sorting a 2d string array by alphabetizing in c

Question

my loop is only arranging the first element, i tried putting an outer loop but it is not working. do i need another loop within my program or initialize another char array[] to transfer the loop?

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
    char applicants[10][15],temp[15];
    char swap[10][15];
    int apps,i,j,c=0;

    printf("how many applicants?\n");
    scanf("%d",&apps);

    printf("enter the names of the applicants on seperate lines\n");
    printf("in order in which they applied for > ");
    for (i=0;i<apps;i++){
       scanf("%s",applicants[i]);
    }

    printf("\napplication order\n");
    printf("-----------------\n");
    for (i=0;i<apps;i++){
       printf("\t%s\n",applicants[i]);
    }

    for(i=0;i<apps-1;i++){
        c=strcmp(applicants[i],applicants[i+1]);
        printf("\n%d\n",c);
        if(c>0)
            strcpy(temp,applicants[i]);
            strcpy(applicants[i],applicants[i+1]);
            strcpy(applicants[i+1],temp);
    }

    printf("\n\n alphebatize order\n");
    printf("-------------------\n");
    for (i=0;i<apps;i++){
       printf("\t%s\n",applicants[i]);
    }


if(strcmp(applicants[0],applicants[1])>0){
        printf("\n\n%s is greater than %s",applicants[0],applicants[1]);
    }


}

Don't write the code so tight, it's hard for humans to read code without white spaces, you can use them to make it easier to read, the compiler will ignore them anyway. — Iharob Al Asimi
– Iharob Al Asimi, Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 15:36

Iharob Al Asimi · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-20 15:34:53Z

2

Your if statement lacks braces here

if(c>0)
    strcpy(temp,applicants[i]);
    strcpy(applicants[i],applicants[i+1]);
    strcpy(applicants[i+1],temp);

this means the same as

if (c > 0)
 {
    strcpy(temp, applicants[i]);
 }
strcpy(applicants[i], applicants[i + 1]);
strcpy(applicants[i + 1], temp);

so you are overwriting applicants[i] with applicants[i + 1] and then writing to applicants[i + 1] the previous value that was stored in temp, which is not necessarily applicants[i].

You need to add braces

if (c > 0)
 {
    strcpy(temp, applicants[i]);
    strcpy(applicants[i], applicants[i + 1]);
    strcpy(applicants[i + 1], temp);
 }

answered Apr 20, 2015 at 15:34

Iharob Al Asimi

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1 Comment

James Lopez Over a year ago

yea i was playing around with the code a bit i must of deleted them, fixed it, okay thanks i just fixed it. added another loop within and the program ran smoothly. Thanks

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