Thread: Searching in a file

I am making a phone book, and this code is suppose to b used to search for the name in the file, but it keeps saying contact not found, even if the name exist in the file.. please help?

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define SIZE 300
struct contact
{
char lastName [30] ;
char firstName [30];
char adress [100];
char city [25];
char phone [20];
};
int main()
{
struct contact new1[SIZE];
FILE *open;
int i=0,k;
int x,j=0;
char ln[30];
char c;
char *ptr1;
char *ptr2;
int flag=0, anotherFlag = 0;
open = fopen("C:\\Users\\Roumia\\Desktop\\contacts.txt","r");
if (open == NULL)
{
printf("file doesn't exist !\n");
}
else{
printf("file exist !\n");
while(!(feof(open)))
{
fscanf(open,"%[^,],%[^,],%[^,],%[^,],%s",new1[i].lastName,new1[i].firstName,new1[i].adress,new1[i].city,new1[i].phone);
fscanf(open,"\n");
i++;
}
}
printf("Please enter the last name of the person you need to find: ");
while((c=getchar())!='\n' && j<30)
{
ln[j++]=c;
}
ln[j] = '\0';
ptr1=ln;
for(k=0;k<i;k++){
ptr2=new1[k].lastName;
ptr1 = ln;
for(x=0;x<j;x++)
{
if(*ptr1 != *ptr2)
{
flag = 1;
}
ptr1++;
ptr2++;
}
if(flag==0)
{
anotherFlag = 1 ;
printf("Contact was found !!\n");
printf("%d\n",k);g
printf("%s,%s,%s,%s,%s",new1[k].lastName,new1[k].firstName,new1[k].adress,new1[k].city,new1[k].phone);
}
}
if(anotherFlag==0)
{
printf("Contact wasn't found !!\n");
}
return 0;
}

i'm nt suppose to use functions in this assigment :S i dnt quite get u, can u b more clear please?

Originally Posted by c99tutorial

I think the problem is here

Code:

// i: number of stored records
// ln: last name string which is to be found
// j: strlen(ln)
// flag: has an initial value of 0
// anotherFlag: has an initial value of 0

ptr1=ln;
for(k=0;k<i;k++){
    ptr2=new1[k].lastName;
    ptr1 = ln;
    for(x=0;x<j;x++)
    {
        if(*ptr1 != *ptr2)
        {
            flag = 1;
        }
        ptr1++;
        ptr2++;
    }
    if(flag==0)
    {
        anotherFlag = 1 ;
        printf("Contact was found !!\n");
        printf("%d\n",k);g
        printf("%s,%s,%s,%s,%s",new1[k].lastName,new1[k].firstName,new1[k].adress,new1[k].city,new1[k].phone);
    }
}

When flag==0, you mean that a contact was found. But notice that flag will be set to 1 as soon as two of the characters do not match, and it will never be reset to 0 in case a match is found in another record.

Rather than do it like this, why not use a standard function like strcmp to do the string comparison? Same goes for reading the "ln" from the user. When a built-in function will do the job, it's better to use it. When not, it's better to write a function to do the job. That would keep your logic more high-level and easier to follow.

Also it helps to post the complete input that you are using. We can only guess what you are using as your input file data.

What he's suggesting, is that when the first name fails, and flag is assigned the value of 1, - so the name you're looking for is not the first name in the array of structs - but now, the flag is not reset to 0. Without that flag being reset, the search will never find a name.

So reset the flag, at the end (or beginning), of every time you increment k and start looking at a new name.

Indenting your code will go a long way to making your program a lot easier to study.