Thread: loop crashes programme

hi,
i need help with the following part of a code...

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
int ansi[255];
char path[128];
gets(path);
FILE *file = fopen(path, "r");
int i = 0;
int counter = 0;
char buffer[200];
int chars = 0;
char chr;
while(!feof(file))
{
fgets(buffer,200,file);
chars += strlen(buffer);

while(counter++ < strlen(buffer))
{
chr = buffer[counter];
ansi[chr] += 1;
}

counter = 0;
i++;
}
(...)


it compiles but then crashes after entering the filepath. works right without the second while-loop, btw. i wanna use the second loop to count how often different letters are used in a textfile. if buffer[counter] is 'a' (= 97 in ascii), for example, it shall add one to ansi['a'], the 97st element of ansi[].
have a nice day.

while(counter++ < strlen(buffer))
{
chr = buffer[counter];
ansi[chr] += 1;
}

note buffer[0] is never read
for

entering the loop for first time counter is 0

after this line : while(counter++ < strlen(buffer))
counter becomes 1

so ch takes the value buffer[1]

um, yeah. a mistake i didn't notice.. but it doesn't change anything and still crashes, heh.
thanks anyway.

while(counter < strlen(buffer))
{
chr = buffer[counter++];
ansi[chr] += 1;
}

>while(counter < strlen(buffer))
>{
>chr = buffer[counter++];
>ansi[chr] += 1;
>}

i fixed it this way, too. but like i said, that's not the problem! i really don't get, why the programme doesn't work... the char buffer[counter] is copied to chr and it really doesn't count if it's element 0 or 1, they both are ascii-characters. i suppose i should convert chr to another datatype while using it as index of ansi[] but i have tried that and it didn't help, too. no one any idea?

i've just compiled the code with gcc under OpenBSD instead of DevCpp under Windows 98 and it works perfectly so it seems to be a compilerspecific problem or something. thanks to you both who tried to help me.
bye.