a lil trouble with sscanf

so i have a text file that goes like

Quote:

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cod1 last1, first1; 1 2 3
cod2 last2, first2; 1 2 3
.....

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using fgets in a loop to read line by line and then put each variable into a structure type using sscanf
my structure type is

Code:

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typedef struct
{
    char code[5];
    char *name;
    int num[6];
}PERSON;

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i was able to use sscanf just find to store cod1, cod2,... into char code but for some reason i can't get the name

Code:

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while (i < 25)    {
        fgets(buffer, 99, file); //puts(buffer);
        sscanf(buffer, "%4s", pChar[i].code);
        printf("%s\n", pChar[i].code);
        pBuff = buffer + strlen(pChar[i].code) + 1;
        pChar[i].name = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char));
        sscanf(pBuff, "%[^;] %*c", pChar[i].name); <----error
        printf("%s\n", pChar[i].name);




        i++;


    }

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i don't know what or how it went wrong and i've been looking back and forth but still don't get it ...
output gives error after the first loop and there're some weird characters

Quote:

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╨H>
cod1
last1, first1
cod2


Process returned 255 (0xFF) execution time : 8.192 s
Press any key to continue.

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> pChar[i].name = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char));
You need to allocate more than one char for the name you're reading in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Salem

> pChar[i].name = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char));
You need to allocate more than one char for the name you're reading in.

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what do you mean by that?
because i declared in my structure it's just char *name; so shouldn't it be just (char*)?

> malloc(sizeof(char));
is one char

malloc(sizeof(char)*5);
is 5 chars

If your name is "Fred Flintstone",
how many chars do you need?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Salem

> malloc(sizeof(char));
is one char

malloc(sizeof(char)*5);
is 5 chars

If your name is "Fred Flintstone",
how many chars do you need?

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ic what you mean but if the names aren't the same
like one only have 10 chars and another 12 chars
so i should put the max chars allowed or should i use sizeof(pChar[i].name)?

Well typically, you read the name into a large (say BUFSIZ) buffer to begin with, then you can measure the length and allocate space accordingly.

You can also read a single char, reallocating an ever increasing buffer if you want to, but it's a lot of effort.