reading from a text file into a 2 Dimensional Array---JUNK VALUES!!??

Hey everyone,

So i have this bit of code here, and it reads values from a text file named sales.txt

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#define MAX_ROWS 25
#define MAX_COLS 20

int main()
{
   FILE *fp = fopen("sales.txt", "r");
   char array[25][20];
   int i = 0;
   int j = 0;
   int row = 25;
   int col = 20;

   if ( fp )
   {
      for ( ;; )
      {
         int c = getc(fp);
         if ( c == EOF )
         {
            break;
         }
         if ( c != '\n' && c != '\r' )
         {
            array[i][j] = c;
            if ( ++j >= col )
            {
               j = 0;
               if ( ++i >= row )
               {
                  break;
               }
            }
         }
      }
      fclose(fp);
   }



   for ( i = 0; i < row; i++ )
   {
      for ( j = 0; j < col; j++ )
      {
         putchar(array[i][j]);
      }
      putchar('\n');
   }



   return 0;
}

the results I get when i run the program are these:

Code:

425 20 25 2520 22 23
 2225 26 25 2230 28
25 2625 30 45 2030 2
5 20 2127 25 24 2620
 23 24 2028 26 24 25
30 10 35 3228 29 30
3515 16 15 1412 15 1
2 1920 24 20 1810 15
 12 1632 30 33 29aa-
GCCLIBCYGMING-EH-TDM
1-SJLJ-GTHR-MINGW32
h$7 ⌐1@ ╚■( å→@ t☺s
╕■( ╒qÖw♥   ☻  ☻☻
ε<ò   p☺ q☻   ╪↨7
h$aaaaaaaaaaAAaA
x♫7 x♫7 ê■( Ç⌠Au  7
    ë⌠Au    x♫7 x♫7
¿■( Ç⌠Au  7     ë⌠Au
▓╒ñ▲♦   |♫7 x♫7 ╩·ôw
"►ûw    $   ÿ■( ♦
    ╝Væ≈¿■(  ÷Au
    ╚←@ ╝■( BñAu¿☻Ku
ⁿ■( ╥⌠A   Ä◄Bub◄Bu
µ╒ñ▲    ╚←@     P↑@
╨■( ( ─ ( ╒îCur:╬k

Process returned 0 (0x0)   execution time : 0.090 s
Press any key to continue.

why on earth am I getting weird symbols and junk values?!?!
the sales.txt file has these contents:

Code:

4
25 20 25 25
20 22 23 22
25 26 25 22
30 28 25 26
25 30 45 20
30 25 20 21
27 25 24 26
20 23 24 20
28 26 24 25
30 10 35 32
28 29 30 35
15 16 15 14
12 15 12 19
20 24 20 18
10 15 12 16
32 30 33 29

the 4 at the very top of the sales.txt file represents the number of weeks. this number (4) is then followed by the weekly sales for the salespeople listed in the sales.txt file.

I also have another file that I try to read, it's called names.txt and its contents are:

Code:

16
Kelly, Victor       
Lam, Gary           
Nagasake, David     
Nguyen, Jeff        
Nguyen, Michael     
Sinn, Scott         
Smith, Jacob        
Son, Thai           
Tavares, Maribel    
Tran, Diane         
Tsukamoto, Andrew   
Wang, Mary          
Young, Daniel       
Wells, Steve        
Wong, Justin        
Johnson, Mary

I get junk values for this too when i run it instead of sales.txt....
Btw, for the names.txt, the number 16 at the top means there are 16 salespeople. they're listed one name per line (last name, first name).

Please help!!
Thank you

In the junk you get, you can see that the first thing you get is in common with the thing from .txt. Also the last one of the numbers is in common too.

But from the last number you get on output the rest are junk!

Why?
Because you have an array, with every cell uninitialized. Which are the values of these cells? You don't know.. They contain junk
You read your file.. EOF is reached. You stop reading, because there is no more data, but the array was bigger than your data, so which is the value of the uninitialized cells that were not filled with data? junk!

I would initialize the array to a value that can not be contained at the file and when I was on print phase, I would stop when I would found that value.
Or, because finding such a value can be difficult, I usually do this.

Your array is larger than your data. Try initializing the array

Code:

char array[25][20] = {0};

Then when you print it out, only do so while the value is not zero.

But then if you get a zero in data, you are going to print less data than you get. I wouldn't recommend zero.

