Weird problem with sscanf

Hi, I've got a weird problem here:

I have a routine of reading from a file and getting some values for the variables from it. Here's the problem:

Code:

...
	sscanf ( buffer,"%d : %d : %d : %d : %d",&mWidth, &mHeight, &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB);
...

and the buffer's value (from debug) is:

Code:

buffer = "22 : 21 : 1 : 2 : 3\r\n\000..."

the value of variables are:

Code:

mWidth=0 
mHeight=21
mTransCol.transR=1
mTransCol.transG=2
mTransCol.transB=3

I'm confused. Why does the mWidth is 0 whereas in the buffer string it's clearly 22 ?? Can anybody help me with this?

What type is mWidth, how are you printing the results? What is sscanf returning?

Originally Posted by SKeane

What type is mWidth, how are you printing the results? What is sscanf returning?

mWidth is an int. And when I cout-ed the buffer, it displays the same as the value of buffer. And sscanf returned 5 (so I guess all the variables are successfully read).

BTW, before the troublesome line, there's a sequence of reading with fgets and sscanf. And the pervious sequence worked fine.

Code:

        int scanBuff;

	fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}

	scanBuff = sscanf ( buffer, "%s : %s : %s : %s : %d", nametemp, dirName, filename, widthfile, &mNumFonts);
	
	fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}
	scanBuff = sscanf ( buffer, "%d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d", &mIndexLargeA, &mIndexSmallA, &mIndex0, &mIndexKoma, &mIndexDot, &mIndexDot2, &mIndexEq, &mIndexEs);

	fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}
	scanBuff=sscanf ( buffer,"%d : %d : %d : %d : %d",&mWidth, &mHeight, &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB);

How did you declare buffer?

What is the value in scanBuff when it appears wrong?
It should be the number of conversions AND assignments, which in this case would seem to be 5.

Also, fgets() returns a status which you should check.

> buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || strlen(buffer) == 0
Unless you're using fgets() to read a binary file (not a good idea), none of these will be true

Originally Posted by Salem

How did you declare buffer?

What is the value in scanBuff when it appears wrong?
It should be the number of conversions AND assignments, which in this case would seem to be 5.

Also, fgets() returns a status which you should check.

> buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || strlen(buffer) == 0
Unless you're using fgets() to read a binary file (not a good idea), none of these will be true

buffer is:
char buffer[255];

In the wrong line, scanBuff read 5 (so I guess the problem is not in in sscanf).

The status returned from fgets is never NULL (so I guess the fgets is not faulty either)

And for the "buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || strlen(buffer) == 0", it worked fine and my file is opened in text mode. It just check whether a linefeed is found or not.

So, I'm curious what is the matter with this code?

EDIT:
I tried to add a bogus variable so now the faulty line is:

Code:

	scanBuff=sscanf ( buffer,"%d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d",&bogusVar, &mWidth, &mHeight, &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB);

And guess what, in didn't work. The scanBuff showed 5, the mWidth is still 0 and the bogusVar is undetermined. How weird is that?

You know, I've solved the problem with a little bit of tinkering. I defined a local temporary variable and then used it in the sscanf. After that the I set mWidth equivalent the temporary variable like so:

Code:

        int tempW;
	scanBuff=sscanf ( buffer,"%d : %d : %d : %d : %d", &tempW, &mHeight, &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB);

	mWidth= tempW;

And it worked (At last!!!!!!). BTW, I forgot to mention that mWidth is a private member variable (as well as mHeight and mTransCol in that matter). But still, the cause of the problem isn't solved and I'm still curious. But I'm happy with that, for now.

Well, now that you got that solved... may I suggest using stringstreams or lexical_cast instead? This is C++, after all, and sprintf is a very C solution... those very acceptable.

Can you post a small and complete program which demonstrates the problem.

Your answer doesn't solve anything, it sweeps it under the carpet for it to reappear later on.

Originally Posted by SlyMaelstrom

Well, now that you got that solved... may I suggest using stringstreams or lexical_cast instead? This is C++, after all, and sprintf is a very C solution... those very acceptable.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. But alas, the code was already in C (my application is in the most part C++, but in a few exceptions still in C like this one). And I kind of lazy to rewrite in in C++ style :P

Originally Posted by Salem

Can you post a small and complete program which demonstrates the problem.

Your answer doesn't solve anything, it sweeps it under the carpet for it to reappear later on.

