Help with searching text file

Hi all, I've gotten very close with my project and just need a fresh pair of eyes to point out the obvious. My code seems to parse through the text file, yet does not actually search correctly. My search term of 'the' gave back 0 results, even though that word is obviously in there.

Code:

/*
 ask the user for a word
 convert user word to LOWER CASE
 open output file
 open input file
 test to be sure input file is open
 search for target word and keep count --> how??
 print results to monitor
 write results to file
 close files
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main (void)
{
	//declare 
	int i =0;
	int count = 0;
	
	/*************************************************************
	 working with arrays and strings
	*************************************************************/
	char mystring[50]; //what user puts in
	char target[50]; //the word in the file we are looking for
	
	printf("input your message ");
	scanf("%s", mystring);
	//printf("%s", mystring);
	
	
	/*************************************************************
	 find file, write to it, output the string, end and close file
	**************************************************************/
	
	//define text file to use
	FILE * cfile;	
	//name of file == file
	cfile = fopen("./thanksgiving_proclamation.txt", "a+");
	
	//error handling if file does not exist
	if(cfile == NULL) printf("Cannot open file");
	
	/*************************************************************
	         parse through file and search for string
	**************************************************************/	
	//convert string to lowercase
	for(i = 0; i < /*strlen(mystring)*/ 500; i++)//convert to string length
	{
		if(target[i] >= 'A' && target[i] <='Z')
			//convert char between a and z into lowercase
			target[i] = target[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
	}
	
	//compare our strings
	do{
		//scan through file
		fscanf(cfile, "%s", mystring);	
		
		//convert string to lowercase
		for(i = 0; i < /*strlen(mystring)*/ 300; i++)//convert to string length
		{
			if(mystring[i] >= 'A' && mystring[i] <='Z')
				//convert char between a and z into lowercase
				mystring[i] = mystring[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
		}
		if(strcmp(mystring, target) == 0)
			count++;
	}while(!feof(cfile));
	
	//while(strcmp(target,"quit")!=0)//end loop
	
	   
	//print to file
	fprintf(cfile, "\nYour search '%s' was found %d times\n", mystring, count);
	   
	//close file
	fclose(cfile);
	
	//show user file has been written
	printf("\nSuccess. File has been written\n");
	
	printf("Your search '%s' was found %d times \n", mystring, count);
	
	printf("Press Enter to Continue...");
	getchar();
	return 0;
}

Look at the string right in this part of the code:

Code:

	//compare our strings
	do{
		//scan through file
		fscanf(cfile, "%s", mystring);	
		
		//convert string to lowercase
		for(i = 0; i < /*strlen(mystring)*/ 300; i++)//convert to string length
		{
			if(mystring[i] >= 'A' && mystring[i] <='Z')
				//convert char between a and z into lowercase
				mystring[i] = mystring[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
		}

                printf("\n mystring: %s \n   target:%s mystring, target);
                //note particularly where the cursor is positioned after it prints the last word, 
                //and any double spacing (vertically), which indicates a trailing newline is
                //attached to the end of the word. Usually it's a trailing newline or EOS char
                //difference in the words that goofs up the comparison.

                j = getchar(); //add int j to your variables

		if(strcmp(mystring, target) == 0)
			count++;

Hmm. Here is what I added:

Code:

//compare our strings
	do{
		//scan through file
		fscanf(cfile, "%s", mystring);	
		
		//convert string to lowercase
		for(i = 0; i < /*strlen(mystring)*/ 300; i++)//convert to string length
		{
			if(mystring[i] >= 'A' && mystring[i] <='Z')
				//convert char between a and z into lowercase
				mystring[i] = mystring[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
		}
		printf("\n mystring: %s \n target:%s", mystring, target);
		int j;
		j = getchar(); //add int j to your variables
		
		if(strcmp(mystring, target) == 0)
			count++;
	}while(!feof(cfile));

And here is what I'm seeing:

input your message the

mystring: the
target:
Success. File has been written
Your search 'the' was found 0 times
Press Enter to Continue...