@std10093 and @Tclausex Thank you guys! I remember we learned to initialize the arrays, but somehow I totally left that out in my program! So i initialized it to 0, and now none of the junk values are printed. However, for the sales.txt, I want the results to be printed in 4 columns and 16 rows, just like in the sales.txt file. Somehow, i get this

Code:

425 20 25 2520 22 23
 2225 26 25 2230 28
25 2625 30 45 2030 2
5 20 2127 25 24 2620
 23 24 2028 26 24 25
30 10 35 3228 29 30
3515 16 15 1412 15 1
2 1920 24 20 1810 15
12 1632 30 33 29

instead of this

Code:

4
25 20 25 25
20 22 23 22
25 26 25 22
30 28 25 26
25 30 45 20
30 25 20 21
27 25 24 26
20 23 24 20
28 26 24 25
30 10 35 32
28 29 30 35
15 16 15 14
12 15 12 19
20 24 20 18
10 15 12 16
32 30 33 29

Does anyone know why?...
Thanks so much again!

Originally Posted by std10093

But then if you get a zero in data, you are going to print less data than you get. I wouldn't recommend zero.

That would certainly be true if he were converting the data to integers.

@Kal - you need to adjust your row/column indices when you encounter a newline in the file (since your array doesn't match your data in the file).

I didn't get what you said Tclausex. Also, mind to take a look at the code kal123456 posted. Also, prefer to post once at at a time.

@kal123456 line 24 prevents the newline to be part of your array. I strongly suggest you to take the look at the link I provided in post #2. You use fgets and you are done

@std10093 in the link you provided, I'm a little confused with the code there haha...so, the program opens 2 files, right? the source file and target file?

@Tclausex Ohh haha...wait but I don't get where to change them...in the for loops? and btw, you live in Saratoga, near me hahaha!

also, the teacher won't let us use strings in our code!

Yes there are comments there. The code of course is not to be just copy pasted and you are done with your hw. This would not be fair. You can get ideas from there. Instead of writing to the target file, you should write in your array! Or better not. You don't need the data for further processing, so you could print something as soon as you read it to buf array.

Take a try, but don't delete your previous code. It was a very good try

Ok, thanks everyone! I'll try to figure it out

Post back if needed

Your numbers are strictly formatted. Reading them in from the file with fscanf() would be normal.

First, read in the first line, which tells you how many lines of data there are:
fscanf(pf, "%d", &howMany)

then a for loop to exploit that data:

Code:

for(i=0;i<howMany;i++) {
   fscanf(pf, "%d %d etc.
}

I wouldn't use putchar to print this out, btw. Use either string or an int, data type.

Same basic idea with the names:

read in the number of names - before the loop starts input for the rest of the names.

@Adak so i fixed up my code a little, and now it prints the table just like it is in the .txt file, but I STILL get the stupid junk values at the end!!! WHY?!

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int c, i, j, row, col, nl, cr;

    row = col = nl = cr = 0;

    FILE *fp = fopen("sales.txt", "r");

    // Figure out how many rows and columns the text file has
    while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF)
    {
        if (c == '\n')
            nl++;
        if (c == '\r')
            cr++;

        col++;

        if (c == '\n')
            row++;

        putchar(c);
    }

    col = (col - (nl + cr));
    col = (int) (col/row);

    printf("\nnumber of rows is %d\n", row);


    // read letters into array

    char array[row][col];

    if ( fp )
       {
        for ( ;; )
              {
            c = getc(fp);
                 if ( c == EOF )
                 {
                        break;
                 }
                 if ( c != '\n' && c != '\r' )
                 {
                        array[i][j] = c;

                    if ( ++j >= col )
                        {
                            j = 0;
                            if ( ++i >= row )
                            {
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                }
            }
        fclose(fp);
    }

    for ( i = 0; i < row; i++ )
    {
            for ( j = 0; j < col; j++ )
            {
                putchar(array[i][j]);
            }
            putchar('\n');
    }
    return 0;
}

and the sales.txt file contains this:

Code:

4
25 20 25 25
20 22 23 22
25 26 25 22
30 28 25 26
25 30 45 20
30 25 20 21
27 25 24 26
20 23 24 20
28 26 24 25
30 10 35 32
28 29 30 35
15 16 15 14
12 15 12 19
20 24 20 18
10 15 12 16
32 30 33 29

The data is TELLING you, EXACTLY how many rows of data it has - you're just ignoring it, and blithely going ahead with getchar(), etc.

Why?

names are strings - not just chars. Digits are arranged in numbers, not chars.