Find char* element in array of char* in C++ - c++

I'm trying to write function that search for char * element in array of char* and the function start check this element, if the element exist in the array I will have "found", if not it should be "inserted" and the element added to the array.
I wrote this code but I cannot know how to try it, the program always gives me exception, what can I do to check the element in my pointer array?
void checkFunction(char*myArray[], char *element,bool flag)
{
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(*myArray) ; ++i)
{
if (myArray[i] == element)
{
flag = true;
}
}
*myArray = element;
flag = false;
if (flag)
{
cout << "Found" << endl;
}
else
{
cout << "Inserted" << endl;
}
}

C++ Way
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
vector<string> myStrings { "One", "Two", "Three" };
// std::find() finds the first element that matches a value
auto it = find(begin(myStrings), end(myStrings), "Twooo");
if (it != end(myStrings)) {
cout << "We found this string; do something..." << endl;
}
}

Few remarks regarding your function:
1.Why do you need the third parameter bool flag, instead of having it as local variable?
2.If you want to expand an array you should copy the old to a newly allocated and then add the new element, you can not just do: *myArray = element;
3.If you want to iterate through the array length/ size, instead of:
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(*myArray) ; ++i)
pass an additional parameter to your function, that indicates the number of elements in the array.
With std::string and std::vector you could do something like:
void check_insert (std::vector<std::string>& v, std::string& c) {
for (auto i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i) {
if (v[i] == c) {
std::cout << "Found!\n";
return;
}
}
v.push_back(c);
std::cout << "Inserted!\n";
}

Related

How to create and increase the size of an array at runtime in C++

I want to create an array whose size I will only know at runtime, and then further increase that size during execution of the program.
This is from an /r/dailyprogrammer challenge which can be found here https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/comments/3twuwf/20151123_challenge_242_easy_funny_plant/
MSVisual gives me the error std::badd_array_new_length which means that it's having trouble instantiating the array?
I'm so tired with oftentimes copying code letter for letter from websites where it works and I constantly get errors. Is Visual a bad platform for learning C++? Should I try QT?
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
void main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
int currentPlants = std::stoi(argv[2]), targetPeople = std::stoi(argv[1]), currentProduce = 0, week = 0;
int * plants;
plants = new int[currentPlants];
for (int i = 0; i < currentPlants; i++) {
plants[i] = 0;
}
if (plants == nullptr) EXIT_FAILURE;
while (currentProduce < targetPeople) {
currentProduce = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < currentPlants; i++) {
currentProduce += plants[i];
plants[i]++;
}
if (currentProduce >= targetPeople) break;
else {
plants = new int[currentProduce];
for (; currentPlants < currentProduce; currentPlants++) {
plants[currentPlants] = 0;
}
}
week++;
}
std::cout << week;
}
You should use an std::vector.
As a summary :
// Create an array of size 10
std::vector<int> my_vector(10);
// Add '3' to my_vector
my_vector.push_back(3);
// Remove the last element
my_vector.pop_back();
Explanation and example here : www.cplusplus.com/reference/vector/vector/
Edit : you don't need to specify the array size when you construct your object.
// Create an array
std::vector<int> my_vector;
You can't increase the size of an array at runtime. You can create a new bigger array, and copy the contents of the old array to the new array.
The problem with your code is that on the first pass through plants all of your plants[x] are zero. You add all of these together and get zero => currentProduce == 0. You then try to new plants[currentProduce aka 0] which is illegal.
Your second problem is that each time you new you create a new array discarding the old values; new creates a new array, it doesn't know anything about the old one.
I rewrote your code using std::vector, which fixes the crash but produces an endless loop because on the first pass, currentProduce comes out to zero so the array is truncated.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
int main(int argc, const char* argv_real[])
{
const char* argv[] = { "programname", "5", "25" };
int currentPlants = std::stoi(argv[2]), targetPeople = std::stoi(argv[1]), currentProduce = 0, week = 0;
std::cout << "targetPeople = " << targetPeople
<< ", currentPlants = " << currentPlants
<< "\n";
std::vector<int> plants;
// Option 1:
// plants.resize(currentPlants);
// Option 2:
for (auto i = 0; i < currentPlants; ++i) {
plants.push_back(0);
}
while (currentProduce < targetPeople) {
std::cout << "cp: " << currentProduce
<< ", tp: " << targetPeople
<< "\n";
currentProduce = 0;
// plantCount is a reference to plants[i] for each i
for (auto& plantCount : plants) {
std::cout << plantCount << ", ";
currentProduce += plantCount;
plantCount++;
}
std::cout << " cp: " << currentProduce << "\n";
if (currentProduce >= targetPeople)
break;
// Option 1:
plants.resize(currentProduce);
// Option 2:
// while (currentPlants < currentProduce) {
// plants.push_back(0);
// }
week++;
}
std::cout << week;
}
Live demo: http://ideone.com/xGpoF6
Outside of using std::vector, you would need to allocate a new array on the heap, copy the contents over, and delete the old one. Then point your int* to the newly allocated array.
This wouldn't technically change the array size, but those accessing the object would see it as though it was changing.
This is dangerous:
int * plants;
plants = new int[currentPlants];
for (int i = 0; i < currentPlants; i++) {
plants[i] = 0;
}
if (plants == nullptr) EXIT_FAILURE;
This is what happens (if you are lucky):
the program attempts to create some memory and returns nullptr if it can't
the program then uses the memory in a loop even if nullptr was returned. (If nullptr was returned this will crash the program, silently corrupt the memory so you get the wrong results or otherwise doing something you don't want)
the program then checks to see if nullptr was returned.
If you are unlucky the compiler does time travel and destroys the entire universe. I am not kidding, have a look at:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20140627-00/?p=633
Undefined behavior causing time travel

