Thread: [Query]How to store a name with space in-between?

Program used: Dev C++ Version 5.7.1 Build time: July 29 2014 - 23:53, at Windows 8.
compiler set to configure: TDM-GCC 4.8.1 64-bit release

I'm a first year student in computer engineering(undergraduate), have had my hands on C for the past 2/3months. Technically, sometimes I don't even understand what I'd typed and if it's valid or not.
The below is a homework given by my lecturer. I managed to type it, but I hope to learn if there's any better way to get the name which scanf wouldn't run through as it stops at white space. And I used pointer(or is it not?) to make it one part only alphabets and the other one digits. I'd like to know if there's better practice. I'm sorry to admit that I'm still new to this area and would really want to learn more, thanks.

The coding, calculate_charges.c and the open file, customer.txt are attached at the end of the post.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define SIZE 3
void trimback(char input[], int strnameindex);
void trimfrnt(char input[], int strnameindex);
float calculate_charge (float time_start, float total_hour);
float average_charge (float total_charge, float total_hour);
int main()
{
 FILE *fileread, *filewrite;
 int namesize, len;
 int i, str_i, str_nameindex[SIZE] = {0};
 float time_start[SIZE], total_hour[SIZE], total_charge[SIZE], charge_per_hour[SIZE];
 char name[SIZE][9], input[SIZE][50], namebuffer[SIZE][50];
//1openfile 
 fileread = fopen("customer.txt", "r");
 
 for(i=0; fgets(input[i], 50, fileread) != NULL; i++)
 {
  for(str_i = 0; !isdigit(input[i][str_i]) ; str_i++)
  {
   str_nameindex[i]++;
  }
  
  strcpy(namebuffer[i], input[i]);
  trimback(namebuffer[i], str_nameindex[i]);
  strcpy(name[i], namebuffer[i]);
  
  trimfrnt(input[i], str_nameindex[i]);
  sscanf(input[i], "%f %f", &time_start[i], &total_hour[i]);
 }
 fclose (fileread);
//0openfile
//1calculation
 for (i=0; i<SIZE ; i++)
 {
  total_charge[i] = calculate_charge(time_start[i], total_hour[i]);
  charge_per_hour[i] = average_charge(total_charge[i], total_hour[i]);
 }
//0calculation
 
//1savefile 
 filewrite = fopen("charges.txt", "w");
 
 fprintf(filewrite, "Name        total charge     charge per hour\n");
 for(i=0; i<SIZE ; i++)
 {
  fprintf(filewrite, "%-12sRM%-15.2fRM%.2f\n", name[i], total_charge[i], charge_per_hour[i]);
 }
 
 fclose (filewrite);
//0savefile
 return 0;
}
void trimback(char input[], int strnameindex)
{
 char *ary;
 int i;
 int len;
 len = strlen(input);
 ary = input;
 *(ary + i + strnameindex) = *(ary + len);
}
void trimfrnt(char input[], int strnameindex)
{
 char *ary;
 int i;
 int len;
 len = strlen(input);
 ary = input;
 
 for(i=0; i<len; i++)
  *(ary + i) = *(ary + i + strnameindex);
}
float calculate_charge (float time_start, float total_hour)
{
 float total_charge;
 if(time_start >= 9.00 && time_start<= 21.00)
 {
  if(total_hour * 100 - 1000 <= 0)
  {
   total_charge = 9.50;
  }
  
  else if(total_hour * 100 - 1000 > 0)
  {
   total_charge = 9.50 + ((int)total_hour-10+1)*1.50;
  }
 }
 
 else
 {
  if(total_hour * 100 - 1000 <= 0)
  {
   total_charge = 9.50;
   total_charge *= 0.9;
  }
  
  else if(total_hour * 100 - 1000 > 0)
  {
   total_charge = 9.50 + ((int)total_hour-10+1)*1.50;
   total_charge *= 0.9;
  }
 }
 return total_charge;
}
float average_charge (float total_charge, float total_hour)
{
 float average_charge;
 average_charge = total_charge / total_hour;
 return average_charge;
}

Code:

customer.txt
Ahmad 09.00 4.2
Mei Lin 13.00 12.5
Julia 22.30 14.5

Attachment 13791
Attachment 13792

A compact way would be:

Code:

char name[100];
scanf("%[^\n]", name);

The above will grab any and all characters excluding the newline on all *nix platforms. On Windows, Mac or other OSes this may need to be changed depending on their definition of the line separator.

Originally Posted by itCbitC

A compact way would be:

Unfortunately, it would also be wrong: the field width must be specified to avoid buffer overflow, e.g.,

Code:

char name[100];
if (scanf("%99[^\n]", name) == 1)

But if you want to "flexibly limit the number of characters", i.e., not hard code the "99", then you end up with something no longer quite as compact. It would be easier to just use fgets and remove the trailing newline if necessary.