Raging Bull · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-31 02:33:15Z

1

Try this:

char input[256];
while(i < 20)
{
  printf("Enter words you would like hidden in the puzzle. Type 'done' when finished:\n");
  scanf("%s",&input);
  if(strcmp(input,"done") != 0)
  {
    strcpy(a[i],input);
    if((strlen(a[i]) > row) || (strlen(a[i]) > col))
    {
      printf("Error. Word was too long to enter into puzzle.\n");
    }
    i++;
  }
  else
    break;
}

edited Mar 31, 2014 at 2:33

answered Mar 31, 2014 at 2:07

Raging Bull

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2 Comments

Raging Bull Over a year ago

@MattMcNabb: Used to be a c# programmer. :-) Anyway, edited my answer. Thanks.

ssm Over a year ago

I think you might need an strcpy instead of a[i] = input. Also, I think scanf("%s",input); not scanf("%s",&input);.

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