Well I am not sure of your intent regarding the code for your target array. That seems to be pointless here. Also your are scaning your file for "mystring" then afterwards converting that to lower case?

When you actually compare mystring to target, what is target here, what it initialized to be?

Not sure, but is your intent to store the fscan function into target instead of mystring?


Also, not good practice to imbed /*comments */ within the statement. Please include comments at the head of the block/test/code piece.

My goal is to compare the user input (mystring) with the content of the text file (target). If they match then I need to keep a record (using my count variable) and print out how many times the user input (mystring) is seen in the text file.

I'm lost at the point of comparing

In a quick test, if you simply alter your code to use 'target' instead of mystring argument you should fare much better!

Originally Posted by slingerland3g

In a quick test, if you simply alter your code to use 'target' instead of mystring argument you should fare much better!

Sorry, I am not exactly sure where I should switch mystring for target regarding your reply.

Good catch, Slingerland!

Zachary, you're bringing in the file words, and putting them into the wrong string.

Put them into the "target" string, instead.

Code:

//scan through file
		fscanf(cfile, "%s", mystring);	//change this to target

One more thing, there is some stack smashing happening as well, that I see. You may want to alter your loops to go as far as the string length, as you commented out. You will need to include string.h for this. Move your loop too alter your "target" string inside your 'do-while'.

Originally Posted by slingerland3g

One more thing, there is some stack smashing happening as well, that I see. You may want to alter your loops to go as far as the string length, as you commented out. You will need to include string.h for this. Move your loop too alter your "target" string inside your 'do-while'.

Ah, the missing #include<string.h> is what was making the string length not work. Thanks for that

Also thanks Adak for pointing out the wrong string I'm looking for I really appreciate the help, as my eyes are bleeding from looking over this beast.

While I'm making progress I still can't get it to actually register with the textfile (target array) and match up my user input (mystring array). Below is revised code up to this point,

Code:

/*
 ask the user for a word
 convert user word to LOWER CASE
 open output file
 open input file
 test to be sure input file is open
 search for target word and keep count --> how??
 print results to monitor
 write results to file
 close files
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<string.h>

int main (void)
{
	//declare 
	int i =0;
	int count = 0;
	
	/*************************************************************
	 working with arrays and strings
	*************************************************************/
	char mystring[50]; //what user puts in
	char target[50]; //the word in the file we are looking for
	
	printf("input your message ");
	scanf("%s", mystring);
	//printf("%s", mystring);
	
	
	/*************************************************************
	 find file, write to it, output the string, end and close file
	**************************************************************/
	
	//define text file to use
	FILE * cfile;	
	//name of file == file
	cfile = fopen("./thanksgiving_proclamation.txt", "a+");
	
	//error handling if file does not exist
	if(cfile == NULL) printf("Cannot open file");
	
	/*************************************************************
	         parse through file and search for string
	**************************************************************/	
	//convert string to lowercase
	for(i = 0; i < strlen(mystring); i++)//convert to string length
	{
		if(target[i] >= 'A' && target[i] <='Z')
			//convert char between a and z into lowercase
			target[i] = target[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
	}
	
	//compare our strings
	do{
		//scan through file
		fscanf(cfile, "%s", target);	
		
		//convert string to lowercase
		for(i = 0; i < strlen(mystring); i++)//convert to string length
		{
			if(mystring[i] >= 'A' && mystring[i] <='Z')
				//convert char between a and z into lowercase
				mystring[i] = mystring[i] + 32; //makes uppercase char
		}
		/**********
		 code help by adak on cboard
		**********/
		
		printf("\n mystring: %s \n target:%s", mystring, target);
		int j;
		j = getchar(); //add int j to your variables
		
		/*********
		 end code help
		**********/
		if(strcmp(mystring, target) == 0)
			count++;
	}while(!feof(cfile));
	
	//while(strcmp(target,"quit")!=0)//end loop
	
	   
	//print to file
	fprintf(cfile, "\nYour search '%s' was found %d times\n", mystring, count);
	   
	//close file
	fclose(cfile);
	
	//show user file has been written
	printf("\nSuccess. File has been written\n");
	
	printf("Your search '%s' was found %d times \n", mystring, count);
	
	printf("Press Enter to Continue...");
	getchar();
	return 0;
}

Would the issue of not comparing be in this part?

