Code Check Requested! (Alphabetize entries?)

[theonetruehero]

Hey all. Tasked with creating a program that will take words from a file, alphabetize them, and write them to an output file.

i.e.

Bananas
Apples
Falcon

Should become:

Apples
Bananas
Falcon

I've got code that should theoretically work under the guidelines I've been given, and it arranges the values in some order, just not alphabetical. Thusly, I am confused.

*EDIT*

Haha matsp. I wouldn't call it unreadable but It's been a while. And I'm working with my younger cousin, who is currently taking C. I'm trying to give him a hand. Anyways, we'll rewrite the code to make it more manageable.

[matsp]

Is this an entry for obfuscated C competition?

I mean, this is hardly "readable code":

++n; fscanf(fp,"%[^\n]%*c",t);
sp=n==1?(char *)malloc(sizeof(char *)):realloc(sp,(n)*sizeof(char *))

Or did you copy this from a post where someone else was "helping" you solve a problem, perhaps?

In which case, I can tell you that it wasn't real help... I'd fail such a thing for a submission of homework for "unreadable, unmaintainable and unlikely to be originally by a student".

--
Mats

[Elysia]

*EDIT*

Haha matsp. I wouldn't call it unreadable but It's been a while. And I'm working with my younger cousin, who is currently taking C. I'm trying to give him a hand. Anyways, we'll rewrite the code to make it more manageable.

Then all the better that you write properly indented, spaced, readable code
http://cpwiki.sourceforge.net/Indentation
http://cpwiki.sourceforge.net/User:Elysia/Indentation

[IceDane]

Hey all. Tasked with creating a program that will take words from a file, alphabetize them, and write them to an output file.

i.e.

Bananas
Apples
Falcon

Should become:

Apples
Bananas
Falcon

I've got code that should theoretically work under the guidelines I've been given, and it arranges the values in some order, just not alphabetical. Thusly, I am confused.

*EDIT*

Haha matsp. I wouldn't call it unreadable but It's been a while. And I'm working with my younger cousin, who is currently taking C. I'm trying to give him a hand. Anyways, we'll rewrite the code to make it more manageable.

It is unreadable. Not in the sense that it is impossible to comprehend, but in the sense that it's too ugly to be bothered with.

FYI this:

++n; fscanf(fp,"%[^\n]%*c",t);
sp=n==1?(char *)malloc(sizeof(char *)):realloc(sp,(n)*sizeof(char *))

Should look something like:

{ // Random bracket to emphasize the importance of indentation.
     ++n; 

     // Read characters until newline
     fscanf(fp, "%[^\n]%*c", t); 
     // Malloc data depending on the value of n.
     sp = (n==1) ? (char*)malloc(sizeof(char *)) : realloc(sp, n * sizeof(char *))
}

Comments are mandatory - especially with such cryptic code. The ones I wrote were just examples.
Code in red needs to be removed / changed - here are the items in order of appearance:

1. %*c ignores a character. If you're reading up to a newline, the character after that hardly needs to be ignored as it wouldn't be read in the first place?
2. Don't cast malloc
3. You don't want to allocate char pointers, but chars.

[Salem]

Not to mention that calling malloc before realloc is unnecessary (set p = NULL first), and that calling realloc as
p = realloc( p, size );
is a memory leak waiting to happen.

[slingerland3g]

It is very interesting how one can write such code:

+n; fscanf(fp,"%[^\n]%*c",t);
sp=n==1?(char *)malloc(sizeof(char *)):realloc(sp,(n)*sizeof(char *))

then turn around to ask how to do rudimentary tasks.

[matsp]

I would prefer:

{ // Random bracket to emphasize the importance of indentation.
     ++n; 

     // Read characters until newline
     fscanf(fp, "%[^\n]%*c", t); 
     // Malloc data depending on the value of n.
     if (n==1)  
     {
         sp = malloc(sizeof(char *)) 
     }
     else 
     {
         sp = realloc(sp, n * sizeof(char *));
     }
}

Of course, the whole if-statement is not needed if you use sp = NULL and realloc(sp, n * sizeof(char *)), but that's a different matter.

Using a terniary operator should be done when it's clear what the code does, e.g.

max = (a > b)?a:b;

, but if you call a function on both sides of the ? and :, then I would say that a set of if-else is much more appropriate (with the possible exception that if it's part of for example a complex printf - but putting an if-else BEFORE such a printf is a much better option).

I still think this was code posted on some other forum as a "cruel joke" to solve someones request for code to solve a problem. [I've made such cruel jokes myself on the odd occassion when the request is really trivial].

--
Mats