Thread: splitting a string

Hey guys. This is my first time doing anything like this so please don't be too harsh on me. So, I am trying to write a shell. The first step is to take the users input command and split it up into arguments.

So this is what I've got:

[tag]

Code:

void parse(string something)
{
	int cnt = 0;
	char *argv[11];
	string val, part;
	stringstream unit(something);

	while(getline(unit, val, ' ') && cnt < 10)
	{
		part = val;
		argv[cnt]  = (char*)part.c_str();
		cnt++;
	}

	argv[cnt] = NULL;
}

[/tag]

So, I want the method to take the string and split it into parts. The delimiter is an empty space between words. Then, I want it to take each part and throw it into the *argv[]. After its got all the parts the very last part put into the array should be followed by a NULL. Seems alright logically to me.

But, if I were to put in a for loop to read through the array the result I get is not at all what I want.

For example if I put in "This is my world" and appended this for loop to the end of that method:

[tag]

Code:

for(int i = 0; argv[i] != NULL; i++)
        cout << argv[i] << endl;

                        OR

for(int i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
        cout << argv[i] << endl;

[/tag]

I should get this as an output:

This
is
my
world

But, in most cases I might get the last 3 lines but the first one will be empty. In others the words will get mixed up or there will be doubles even though i did not put a particular word in my input multiple times. I don't understand why this happens. Any help would be appreciated.

The most suspect line is the c_str() call, so let's look at the internet for answers. From the reference manual:

const char* c_str ( ) const;

Get C string equivalent
Generates a null-terminated sequence of characters (c-string) with the same content as the string object and returns it as a pointer to an array of characters.

A terminating null character is automatically appended.

The returned array points to an internal location with the required storage space for this sequence of characters plus its terminating null-character, but the values in this array should not be modified in the program and are only granted to remain unchanged until the next call to a non-constant member function of the string object.

So there is your problem.

part = val; actually seems to be the line that removes the guarantee (since overloaded operators, especially assignment, are actually member functions dressed up in syntax).