Code:

if(strcmp(mystring, target) == 0)
			count++;

while(!feof(cfile)

do not use feof to control loop - read FAQ

Why are you opening the text file, in append+ mode?

Aren't you just reading the file, from first word to last word?

This is what I think you were setting out to do with your program.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>  //strlen()
#include <ctype.h>   //isalpha()

int main (void)
{
	//declare 
  FILE * cfile;	
  char ch;
  int len, j, i = 0;
  int count = 0;
	
  char target[20]; //the word we are looking for
  char mystring[20] = { '\0' }; //the word from the file

	/*************************************************************
	 working with arrays and strings
	*************************************************************/

   printf("\n\n\n\n"); //clean some space

	/*************************************************************
	 find file, write to it, output the string, end and close file
	**************************************************************/
	
	//define and open text file
  cfile = fopen("blessing.txt", "rt");
	
	//error handling if file does not exist
  if(cfile == NULL) printf("Cannot open file");
	
            // input target
  printf("Enter the target word I'm looking for: ");
  fgets(target, sizeof(target), stdin);
  printf("\nTarget: %s", target);
            //remove the newline fgets() adds, replace it with EOS char
  target[strlen(target) - 1] = '\0'; 
            
  
  for(i = 0; i < strlen(target); i++) //convert target to all lowercase
  {
     if(target[i] >= 'A' && target[i] <='Z')
	target[i] = target[i] + 32; 
  }
  printf("\ntarget: %s", target);

	/*************************************************************
	         parse through file and search for string
	**************************************************************/	
  i = 0; //prime the while "pump"

  while(1) {
    ch=fgetc(cfile);  
    if(ch == EOF)
      break;
    if(isalpha(ch)) {
      mystring[i] = ch;
      ++i;
    }
    else { //we should be at the end of the word
      //so set mystring's word, to all lowercase
      len = strlen(mystring);
      if(len == 0) 
        continue;
      for(j = 0; j <= len; j++) {
        if(mystring[j] >= 'A' && mystring[j] <= 'Z') 
          mystring[j] += ('a' - 'A');
      }
      //add the end of string char
      mystring[i+1] = '\0';
      //show nothing is going awry :)
      printf("\n mystring: %s", mystring);
      //see if the words are a match and count 'em up, if they are.
      if((strcmp(mystring, target)) == 0)
        count++;
      
      //remove the old word
      for(i = 0; i <= len; i++)
        mystring[i] = '\0';
      
      i = 0; //reset i for the next word
    }
  }
  //close file
  fclose(cfile);
	
  //show user file has been written  
  //printf("\nSuccess. File has been written\n");
	
  printf("\n\nYour search '%s' was found %d times \n", target, count);
	
  printf("Press Enter to Continue...");
  j = getchar();
  return 0;
}

I used this phrase, in the file "blessing.txt":
"For food, for raiment, for life and opportunity; for friendship and fellowship, we thank Thee, oh Lord."

It works properly, in limited testing.

At the bottom of the text file, I need to print what they searched for and how many times it showed up. This is why I was using a+. Is this not correct?

Originally Posted by zacharyrs

At the bottom of the text file, I need to print what they searched for and how many times it showed up. This is why I was using a+. Is this not correct?

The file mode has nothing to do with printing out what the target was, or how many times it was found.

You should use "r" for read mode, when you want to search through a file from front to back. Append mode is for writing onto the end of the file (appending the new data).