Problem with array of structures

**Sonia** · 10-11-2010

Hey guys. Please have a look at this code. I'm not gettin the expected output... Please help.

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
	struct book
	{
		char name;
		float price;
		int pages;
	};
	struct book b[2];
	int i;
	for(i=0;i<2;i++)
	{
		printf("\nEnter name, price and pages");
		scanf("%c %f %d", &b[i].name, &b[i].price, &b[i].pages");
	}
	for(i=0;i<2;i++)
		printf("%c %f %d", b[i].name, b[i].price, b[i].pages");
	getch();
}

///// This section is included to avoid Linker Error

linkfloat()
{
	float a=0, *b;
	b=&a;
	a=*b;
}


/// This section is included to avoid Linker Error

Input given is(for eg)

s 456 234

d 456 889

output

s 456.00000 234

garbage value

**R.Stiltskin** · 10-12-2010

The problem is that the newline character that terminates your first input remains in the input stream (since it can't be used as part of the int stored in pages), and then it messes up the next line of input: the newline character itself is accepted as the "name" for the second entry, and then the "d" that you entered can't be matched to a float for "price" so scanf returns prematurely without reading anything for "price" and "pages" of the second struct.

You can solve this by adding a call to getchar() to extract (and ignore) that newline character, e.g.:

Code:

//...
        printf("\nEnter name, price and pages");
        scanf("%c %f %d", &b[i].name, &b[i].price, &b[i].pages);
        getchar();
//...

PS: I don't understand the point of your linkfloat function "to avoid linker error". What linker error? And how does that code avoid it?

**ch4** · 10-12-2010

Code:

int main(void)
{
	struct book
	{
		char name;
		float price;
		int pages;
	};

	struct book b[2];
	int i;

	for(i=0;i<2;i++)
	{
		printf("\nEnter name, price and pages:\t");
		scanf("%c %f %d", &(b[i].name), &(b[i].price), &(b[i].pages) "); //Extra quotes ?
                //Flush \n
	}

	for(i=0;i<2;i++)
		printf("%c %f %d", b[i].name, b[i].price, b[i].pages "); //Extra quotes
	getch();

 return 0;
}

1) Main should be int main(void)
2) Return int at the end
3) There are extra quotes at both scanf and printf
4) Use parenthesis to be sure about where you want to store a variable whenever & or * used.
5) Scanf reads a char/float/int but also and the newline character \n. The last one should be flushed from input stream because it's waiting on the queue for the next input. You can use a while(getchar()!='\n'); (simple way for your problem) after scanf.

//Slow answer

**iMalc** · 10-12-2010

Yet, another person using Turbo C++ ... What is the world coming to!

Was there some large time machine which in 1990 transported people 20 years into the future, that arrived recently? I don't know how else to explain this sudden burst of people using a virtually prehistoric compiler.

Look up the documentation on printf and you should find how to format floats however you want. This is of course, assuming that the anchient thing you're using is in the general ballpark of working as per modern documentation. Otherwise, perhaps you could find a 20 year old book on Turbo C++.

**msh** · 10-12-2010

The issue here is that scanf() leaves the newline character (\n) in the buffer. At first call (for b[0]), all is well, but on the consecutive call if fails terribly.
The solution is to clean out any newlines that might be left in the buffer, like so.

Code:

int ch;
for(i=0;i<2;i++)
{
    printf("\nEnter name, price and pages");
    scanf("%c %f %d", &b[i].name, &b[i].price, &b[i].pages);
    while( ( ch = getchar() ) != EOF && ch != '\n');
}

**Adak** · 10-12-2010

Code:

scanf("%c %f %d", &b[i].name, &b[i].price, &b[i].pages");

The problem is in red, above. Scanf() leaves a newline char behind in the input stream, always. That is no problem for numbers, because numbers are bigger, so scanf() just goes on past the little char of the newline.

But then you have the second time through the loop, and scanf() reaches the newline left behind from the last pages entry, and says "OK, you wanted a char. I got a char!", and accepts the newline char, as the b[1].name.

Now things go to hell in a handbasket, since you're entering a letter for name, and now scanf() is already looking for a price. So you're now trying to feed scanf() a newline, and a char, for a price, and it's just not computing.

So do it like this:

Code:

	for(i=0;i<2;i++)
	{
		printf("\nEnter name, price and pages");
		scanf("%c %f %d", &b[i].name, &b[i].price, &b[i].pages");
                getchar();  //pull off the newline char
	}

This is the most common noob problem, with C, imo.

Holy Cow, I've been ninja-posted!!

**msh** · 10-12-2010

Originally Posted by R.Stiltskin

[...]scanf returns prematurely without reading anything for "price" and "pages" of the second struct.

So scanf() returns as soon as it can't match?

I was somewhat under the impression that it just kept on matching to the best of its (dis)ability.

**msh** · 10-12-2010

Originally Posted by Adak

Holy Cow, I've been ninja-posted!!

You and me both. I was like, "Hey this thread has no answers! Maybe I can contribute something meaningful!"

*fiddles with code*

*posts*

"Where did all these posts come from!?"

**Adak** · 10-12-2010

Although it's used a lot in C books for new programmers, scanf() is:

1) flakey - yes, it quits!

2) it has a lot of cryptic specifiers.

So yes, it works, but you REALLY have to know C to use it well, AND using it for user input is not a good idea, generally. Dumb user's have so many smart ways to break input for a program!

@msh: Xactly!!

**msh** · 10-12-2010

Originally Posted by iMalc

Yet, another person using Turbo C++ ... What is the world coming to!

Was there some large time machine which in 1990 transported people 20 years into the future, that arrived recently? I don't know how else to explain this sudden burst of people using a virtually prehistoric compiler.

The End Times are nigh, surely!

I think that it's due to the fact that there are plenty of educational institutions out there that like to keep fossilized professors with their favorite (likewise fossilized) compilers on board ("It's the one I've always thought on! There's nothing wrong with it.").

**Sonia** · 10-12-2010

hey thanks so much you guys...

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