Well, this is not the complete program, just the faulty function:

Code:

int CFont::init(char *infoPath, char *infoFile)
{
	char buffer[255];
	char *strState; 
	char filename[255], filename2[255];
	char dirName[255];
	char nametemp[255];
	char widthfile[255];

	//int bogusVar;
	FILE *fp; //buffer config file


	//Path&filename config file
	strcpy(filename,infoPath);
	strcat(filename,"/");
	strcat(filename,infoFile);

	int scanBuff, tempW;
	
	//open config file
	if((fp=fopen(filename, "r")) == NULL)
	{
		printf("ERROR opening file %s\n\n", filename);
		return -1;
	}

	//Reading configuration
	strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}

	scanBuff = sscanf ( buffer, "%s : %s : %s : %s : %d", nametemp, dirName, filename, widthfile, &mNumFonts);
	
	strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}
	scanBuff = sscanf ( buffer, "%d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d : %d", &mIndexLargeA, &mIndexSmallA, &mIndex0, &mIndexKoma, &mIndexDot, &mIndexDot2, &mIndexEq, &mIndexEs);

	strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
        //looping through comments (#)
	while (buffer[0] == '#' || buffer[0] == '\r' || buffer[0] == '\0' || buffer[0] == '\n' || strlen(buffer) == 0)
	{
		strState = fgets (buffer, 255, fp);
	}
	scanBuff=sscanf ( buffer,"%d : %d : %d : %d : %d",&mWidth, &mHeight, &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB);

	//mWidth= tempW;
      	fclose(fp);
}

The class itself:

Code:

class CFont  
{
public:
	CPicFont* getPicFont(int no);
	int getCharWidth(char nama);
	string getName();
	void draw(int xx, int yy, char huruf);
	void createFont(char* folder, char* nama, SDL_Rect blit_Reg, char huruf);
	CFont();
	CFont(char *fontInfoPath, char *fontInfoFile, CSurface* screen);
	int getHeight();
	int getWidth();
	virtual ~CFont();

private:
	CSurface* mScreen;
	int init(char *infoPath, char *infoFile);
	int mNumFonts;
	string mNamaFont;
	TransparentColor mTransCol;
	int mWidth;
	int mHeight;
	lstFontName mFontName;
	lstFontHandle mFontHandle;
	int mIndexLargeA; 
	int mIndexSmallA; 
	int mIndex0; 
	int mIndexKoma;
	int mIndexDot; 
	int mIndexDot2;
	int mIndexEq; 
	int mIndexEs; 
};

The init function is called under the constructor.

> just the faulty function:
Doesn't help much - where it crashes does not necessary mean that's where the problem is.

It's only possible to find such things with complete programs, I can't find such problems from random snippets.

IE, I want to be able to do copy / paste / compile / run / examine crash without having to guess at what you missed out or provide my own wrappers around your snippets just to make it work.

Given that it crashes in the ctor / init(), then (with a copy of the code) snip out every other member function and every other unused member variable and see if the problem persists. Your main() should just have a single CFont and then construct it.

If that fails in the way you describe, then you can post the whole lot and we have something to go at.

On a side note, it is not usually a good idea to mix C and C++ code. Either do it one way or the other

> &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB
What types are these - unsigned char perhaps?
Because if they are, that would easily explain why your values are being trashed, because sscanf is trying to write a whole int into that byte.

A heavy dose of
gcc -W -Wall prog.c
would tell you when you mess up with sscanf conversions.

Another reason for going solely with C++, the >> operator is type-safe in a way which sscanf can never be.

Originally Posted by Salem

> just the faulty function:
Doesn't help much - where it crashes does not necessary mean that's where the problem is.

It's only possible to find such things with complete programs, I can't find such problems from random snippets.

IE, I want to be able to do copy / paste / compile / run / examine crash without having to guess at what you missed out or provide my own wrappers around your snippets just to make it work.

Given that it crashes in the ctor / init(), then (with a copy of the code) snip out every other member function and every other unused member variable and see if the problem persists. Your main() should just have a single CFont and then construct it.

If that fails in the way you describe, then you can post the whole lot and we have something to go at.

Ah, ok I'll try that.

> &mTransCol.transR, &mTransCol.transG , &mTransCol.transB
What types are these - unsigned char perhaps?
Because if they are, that would easily explain why your values are being trashed, because sscanf is trying to write a whole int into that byte.

A heavy dose of
gcc -W -Wall prog.c
would tell you when you mess up with sscanf conversions.

Another reason for going solely with C++, the >> operator is type-safe in a way which sscanf can never be.

mTransCol are a struct with three unsigned integer values for the RGB values of the transparent color.

Yeah, I was thinking about going full C++, but how can I read from the text between a token of ' : ' with >> operator? I know that the STL string's standard tokenizer is not so good.