K&R Exercise 1-9

Exercise 1-9. Write a program to copy its input to its output, replacing each string of one or more blanks by a single blank.

I guess it very simple but I tried many combinations ... I managed to do this program last year it was by chance I guess because I cant do it now , but I failed on the 1-10 when I checked the answers from internet I saw that commands were used which wasnt mentioned at all in the program till 22nd page ... that ........ed me off and then I left the book now I started again because I am thinking there shall be many ways to do a program and surely there would be solutions with the mentioned commands till 22nd , right now I sucked at this , gonna read the last paragraphs again and continue trying it in this time I would appreciate any suggestions from you and here is my idea to the program :

If there is more than one space convert all to a single space and continue ...

here is the basic i/o code from K&R :

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
/* copy input to output; 1st version */
main()
  {
  int c;
  c = getchar();
  
  while (c != EOF) {
  putchar(c);
  c = getchar();
  }
}

P.S.: I am a complete beginner.

This is how I might do it, on a string literal. If it was a char array, I'd probably do the same, but use an index perhaps, instead of a pointer.

I don't like the mess of getc, getchar, fgetc, fgetchar, etc.. They're too close to being the same, but not. Sort of not hot, not cold, just lukewarm blah and you want to spit them out.

IMO, pointers and indeces are natural iterators for char strings and char arrays.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
/* copy input to output; 1st version */


int main()
  {
  int skip;
  char *c;
  char *string = { "\nWater, water,   everywhere,\nand all the boards did shrink\n    water, water,  everywhere   and nary a drop to   drink"};

  printf("\n\n %s \n", string);

  c = string;
  skip = 0;
  while (*c != '\0') {
    if(*c == ' ' && skip == 1)
      ;                                        //we be skipping! :)
    else {
      putchar(*c);
      if(*c != ' ')
        skip = 0;
    }
    ++c;
    
    if(*c == ' ' && skip == 0) {
      skip = 1;
      putchar(*c);
      ++c;
    }
  }

  return 0;
}

thanks a lot for your time but && operator and * isnt yet mentioned in the book

P.S. :I am not able to give any input in your program

I have to confess, the exercises in K&R, seemed straight forward, or uninteresting, so I never did them.

OK, you haven't had pointers yet. How about indexes (indeces), for working in arrays?

Do you want char's from a file, or do you want them from the keyboard?

Originally Posted by Adak

Do you want char's from a file, or do you want them from the keyboard?

I believe a number of the K&R exercises like this expect a file to be piped to the stdin.

@Anarchy: spoiler alert, but there's not a whole lotta code there.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    /*Write a program to copy its input to its output, replacing each string of
      one or more blanks by a single blank. */
      
      int c;
      
      enum { in_space, out_space };
      int state = in_space;
      
      while((c=getchar())!=EOF)
      {
         if(c==' ' || c=='\t')
         {
             if(state == out_space)
             putchar(' ');
             
             state = in_space;
         }
         else if(c=='\n') 
         {
              state = in_space;
              putchar(c);
         }
         else
         {
             state = out_space;
             putchar(c);
         }
      }    
     
  
    
  system("PAUSE");	
  return 0;
}

Exercises in K&R boring :O Ofcourse if you've readen about 5+ books.

Its my first book and i find it awsome.

Altho i must admit, my code looks terrible now when i look at it . It's been a while since i wrote this.

Hey guys thanks a lot but I read the answer again which was on internet and I finally understood it :P