Palindrome finder: non-alphanumeric character deletion problems - c++

Question

So I'm having a substantial amount of trouble with this one bit of code. I've included the whole program for context, but my issue lies in the cleanUp function, wherein I (attempt to) remove all characters that are not 'A' through 'Z'.
Any tips?
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
using namespace std;
bool again(string title); // Checks if you want to run again.
void makeUpper(char word[]);
void getReverse(char word[], char reversed[]);
char * find(char *str, char what);
bool equal(char word[], char reversed[]);
int size(char word[]);
char * cleanUp(char *str);
int main()
{
char word[256] = "Hello?? There!", reversedWord[256];
do
{
cout<<"Please enter the string to check: ";
makeUpper(word);
cout << word;
cleanUp(word);
getReverse(word,reversedWord);
if(equal(word, reversedWord))
cout<<"You have a palindrome!"<<endl;
else
cout<<"You do not have a palindrome!"<<endl;
} while(again("Do you want to do this again? "));
return 0;
}
bool again(string title)
{
string answer;
cout<<endl<<title;
getline(cin,answer);
return toupper(answer[0]) == 'Y';
}
void makeUpper(char word[])
{
char *ptr = word;
while (*ptr) {
*ptr = toupper(*ptr);
ptr++;
}
cout << "In uppercase:: " << word << endl;
}
char * cleanUp(char * astrid)
{
char *new_astrid;
for (*astrid; *astrid != '\0'; astrid++)
{
cout << "First loop";
if (isalpha(*astrid))
{
*new_astrid = *astrid;
new_astrid = ++new_astrid;
cout << "Here!";
}
}
cout << *new_astrid;
return *new_astrid;
}
void getReverse(char word[], char reversed[])
{
char *ptr_ind = find(word, '\0'), *ptr_ind_2 = reversed;
while(ptr_ind != word-1)
{
*ptr_ind_2 = *ptr_ind;
ptr_ind--;
ptr_ind_2++;
}
*ptr_ind_2 = '\0';
}
char * find(char *str, char what)
{
char *ptr = str;
while(*ptr != what && *ptr != '\0')
ptr++;
return *ptr == what ? ptr : NULL;
}
bool equal(char word[], char reverse[])
{
int total;
char * ptr;
ptr = word;
if((total = size(word)) != size(reverse))
return false;
for(char * ptr2 = reverse; *ptr != '\0' && *ptr == *ptr2; ptr++, ptr2++);
return *ptr == '\0';
}
int size(char word[])
{
int total = 0;
char * ptr = word;
while(*ptr != '\0') //while(!ptr)
{
ptr++;
total++;
}
return total;
}

Answer 1

There are several errors in your code.
new_astrid is not initialized and when you call *new_astrid = *astrid you try to copy a character to uninitialized memory, which will crash the program.
You also return the dereferenced pointer to new_astrid but the function prototype of cleanUp says that you return a pointer to char.
You should initialize new_astrid with new char[strlen(astrid)]. But then your code will result in memory leaks, since you increase the pointer (new_astid = ++new_astrid). So you should store the pointer first, so you can delete it later.
Instead of using raw pointers, i would suggest you use std::strings.
My suggestion for a palindrome tester would be:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <locale>
bool isPalindrome(std::string word)
{
std::locale loc;
for (std::string::size_type i = 0; i < word.length() / 2 + 1; ++i)
{
if (std::toupper(word[i],loc) != std::toupper(word[word.length() - i - 1],loc))
{
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
int main(int , char **)
{
std::string str = "Abba";
//Remove all non alpha values from string
str.erase(std::remove_if(str.begin(), str.end(), [](char const c){return !std::isalpha(c);}), str.end());
if (isPalindrome(str) == false)
{
std::cout << str << " is no palindrome" << std::endl;
}
else
{
std::cout << str << " is a palindrome" << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}
The erasion of non alpha values in the string is from this question.