CMPT130 J.
Ye
C++ Strings
Two types of strings in C++ :
• C-strings
• The Standard string Class
(will be discussed in cmpt135)
What is a C-string?
• A string is an ordered sequence of characters
• A C-string is
– a character array
– ended with null character (‘\0’)
• E.g. the following is a C-string named s that is size 10
and represents string “Hi you!”
s[0] s[1] s[2] s[3] s[4] s[5] s[6] s[7] s[8] s[9]
H i y o u ! \0 ? ?
2
Declaring C-strings
• To declare a C-string variable, declare an array of
characters, for example:
char s[10];
– Declaring a C-string as char s[10] creates space for a
string that can only contain maximum nine characters
– The null character terminator requires one space
3
Initializing a C-string
• You may initialize the C-string character by character after it
is declared (Remember to include the null character!)
• More often, initialize a C-string during declaration:
char my_message[20] = "Hi there.";
• Another alternative:
char short_string[] = "abc";
• For each of the above, the null character is automatically
added for you
• but not this -- ‘\0’ is not inserted in this array:
char short_string[] = {'a','b','c'};
4
Don't Change '\0'
• “size” variable may not be needed when processing C-strings
– Just use the null character
int index = 0;
while (our_string[index] != '\0')
{
our_string[index] = 'X';
index++;
}
• The termination of the loop depends on the null character!
– If the null character is lost, the array cannot act like a C-
string.
5
Safer Processing of C-strings
• The loop on the previous slide depended on finding the
'\0' character
• It would be wiser to use this version in case the '\0'
character had been removed
int index = 0;
while(our_string[index] != '\0‘ && index < SIZE)
{
our_string[index] = 'X';
index++;
}
6
Library
• Declaring c-strings
– Requires no C++ library
– Built into standard C++
• Using C-string functions
– Require library <cstring>
– Typically included when manipulating c-strings
7
C-string Arguments and Parameters
• Recall: c-string is array
• So c-string parameter is array parameter
– C-strings passed to functions can be changed by receiving
function!
• Like all arrays, you may send size into functions as well
– Function could also use ‘\0’ to find end, or use strlen
– So size parameter is not a must in most cases
– Use "const" modifier to protect c-string arguments when
applicable
8
C-string Functions: strlen
• Defined in <cstring> library
• returns the length/size of the string
char myString[10] = "dobedo";
cout << strlen(myString); // 6
– Returns the number of characters
• Not including the null character
– How can we define our own strlen function?
9
= and == with C-strings
• Recall: C-string is array!
• C-string variable cannot be assigned:
char aString[10];
aString = "Hello"; // illegal!
• Can ONLY use "=" at declaration of the C-string!
• Using operator == is only to compare pointers,
not the content of the arrays :
char s1[10] = "Hello";
char s2[10] = “Hello";
s1 == s2; // returns false
10
Make a copy of a C-string
• How to make a deep copy of a C-string?
•
strcpy (copy, original);
– strcpy is a built-in function in <cstring>
– both copy and original are C-strings
– Copy original’s characters to copy
– copy should have memory space allocated already!
– Be careful, this function does not check whether copy
has enough size for original
• programmer’s responsibility
– How can we define our own strcpy function?
11
Comparing C-strings
• We know that
char s1[10] = "Hello";
char s2[10] = “Hello";
s1 == s2; // will give us false
• How can we compare whether two strings are the same?
-- We can use <cstring> function strcmp
if (strcmp(s1, s2))
cout << "Strings NOT same.";
else
cout << "Strings are same.";
-- How can we define our own strcmp function?
12
Returning a dynamic c-string
• Exercise 1:
Define a function called initials_1 that takes two names (a
first name and a last name, both are cstrings) as its parameters
and returns the initials of the two names in the form of “A.B.”
E.g. initials_1(“Donald”, “Knuth”) returns “D.K.”
• Exercise 2:
Define a function called initials_2 that takes a full name (a
single string consisting of a first name and a last name separated
by a space character) as its parameter and returns the initials
E.g. initials_2(“Donald Knuth”) returns “D.K.”
13
C-String Output
• Can output with insertion operator << because
<< operator is overloaded for C-strings
E.g.
char news[] = “Earthquake!”;
cout << news << endl << “When?”;
14
C-String Input
• Can input with extraction operator >>
– Issues exist, however
• Whitespace is "delimiter"
– Tab, space, line breaks are "skipped"
– Input reading "stops" at delimiter
• Watch size of c-string
• Must be large enough to hold entered string!
• C++ gives no warnings of such issues!
15
C-String Input Example
char s1[80], s2[80];
cout << "Enter input: ";
cin >> s1 >> s2;
cout << s1 << s2 << "END OF OUTPUT\n";
• Sample run:
Enter input: Do be do to you!
DobeEND OF OUTPUT
– Underlined portion is user input
– C-string s1 receives “Do"
– C-string s2 receives "be"
16
C-String Line Input
• Can receive entire line into c-string
• Use getline(), a predefined member function:
char str[80];
cout << "Enter input: ";
cin.getline(str, 80);
cout << str << "END OF OUTPUT\n";
– Dialogue:
Enter input: Do be do to you!
Do be do to you!END OF OUTPUT
17
The Standard string Class
• The string class allows the programmer to treat
strings as a basic data type
– No need to deal with the string at array level
• The string class is defined in the string library
and the names are in the standard namespace
– To use the string class you need to include it:
#include <string>
using namespace std;
We will discuss string class in more detail in CMPT135
18
