Thread: Finding a character in an array of strings

I'm pretty new to C and I'm trying to figure out how to access a specific character in a specific string in an array of strings. For example, I've got an array of strings, rec[2], which contains four strings. They can be anything but let's say:

rec[0] = test1
rec[1] = test2
rec[2] = test3

I'd like to be able to reference the fifth character in each of the strings in the array. Here's what I've got, but it's not working. Note that the "rec" array has been passed into this function and I'm able to reference whole strings, but not specific characters.

Code:

int i;

for(i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
	printf("%s is test number %d\n", rec[i][4], i+1);
}

I thought that something like rec[0][4] would give me the fifth character of the first string, but it's not. I get a "segmentation fault" which I believe is indicating that rec[0][4] doesn't exist. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've got an array of strings, rec[2], which contains four strings

Actually, if it's declared as rec[2], you've only got two strings: rec[0] and rec[1].

A segmentation fault is when you try to refer to a location in memory that doesn't belong to your program. So if you go out of bounds on an array/string, that's what happens.

I suspect you're declaring the strings wrong and making assumptions about the outcome - can you post your entire code?

One problem I notice is in your printf, you're using %s and supplying what you think is a char. %s expects a pointer to char, and prints the whole string of characters until a null-character is reached. If you want to print a single character, use %c.

Originally Posted by bithub

You are trying to print a character, yet you used the %s format specifier instead of %c.

Ah, that did it. Thanks! Like I said, I'm new to C and didn't realize there was a difference between %s and %c. Thanks again!