Check if element found in array c++

How can I check if my array has an element I'm looking for?
In Java, I would do something like this:
Foo someObject = new Foo(someParameter);
Foo foo;
//search through Foo[] arr
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
if arr[i].equals(someObject)
foo = arr[i];
}
if (foo == null)
System.out.println("Not found!");
else
System.out.println("Found!");
But in C++ I don't think I'm allowed to search if an Object is null so what would be the C++ solution?
In C++ you would use std::find, and check if the resultant pointer points to the end of the range, like this:
Foo array[10];
... // Init the array here
Foo *foo = std::find(std::begin(array), std::end(array), someObject);
// When the element is not found, std::find returns the end of the range
if (foo != std::end(array)) {
cerr << "Found at position " << std::distance(array, foo) << endl;
} else {
cerr << "Not found" << endl;
}
You would just do the same thing, looping through the array to search for the term you want. Of course if it's a sorted array this would be much faster, so something similar to prehaps:
for(int i = 0; i < arraySize; i++){
if(array[i] == itemToFind){
break;
}
}
There are many ways...one is to use the std::find() algorithm, e.g.
#include <algorithm>
int myArray[] = { 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3 };
size_t myArraySize = sizeof(myArray) / sizeof(int);
int *end = myArray + myArraySize;
// find the value 0:
int *result = std::find(myArray, end, 0);
if (result != end) {
// found value at "result" pointer location...
}
Here is a simple generic C++11 function contains which works for both arrays and containers:
using namespace std;
template<class C, typename T>
bool contains(C&& c, T e) { return find(begin(c), end(c), e) != end(c); };
Simple usage contains(arr, el) is somewhat similar to in keyword semantics in Python.
Here is a complete demo:
#include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
template<typename C, typename T>
bool contains(C&& c, T e) {
return std::find(std::begin(c), std::end(c), e) != std::end(c);
};
template<typename C, typename T>
void check(C&& c, T e) {
std::cout << e << (contains(c,e) ? "" : " not") << " found\n";
}
int main() {
int a[] = { 10, 15, 20 };
std::array<int, 3> b { 10, 10, 10 };
std::vector<int> v { 10, 20, 30 };
std::string s { "Hello, Stack Overflow" };
check(a, 10);
check(b, 15);
check(v, 20);
check(s, 'Z');
return 0;
}
Output:
10 found
15 not found
20 found
Z not found
One wants this to be done tersely.
Nothing makes code more unreadable then spending 10 lines to achieve something elementary.
In C++ (and other languages) we have all and any which help us to achieve terseness in this case. I want to check whether a function parameter is valid, meaning equal to one of a number of values.
Naively and wrongly, I would first write
if (!any_of({ DNS_TYPE_A, DNS_TYPE_MX }, wtype) return false;
a second attempt could be
if (!any_of({ DNS_TYPE_A, DNS_TYPE_MX }, [&wtype](const int elem) { return elem == wtype; })) return false;
Less incorrect, but looses some terseness.
However, this is still not correct because C++ insists in this case (and many others) that I specify both start and end iterators and cannot use the whole container as a default for both. So, in the end:
const vector validvalues{ DNS_TYPE_A, DNS_TYPE_MX };
if (!any_of(validvalues.cbegin(), validvalues.cend(), [&wtype](const int elem) { return elem == wtype; })) return false;
which sort of defeats the terseness, but I don't know a better alternative...
Thank you for not pointing out that in the case of 2 values I could just have just if ( || ). The best approach here (if possible) is to use a case structure with a default where not only the values are checked, but also the appropriate actions are done.
