Thread: dynamic array

hey,
how can i increase the size of a dynamic array even though i dont know what its end size will be.
i try to use realloc and new but both seems didnt work on string.
what was i trying to do is given a string "HELLO"...place it in array [0]= "HELLO".
and the size of the array keeps on increasing if the user gives input.


any help would be appreciated.

cheers.

this is what i got so far..

Code:

void Stack :: push(std::string n){
	//create new space when adding element
	
	if (size+1 < maxItems ){
		maxItems *= 2;
		char*array=new char[maxItems];
		memcpy( newArray, array, sizeof ( char ) * size );
		delete array;
		array=newArray;

	}

// i know this is wrong but i just couldnt figure out how to place a string into ana array

	array [++size]= n;
	top++;
	

}

Unless you're learning/practicing, you should be using vector, which does all this for you. Since the name of your class is Stack, though, I'm going to assume you're just practicing.

You need to allocate space for the new array, then copy the data over using a loop or the copy algorithm, then delete the old array. That's basically what you did, except you tried to use memcpy (which is a bad idea with strings) and you made a couple other minor errors.

Note that in that code, you are allocating an array of char, but you are attempting to add a std::string to the end of the array. You should be allocating an array of std::string, not char.

Also, take another look at your if statement, it's not quite right.

for this practice,we are not allowed to use othe standard lib besides the string class...so what i trying to do here to create a new space for a string.

any hints?

thanks.

1) Never use a 'naked new' (eg: assign the result of 'new' to a raw pointer). Always assign to an object that can deterministically free the memory from it's constructor. Incidentally, an std::vector would be perfect for the job.
2) It isn't clear what 'size' actually does. I'm assuming it's the number of actual elements in use? In that case you probably want to resize the container if it's greater than 'maxItems' minus the string length (or just add that to 'size' and compare with 'maxItems' to prevent an underflow calculation).
3) 'array' is declared within the scope of the block, overwites the old data and then get's deleted. I'm assuming you meant to make that 'newArray'?
4) To copy the string, you can either index it like an ordinary char array, or even use memcpy by obtaining a pointer to it's data with the 'c_str' or 'data' member functions.

Originally Posted by effa

for this practice,we are not allowed to use othe standard lib besides the string class...so what i trying to do here to create a new space for a string.

any hints?

thanks.

You don't have to use the standard library - just anything that will clean up the memory automatically.

i tried the append method and i dont think it will works the way i want it to.

Code:

void Stack :: push(std::string n){
	//create new space when adding element
	const char* n2= n.c_str();
	ans.append(n2);
	ans+= ' ';
	

	size++;
	
	top++;	
	

}

this only give me a list of string.and when i try to pop() it it will not give me the string i want.
instead of giving me ans2[0]= "Hello" it gives ans2[0]='H'....therefore i think i really need to use new or realloc but i seems to get a lot of error when i tried to put variable to the maxItems.
=(... what should i do? googling on this creating dynamically array didnt help me much either.im getting more confused.

if i want to use realloc..how should i define the type..is it char? isnt this means it will only look into each character in the string but not as a whole string?

Rather than just have us guess what you're trying to do, why don't you post a stripped-down example demonstrating the problem?