C++, String to Array of Characters with my professor's limitations

I'm learning C++, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to do the following.

In an assignment, we need to write a function that checks if the first two characters of a string are the same as the last two.

These are the limitations:

You cannot use std::string class or string function such as strlen. You must use either array or pointer for this function.

std::string

strlen

I tried this:

bool haveTheSameTwoChars(string str) {
char arr = str;
if (sizeof(arr) < 3) {
return false;
}
else if (arr[0] == arr[sizeof(arr) - 3] && arr[1] == arr[sizeof(arr) - 2]) {
return true;
}
else {
return false;
}
}


But it won't accept str into the array.

str

However, if I were to put something in quotes in the place of str, it accepts it just fine, despite them both being strings.

str

What am I doing wrong?

std::string

std::string

sizeof

char

std::string

std::vector<char>

char arr = "str";

int arr = {1,2,3};

5 Answers
5

Well, here's the breakdown of your problem:

You need to take input as an array or a pointer. For example:

bool isMatched( const char* str )
{
// ...
}


Now, you need to calculate the length of your string yourself. Revise the loops and devise something that gives you the length of a null terminated string. C-strings are null-terminated i.e. '' so you can end your loop when you encounter null character. For example:

''

int len = 0;
while ( str[len] != '' ) len++;


That's just an idea. Do your own research and calculate the string length correctly.

The rest is just a comparison of first and last two characters using if. :)

if

I'm sure you can put things together and revise your study material a bit to solve this.

Best of luck!
Happy coding!

When you're not allowed strlen, it is a strong hint that the problem can be solved without caring about the length of the string.

strlen

Let's do that:

First, you should have the prototype (no strings allowed, right?)

string

bool haveTheSameTwoChars(const char* str)


Then, verify that the string has at least two characters

if (!str || !str[0] || !str[1])
return false;


Then you find the end of the string:

const char* end = str;
while (*end)
end++;


Then move back two characters, so end points to the first of the last two characters:

end

end -= 2;


(This is safe since we first checked that there are at least two characters.)

Then compare

return str[0] == end[0] && str[1] == end[1];


true

end -= 2

if ((end - str) == 2)

Your professor wants you to use a const char* as the function parameter, that is, model a string as a pointer to the first character in the string, where the string finishes with a 0. (We call this NUL-termination).

const char*

So your function is

bool haveTheSameTwoChars(const char* s)


You then need to roll your own version of strlen¹ to calculate the number of characters in the string up to and not including the NUL:

strlen

NUL

#include <cstddef> // for std::size_t
std::size_t strlen(const char *s) {
const char *p = s;
while (*s) ++s;
return s - p;
}


After which, it's a simple case, given the length l say, of dealing with a couple of edge cases and the general case:

l

l

false

l

true

l

l

Note that C++ does not support variable length arrays, so char arr = str; is not valid C++, and sizeof is a compile-time operator so would only give you the size of an actual array type, not an array that's decayed to a pointer type.

char arr = str;

sizeof

¹ No professional programmer would dream of doing that. A compiler might optimise strlen down to a machine word-based algorithm, i.e. consider multiple bytes simultaneously.

strlen

Here is some sample code for your purpose

bool haveTheSameTwoChars(const char* p) {

if(!p || !*p)
return false;

int len = -1;

while(p[++len]);

if(p[0] == p[len-2] &&
p[1] == p[len-1])
return true;

return false;
}


This will return true if the string is "ABxxxAB" and false if "ABxxxBA". Rest you can tweak according to your desire.Thanks

Another approach uses a loop and a single pointer to iterate over each line saving the first and second characters to compare against the next to last (penultimate) and last (ultimate) characters in the string.

By using simple iteration over the character array, as long as it is nul-terminated, you don't have to worry about a separate loop to find the length, you simply grab/save the first two characters, and then iterate to the end of your string saving the prev/last characters as you go. When you hit the end of your string, all you need to do is compare the first against the last and the second against the next to last, e.g.

/* function iterates pointer through chars in 'line' saving
* the 1st & 2nd chara in 'beg` and 'next' and the penultimate and
* ultimate characters in 'prev' & 'last' and compares. returns 1 if
* 1st matches ultimate AND 2nd matches penultimate, 0 otherwise.
*/
int begmatchend (const char *line)
{
const char *p = line; /* pointer to line */
char beg = *p++, /* save for 1st char */
next = *p++, /* save for 2nd char */
prev = *p++, /* save for next to last char */
last = *p++; /* save for last char */

while (*p) { /* iterate over line setting prev/last as you go */
prev = last;
last = *p++;
}
if (beg == last && next == prev) /* test whether equal */
return 1;

return 0;
}


Then for a simple test, you can just feed your programs lines from a file calling begmatchend on each line and then output indication of which lines matched. Something simple like the following is one way:

begmatchend

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstddef>

#define MAXC 1024

/* function iterates pointer through chars in 'line' saving
* the 1st & 2nd chara in 'beg` and 'next' and the penultimate and
* ultimate characters in 'prev' & 'last' and compares. returns 1 if
* 1st matches ultimate AND 2nd matches penultimate, 0 otherwise.
*/
int begmatchend (const char *line)
{
const char *p = line; /* pointer to line */
char beg = *p++, /* save for 1st char */
next = *p++, /* save for 2nd char */
prev = *p++, /* save for next to last char */
last = *p++; /* save for last char */

while (*p) { /* iterate over line setting prev/last as you go */
prev = last;
last = *p++;
}
if (beg == last && next == prev) /* test whether equal */
return 1;

return 0;
}

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

char line[MAXC] = "";
size_t n = 0;
std::ifstream f (argc > 1 ? argv[1] : "/dev/stdin");

if (!f.is_open()) {
std::cerr << "error: file open failed.n";
return 1;
}

while (f.getline (line, MAXC, 'n')) {
if (begmatchend ((const char *)line))
std::cout << "line[" << std::setw(3) << n <<
"] 1st/ultimate matched, 2nd/penultimate matched.n";
n++;
}

return 0;
}


Example Input

$ cat dat/linesbegend.txt
all good vikings go to valhalla
be a tide that will flow and eb
a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
we can find the begin and end - eew


Example Use/Output

$ ./bin/beg_end_match dat/linesbegend.txt
line[ 0] 1st/ultimate matched, 2nd/penultimate matched.
line[ 1] 1st/ultimate matched, 2nd/penultimate matched.
line[ 3] 1st/ultimate matched, 2nd/penultimate matched.


Look things over and let me know if you have any questions.

By clicking "Post Your Answer", you acknowledge that you have read our updated terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy, and that your continued use of the website is subject to these policies.