The default case can be used for signalling an invalid value.
You can use old C-style programming to do the job. This will require little knowledge about C++. Good for beginners.
For modern C++ language you usually accomplish this through lambda, function objects, ... or algorithm: find, find_if, any_of, for_each, or the new for (auto& v : container) { } syntax. find class algorithm takes more lines of code. You may also write you own template find function for your particular need.
Here is my sample code
#include <iostream>
#include <functional>
#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
/**
* This is old C-like style. It is mostly gong from
* modern C++ programming. You can still use this
* since you need to know very little about C++.
* #param storeSize you have to know the size of store
* How many elements are in the array.
* #return the index of the element in the array,
* if not found return -1
*/
int in_array(const int store[], const int storeSize, const int query) {
for (size_t i=0; i<storeSize; ++i) {
if (store[i] == query) {
return i;
}
}
return -1;
}
void testfind() {
int iarr[] = { 3, 6, 8, 33, 77, 63, 7, 11 };
// for beginners, it is good to practice a looping method
int query = 7;
if (in_array(iarr, 8, query) != -1) {
cout << query << " is in the array\n";
}
// using vector or list, ... any container in C++
vector<int> vecint{ 3, 6, 8, 33, 77, 63, 7, 11 };
auto it=find(vecint.begin(), vecint.end(), query);
cout << "using find()\n";
if (it != vecint.end()) {
cout << "found " << query << " in the container\n";
}
else {
cout << "your query: " << query << " is not inside the container\n";
}
using namespace std::placeholders;
// here the query variable is bound to the `equal_to` function
// object (defined in std)
cout << "using any_of\n";
if (any_of(vecint.begin(), vecint.end(), bind(equal_to<int>(), _1, query))) {
cout << "found " << query << " in the container\n";
}
else {
cout << "your query: " << query << " is not inside the container\n";
}
// using lambda, here I am capturing the query variable
// into the lambda function
cout << "using any_of with lambda:\n";
if (any_of(vecint.begin(), vecint.end(),
[query](int val)->bool{ return val==query; })) {
cout << "found " << query << " in the container\n";
}
else {
cout << "your query: " << query << " is not inside the container\n";
}
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
testfind();
return 0;
}
Say this file is named 'testalgorithm.cpp'
you need to compile it with
g++ -std=c++11 -o testalgorithm testalgorithm.cpp
Hope this will help. Please update or add if I have made any mistake.
If you were originally looking for the answer to this question (int value in sorted (Ascending) int array), then you can use the following code that performs a binary search (fastest result):
static inline bool exists(int ints[], int size, int k) // array, array's size, searched value
{
if (size <= 0) // check that array size is not null or negative
return false;
// sort(ints, ints + size); // uncomment this line if array wasn't previously sorted
return (std::binary_search(ints, ints + size, k));
}
edit: Also works for unsorted int array if uncommenting sort.
You can do it in a beginners style by using control statements and loops..
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(){
int arr[] = {10,20,30,40,50}, toFind= 10, notFound = -1;
for(int i = 0; i<=sizeof(arr); i++){
if(arr[i] == toFind){
cout<< "Element is found at " <<i <<" index" <<endl;
return 0;
}
}
cout<<notFound<<endl;
}
C++ has NULL as well, often the same as 0 (pointer to address 0x00000000).
Do you use NULL or 0 (zero) for pointers in C++?
So in C++ that null check would be:
if (!foo)
cout << "not found";

Where is the operator "<" used in this sample?

