Thread: Beginner question

Hi, I am learning C and am stuck on something.
I have an array:

char phoneNumber [11] = "5558675309";

and I need to print the phone number array in this format: 555-867-5309.

I am lost and not sure how to accomplish that without brute forcing it.

Give an example of "brute forcing it." Since this sounds like a display problem, brute forcing may be good enough, honestly. That or it is easy to improve it to be good enough.

I am not sure what you mean with brute force.
A simple way:

Code:

  char buffer[5] = {0};
  strncpy(buffer, phoneNumber, 3);
  printf("%s-", buffer);
  strncpy(buffer, phoneNumber+3, 3);
  printf("%s-", buffer);  
  strncpy(buffer, phoneNumber + 6, 4);
  printf("%s", buffer);

Easier in C++

Code:

std::string phoneNumber("5558675309");
phoneNumber.insert(phoneNumber.begin() + 3, '-');
phoneNumber.insert(phoneNumber.begin() + 7, '-');  
std::cout << "PhoneNumber: " << phoneNumber << "\n\n";

Why bother, I guess.

Code:

printf("%.3s-%.3s-%s\n", phoneNumber, &phoneNumber[3], &phoneNumber[6]);