Thread: Char array in while scope does not do what I excpected.

Code:

while ( fgets(line, 100, file) !=NULL )
{
char path[100];
int i =1;

strcat(path, cwd);
strcat(path, "/");
strcat(path, line);
printf("path is: %s", path);

        i++;

printf("i is: %d\n", i);
}

Input File:

Code:

hello
this
is
a
test

Output:

Code:

babaliaris@babaliaris-desktop:~/dev/programming/c/test$ ./Main 
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
i is: 2
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/this
i is: 2
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/this
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/is
i is: 2
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/this
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/is
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/a
i is: 2
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/this
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/is
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/a
/home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/testi is: 2
*** stack smashing detected ***: <unknown> terminated
Aborted (core dumped)

Expected Output:

Code:

babaliaris@babaliaris-desktop:~/dev/programming/c/test$ ./Main 
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/hello
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/this
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/is
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/a
path is: /home/babaliaris/dev/programming/c/test/testbabaliaris@babaliaris-desktop:~/dev/programming/c/test$

The expected output works if i change the loop like this:

Code:

while ( fgets(line, 100, file) !=NULL )
{

char path[100];
path[0] ='\0';

strcat(path, cwd);
strcat(path, "/");
strcat(path, line);
printf("path is: %s", path);

}

As you can see int i is recreated for each iteration but char path[100] is getting appended each iteration like it's a variable outside of the while loop scope.

Why is that?

You seem to be assuming that there will be some kind of automatic initialization of the char array. That is not the case. Although in some sense it is "recreated" for every iteration, it is almost certainly "recreated" in exactly the same space on the stack. So since you are not initializing it in any way, it will "contain" the last data that it had.

You could try:

Code:

while ( fgets(line, 100, file) != NULL ) {
    char path[100] = {0};   // inits the entire array with 0's
    ...
}

Or better yet for your purposes.

Code:

while ( fgets(line, 100, file) != NULL ) {
    char path[100];
    strcpy(path, cwd);   // make the first one a strcpy, not strcat
    ...
}

BTW, your post is excellent except for the way you've posted the code. You need to make sure you copy/paste it as plain text so it's actually readable. Somehow you've included some of your own formatting. Also, it's always best to actually post a complete program so we can more easily run it.