I tried STL sample program using "map".
http://ideone.com/LB8xvh
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
class ItemName
{
char name[80];
public:
ItemName(char *s) { strcpy(name, s); }
char *get() { return name; }
};
bool operator<(ItemName a, ItemName b)
{
return strcmp(a.get(), b.get()) < 0;
}
class ItemObj
{
char str[80];
public:
ItemObj(char *s) { strcpy(str, s); }
char *get() { return str; }
};
char itemdata[][80] = {
"potion", "heal HP",
"key", "unlock a door",
"lamp", "light",
};
int main() {
map<ItemName, ItemObj> items;
for(int i=0; i<3; i++) {
items.insert(
pair<ItemName, ItemObj>(
ItemName(itemdata[i*2]),
ItemObj(itemdata[i*2+1]))); // ***** pair *****
}
map<ItemName, ItemObj>::iterator p;
char str[80];
const int kMaxLoop = 5;
int nLoop = 0;
while(nLoop < kMaxLoop) {
cout << "> ";
cin >> str;
p = items.find(str);
if(p != items.end() ) {
cout << p->second.get() << endl;
} else {
cout << "unknown item." << endl;
}
nLoop++;
}
return 0;
}
In this example, I am not quite sure where the operator "<" is used.
If I comment out the definition of the operator "<", I receive lots of errors.
std::map has a parameter to specify how to compare elements in the map (needed because a map always maintains its contents sorted in order by key). By default, that's std::less<T>.
std::less<T>, in turn, will do the comparison using operator<.
You can create a map of items for which operator< isn't defined, but to do it you need to specify the comparison function/functor explicitly.
That said: your ItemData and ItemObj are both really just doing things that std::string can already do. You could reduce most of the code above to something like this:
std::map<std::string, std::string> items{
{ "potion", "heal HP" },
{ "key", "unlock a door" },
{ "lamp", "light" }
};
It is used internally by the map to place and find entries. Otherwise, find would have to compare the key you supply it against literally every single other entry one by one and you couldn't iterate the map in key order.
Basically, maps efficiently store elements in order. To do that, they have to have some way to know what the order is, and they do that by calling operator< (unless you specify otherwise).

How do I remove an element from an array and move everything up a spot?

I am trying to remove a name from this array and then have an empty spot at the last position of the array once removed. How do I do this? Here is what I tried below. It removes it, but doesnt move to the end.
const int array_size = 16;
string restaurants[array_size] = {"Texas Roadhouse","On The Border","Olive Garden","Panda Express","Cracker Barrel","IHOP","Woohoo","Pei Wei","Mcdonalds","Denny's","Mrs. Fields","Subway","Dairy Queen","Burger King","Pizza Hut","Dominos"};
int current_size = 16;
cout << "Please enter the name of the Restaurant you would like to remove: ";
cin.ignore();
getline(cin, remove_restaurant);
remove(restaurants, restaurants_size, remove_restaurant);//function call
bool remove(string restaurants[], int& current_size, string name)//function to remove array
{
for (int i = 0; i < current_size; i++)//look at each name you want to remove
{
if ( restaurants[i] == name)
{
restaurants[i]=restaurants[i+1];
current_size --;
cout << "Restaurant removed successfully." << endl;
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
Use the remove-erase idiom, with std::remove and std::fill:
bool remove(string restaurants[], int& current_size, string name)//function to remove array
{
auto begin = std::begin(restaurants);
auto end = std::next(begin, current_size);
auto new_end = std::remove(begin, end, name);
std::fill(new_end, end, {});
current_size = std::distance(begin, new_end);
if (new_end != end) {
std::cout << "Restaurant removed successfully." << std::endl;
}
return new_end != end;
}
Create an array of the same size as the original
Begin iterating elements of the original array
If the current item in the array does not equal the item to remove, add it to the new array
Here is one possible way to amend your current solution. I agree with ott--, though, you should probably use a list instead.
for (int i = 0; i < current_size; i++)//look at each name you want to remove
{
if (restaurants[i] == name) {
swap(restaurants[i], restaurants[current_size-1]);
current_size --;
cout << "Restaurant removed successfully." << endl;
return true;
}
}
With std::vector, std::remove, and std::vector::erase:
#include <algorithm>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
// ...
vector<string> restaurants { ... };
string remove_restaurant;
getline(cin, remove_restaurant);
restaurants.erase
(remove(restaurants.begin(), restaurants.end(), remove_restaurant));
First of all, I think you'd much rather use a vector or list for this, that's what it has been designed for. But if you want to go this way, you could for example write a moveUp method:
void moveUp(int startIndex, int endIndex, string* array) {
for (int ii = startIndex; ii < endIndex; ++ii) {
array[ii] = array[ii + 1];
}
array[endIndex] = 0;
}

