a suggestion on a data structure

Hi,

I need some suggestions on what data structure to use for the following problem:

I've a flat file having alphabets as data like:
1. asadhfklal
2. qseinqwankn
3. asekwqoepqwqerlm
.
.
.
I need to compare each line with other such that if I've:
1. the same alphabets for a position I add 5 to the match-point
2. differenet alphabets for a position I add 0 to the match-point
e.g comparing 1 and 2 will have a match-point of 10 (s and a match).
Hence for each pair of comparison I'll get a match - point.
But I don't know how many lines it may contain and how long each alphabet string may be. This is the part that's worrying me most. Being a freshie I've no clue how to handle this.

Appreciate your guidance.

Thanks,
AK

why isn't doing what I want it to do?
Just add some file reading code to my reply, and you should be on your way.

Thanks a lot Salem. I'll work on it. And could you please explain what void *temp denote? (please bear with these novice questions).
Also how can I read a file having strings of unknown length and also having unknown number of strings? The only thing I know is that each string begins with an integer. How can I leverage this?

Thanks,
Angshu

Hi,

Are there any function(s) to read a file which has strings delimited by only certain characters say #?e.g.
#fsdgsdfgsdggfsdfgstyretyvwqoovhfoadcoamhcomkmodaj cojfadojcmofajcoamfcjmfcm
#asdfasdfamfkansmkfnmasl
#...
.
.
.
I mean, I want to read till the m in the 2nd line into one variable, till l in the 3rd line in another and so on...

Thanks,
AK

edit:
I mis-read the text, you want a delimiter which isn't \n

Basically, I would suggest you write something like fgets(), that is reading into a buffer of a specific (usually fairly large) size. Internally to that function, you call fgetc until either the buffer is full or a delimiter of your choice is found.

Now, how can I vary this buffer size? Or do I need to fix it beforehand?
Also fgets terminates on a new line...so even if I don't get the delimiter in the nextline, it will terminate. am i right? how to overcome that?
Or should I use only getc until I get the delimiter?

Please advice.

> Or should I use only getc until I get the delimiter?
Yes.

> Or do I need to fix it beforehand?
Make it the same as fgets, only for a delimiter of your choice rather than '\n'
You return NULL if you get EOF before you've read any data
You return buff if the buffer is full, or you see the delimiter.

Make the lack of a delimiter within the space allocated for the buffer the responsibility of the caller - just like it is with fgets.

Thanks Salem. So should I try something like this?

Code:

int main ()
{
  FILE * f;
  char c;
  int n = 0;
  f = fopen("myfile.txt","r");
  if (f==NULL) printf ("Error opening file");
  else
  {
    do {
      c = getc (f);
      if (c == '#'){
\\      HOW CAN I READ EACH STRING SEPARATELY HERE?
      }

      } while (c != EOF);
    fclose (f);
   }
  return 0;
}

Yes, but make it a function - like this untested example

Code:

char *myDelimitedFgets ( char *buff, size_t size, FILE *fp, char delim ) {
  if ( feof(fp) || ferror(fp) ) {
    return NULL;
  } else {
    int i = 0, ch;
    while ( i < size-1 && (ch=fgetc(fp)) != EOF ) {
      buff[i++] = ch;
      if ( ch == delim ) break;
    }
    buff[i] = '\0';
  }
}

You don't have a return value for the else.

Code:

\\      HOW CAN I READ EACH STRING SEPARATELY HERE?

->

Code:

//      HOW CAN I READ EACH STRING SEPARATELY HERE?

And you need an int to store EOF:

Code:

 char c;

    do {
      c = getc (f);

      } while (c != EOF);

->

Code:

 int c;

    do {
      c = getc (f);

      } while (c != EOF);

Hi,

What is size_t?
I tried this, but with no results in buff/data

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>

char *get_data ( char *buff, size_t size, FILE *fp, char delim );

void main(){

	  FILE *f;
	  char *data;
	  char *buff;
	  f=fopen("c:\test.txt","r");
	  
	  data = get_data(buff, 10, f, '#');
	  printf ("%s",data);
	  fclose(f);
	

   }

char *get_data( char *buff, size_t size, FILE *fp, char delim ) {
  if ( feof(fp) || ferror(fp) ) {
    return NULL;
  } else {
    int i = 0;
    char ch;
    while (i<size-1 && !(feof(fp))){
      ch=fgetc(fp) ;
      printf("%c\n",ch);
      buff[i++] = ch;
      if ( ch == delim ) break;
    }
    buff[i] = '\0';
  }
}

[my input file looks like]
#A1
ABGXCYQGTFALCOP----

#A2
-MNXFYQGAASAS

#A3
---M-YXFYJASHKAH----

#A4
-----Y--Y-J-S--AH
[/my input file looks like]

Also, in which part are the strings separated? I mean, if I want to access the 3rd element of first string i.e. G, how do I get that?
Please rectify wherever my concepts are wrong.


Thanks,
Angshu

> What is size_t?
The type of answer which sizeof evaluates to

> void main()
I'm gonna puke.....

> char *buff;
There's no space here, move along, nothing to see.
Try char buff[10];

> f=fopen("c:\test.txt","r");
Perhaps if you'd bothered to check the return result, you might have figured out that
a) the \t was a tab
b) that f=fopen("c:\\test.txt","r"); would have been the answer.

> data = get_data(buff, 10, f, '#');
Better, but had you used an array, then it would have been
data = get_data(buff, sizeof buff, f, '#');

> printf ("%s",data);
Didn't you see that the function could return NULL?
Did you check for this possibility?

It's like you just forgot everything you've been told

But the function returns null only if the fopen fails. Am i right?
Also I tried printing out something in the 'else' part of the function. It did print. But then why doesn't it reading anything?

Also is the way I mentioned (printf("%s"..)) a proper way to print a char *?

Thanks,
Ak

I guess that's what untested means.
Note the lack of a return statement in the else part of my code.

Thanks a lot Salem.
And one last question, how to access each string (each character in the string) in code you have provided?


Gratefully,
Angshu