AtoI() function (no hating plz im a newbee)

[Shinzu911]

im having trouble understanding this function i mean what is the purpose of it. if i wanted an integer i would ask for one. it makes no sense to me that if u want an integer you would ask for a string and then convert it into an integer i mean whats the point eg

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int age;
char years[8];
printf(“How old was Methuselah?”);
gets(years);
age=atoi(years);
printf(“Methuselah was %d years old.\n”,age);
return(0);
}

why could i not just do this :

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{

int age;

          printf(“How old was Methuselah?”);
          scanf("%d",age);
          printf(“Methuselah was %d years old.\n”,age);
         return(0);
}

[nimitzhunter]

this function is really beneficial when you're reading a data file. I work with financial institution's database, sometimes they just send over a text file. So you need a way to convert these number characters to numerical types. If your purpose is only for printing out the number, then atoi is useless. However, when you need to operate on them with "+,-,*,/,%" then you need to convert them from Ascii code to a numerical type.

[stahta01]

The scanf function takes more code to work; so, in small system (common in embedded systems) the atoi might save code space.
Note: In most of those cases, the printf would also not be used in order to save code space.

Note: To save code space you need to not use the function at all. If you use it once, using it a second time costs very little in code space.

Tim S.

[rags_to_riches]

Just a note. This code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{

int age;

          printf(“How old was Methuselah?”);
          scanf("%d",age);
          printf(“Methuselah was %d years old.\n”,age);
         return(0);
}

is wrong and will crash when run. scanf() requires the address of the variable it's reading into, so you need to do

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{

int age;

          printf(“How old was Methuselah?”);
          scanf("%d", &age);
          printf(“Methuselah was %d years old.\n”,age);
         return(0);
}

[WaltP]

im having trouble understanding this function i mean what is the purpose of it. if i wanted an integer i would ask for one. it makes no sense to me that if u want an integer you would ask for a string and then convert it into an integer i mean whats the point eg

why could i not just do this :

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{

int age;

          printf(“How old was Methuselah?”);
          scanf("%d",age);
          printf(“Methuselah was %d years old.\n”,age);
         return(0);
}

Try typing in "H" like many people will do by mistake. What happens?

[kitsune3233]

Try typing in "H" like many people will do by mistake. What happens?

That's exactly the problem. Also, scanf() is generally abhorred due to various problems. See Question 12.19 of the C FAQ for an example of what WaltP was referrring to, and Question 12.20 for some more information.

[cowell_theodore]

here is how I would do it, but you probably are not programming on windows.

#define UNICODE
#define _UNICODE
#pragma comment(lib,"Shlwapi.lib") //for StrToInt
#include <tchar.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <Shlwapi.h> //for StrToInt
using namespace std;


int _tmain(int argc, TCHAR **argv)
{
    INT i;
    LPTSTR lpStr = TEXT("1000");
   
    i = StrToInt(lpStr);
    
    wcout << i << endl;
    
    return 0;
}

[memcpy]

If you look at the homepage, you will see a "C++ Programming" board, and a "C Programming" board. By posting in the latter, you are expected to not use C++.

Your code is incorrect, by the way, because the point of his problem was to read an integer from the user, not specify one in the code.

Also, something to note: don't dump codes for people who ask questions. You're wasting your time, and teaching them nothing.

[cowell_theodore]

Sorry bout that, I just wanted to show a safer alternative to atoi. thanks for the advice.

[dmh2000]

if one is using a debugger and breakpoints, combining the gets (or the preferred fgets) with sscanf would let you see what actually was entered where scanf will just eat the bytes and you would never see what was typed.