Dynamic Memory Allocation for Dictionary

Hi there I need to Build something like a dictionary and each word according to my code can have 100 meanings, but maybe it has only 5 meanings then I will be allocating 95 extra space for nothing or maybe it has more than 100 meanings then the program will crash, I know the vector class is very easy and could be good use of, but the task is almost building my own vector class, to learn how it works. Thus **meanings and some other stuff remain the same and here is my code, Also I know I am causing memory leakage, how can I delete properly? :
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
class Expression {
char *word_with_several_meanings; // like "bank", "class"
char **meanings; // a pointer to a pointer stores all meanings
int meanings_ctr; // meanings counter
//-----------FUNCTIONS------------------------------------------------
public:
void word( char* = NULL );
void add_meaning(char* = NULL);
char* get_word();
int get_total_number_of_meanings();
char* get_meaning(int meanx = 0);
Expression(int mctr = 0); // CTOR
~Expression(); // DTOR
};
Expression::Expression(int mctr ) {
meanings_ctr = mctr; // Setting the counter to 0
meanings = new char * [100]; // Allocate Space for 100 meanings
}
Expression::~Expression() {
delete [] meanings; // Deleting the memory we allocated
delete [] word_with_several_meanings; // Deleting the memory we allocated
}
void Expression::word( char *p2c )
{
word_with_several_meanings = new char[strlen(p2c)+1];
// copy the string, DEEP copy
strcpy(word_with_several_meanings, p2c);
}
void Expression::add_meaning(char *p2c)
{
//meanings = new char * [meanings_ctr+1];
meanings[meanings_ctr] = new char[strlen(p2c)+1];
strcpy(meanings[meanings_ctr++],p2c);
}
char * Expression::get_meaning( int meanx )
{
return *(meanings+meanx);
}
char * Expression::get_word()
{
return word_with_several_meanings;
}
int Expression::get_total_number_of_meanings()
{
return meanings_ctr;
}
int main(void) {
int i;
Expression expr;
expr.word("bank ");
expr.add_meaning("a place to get money from");
expr.add_meaning("b place to sit");
expr.add_meaning("4 letter word");
expr.add_meaning("Test meaning");
cout << expr.get_word() << endl;
for(int i = 0; i<expr.get_total_number_of_meanings(); i++)
cout << " " << expr.get_meaning(i) << endl;
Expression expr2;
expr2.word("class");
expr2.add_meaning("a school class");
expr2.add_meaning("a classification for a hotel");
expr2.add_meaning("Starts with C");
cout << expr2.get_word() << endl;
for( i = 0; i<expr2.get_total_number_of_meanings(); i++)
cout << " " << expr2.get_meaning(i) << endl;
Expression expr3;
expr3.word("A long test ... ");
char str[] = "Meaning_ ";
for (int kx=0;kx<26;kx++)
{
str[8] = (char) ('A'+kx);
expr3.add_meaning(str);
}
cout << expr3.get_word() << endl;
for(i = 0; i < expr3.get_total_number_of_meanings(); i++)
cout << " " << expr3.get_meaning(i) << endl;
return 0;
}
When you are allocating a multi dimensional array with new then you are allocating it with a loop, e.g.
char **x = new char*[size]
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
x[i] = new int[size];
}
So you also have to delete it in this fashion:
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
delete[] x[i];
}
delete[] x;
Thus when you're having arbitrary sizes of your array you'll have to store them somewhere for using them within the destructor.
delete [] meanings; // Deleting the memory we allocated
won't get rid of your memory allocated, only the pointers themselves.
To free up the actual memory, you will need to iterate through your meanings array, and delete [] each element in it.
Something like:
for (int i = 0; i < meanings_ctr; ++i)
{
delete [] meanings[meanings_ctr];
meanings[meanings_ctr] = NULL;
}
delete [] meanings;
--
For the problem of what to do if you get more than 100 meanings (or in general when your collection is full), the standard technique is to allocate a new array that is double the size (which you can do since it is dynamic), copy your existing collection into that one, and then dispose of your existing one.
I'd use a simple linked list (this is simplified, not complete and untested; also there should be proper getters/setters and stuff):
class Meaning {
char text[20];
Meaning *next;
Meaning(const char *text) : next(0) {
strcpy(this->text, text);
}
}
class Word {
char text[20];
Meaning *first;
Meaning *last;
Word(const char *text) : first(0), last(0) {
strcpy(this->text, text);
}
~Word() {
Meaning *m = first, *n;
while(m) {
n = m->next;
delete m;
m = n;
}
}
void AddMeaning(const char *text) {
if (last) {
last = last->next = new Meaning(text);
}
else {
first = last = new Meaning(text);
}
}
void print() {
printf("%s:\n\t", text);
Meaning *m = first;
while (m) {
printf("%s, ", m->text);
m = m->next;
}
}
}