Thread: Problem with a code

Hello. I am new to this forum and hoping to find an answer to my problem. My lecturer at college is not quite doing what he is supposed to, and doesn't want to explain to us what certain commands do. My first question is What does strcmp() and strtok() do, and what's the right way to use them.

Then he asked us to write a C code to simulate the Command Prompt console that we can get in windows. Started off with an easy (i thought) one. Here is the code that I have, but it is not doing what I want it to do. It should be working like the "dir" command in cmd:

Code:

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


void cmdcom(char);
int main()
{
    char* cmdline;
    printf("C:\\ ");
    gets(cmdline);


    char* cmd;
    char* para1;
    char* para2;


    cmd=strtok(cmdline,"");
    para1=strtok();
    para2=strtok();






    if(strcmp(cmd,"CD")==0)
    {
        //CD command
    }
    if(strcmp(cmd,"dir")==0)
    {
        cmdcom(cmd);
    }
    return 0;
}
void cmdcom(char dirname)
{
    DIR *dir;
    struct dirent *ent;


        dir = opendir(dirname);


            if(dir!=NULL)
        {
        while ((ent=readdir(dir))!=NULL)
        {
            printf("%s\n",ent->d_name);
        }
        closedir(dir);
    }
    else
    {
        perror("");
    }
}

I am problably using strtok wrong, so any feedback is really appreciated. Also hints as to how to tackle a CD command, would be useful.

Regards,
Artur.

The idea for using gets() was kind of forced byt the lecturer, but I've no problem with changing that. I made the changes that you mentioned, but still, don't quite get how to make this function to actually work for me. I know that the cmdcom function works fine, because when I put it in main, it does the job but I just don't know how to probably pass the parameter for the function to read which directory it has to open.

About strtok, again, this part of the code was given to us by the lecturer, with no explanation at all, so it is quite confusing for me.

Thank you for a fast reply.

My lecturer at college is not quite doing what he is supposed to, and doesn't want to explain to us what certain commands do. My first question is What does strcmp() and strtok() do, and what's the right way to use them.

No excuse. The whole of the Internet is out there and searchable.

http://www.google.com/q=man+strcmp

Originally Posted by Artur Leonowicz

I am problably using strtok wrong, so any feedback is really appreciated. Also hints as to how to tackle a CD command, would be useful.

Look at the example from the FAQ and play around with it. If you have further questions, ask here.

About the "cd" command:
"cd" takes a directory as its parameter. Thus if you get for example the string "cd programs" from the user, you have to tokenize it (split it up into its part). You would get "cd" and "programs" as a result. Now you can call your function for changing directories with the second string (the directory name) as its argument.

Bye, Andreas

Originally Posted by AndiPersti

Look at the example from the FAQ and play around with it. If you have further questions, ask here.

About the "cd" command:
"cd" takes a directory as its parameter. Thus if you get for example the string "cd programs" from the user, you have to tokenize it (split it up into its part). You would get "cd" and "programs" as a result. Now you can call your function for changing directories with the second string (the directory name) as its argument.

Bye, Andreas

Thank you for the reply. I got as far as this with my understanding of strtok. I still don't get how to pass the parameter to the function after tokenizing it. I had a look at the FAQ, but it doesn't really answer my question. What is the correct way of passing tokenized parameter to a function?

Originally Posted by Artur Leonowicz

What is the correct way of passing tokenized parameter to a function?

strtok() returns a pointer to char, so your function should accept such a type

Code:

void cmdcom(char dirname)

Your version only takes a char as its parameter. You have to change the parameter to a pointer to char.

Bye, Andreas