Thread: How to capitalize first letter in a sentences

What is a "sentence"? You need to be clear on what that means in the context of your program before you can arrive at a solution.

> #include <iostream>
> #include <stdio.h>
Decide whether you're a C programmer, or a C++ programmer.

Random mix-and-match of both languages won't work in the long run.



> #define IsAlpha(x)
Use the appropriate 'is....' function in ctype.h

You've got two states, "outside sentence" and "within sentence". You start in the "outside sentence" state. If you hit an alphabetical character in the "outside sentence" state, you set it to upper case, and switch to the "inside sentence" state. If you hit a period in the "inside sentence" state, you switch to the "outside sentence" state.

That's a basic program. You can make it more sophisticated by detecting periods which are in fact decimal points, and by considering what to do if you hit a non-alpha cahracter in the "outside sentence" state. You might also want special rules for quotes, though then it becomes very complicated indeed.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

#define true 1
#define false 0

void capitalize(char *paragraph){
    char outBuffer[2048]; int c = 0; 
    char this = '\0'; int capThis = true, skip = false;
    for (int i=0; i < strlen(paragraph); i++) {
        switch(this = paragraph[i]) {
            case '.':
                capThis = true;
            break;
            default:
                if (capThis && (this != ' ')) { 
                    capThis = false;
                    if ( ((this - 32) < 91) && ((this - 32) > 64) ) {
                        this = (this - 32);
                    }
                }
            break;
        }; if (!skip) outBuffer[c++] = this;
    }
    outBuffer[c++] = '\0';
    printf("%s",outBuffer);
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

    capitalize( "the first letter... of each sentence." );

    return 0;
}

Originally Posted by rusyoldguy

Hallo laserlight!

I think with asentence he means something like that:
"good wine needs no bush"
or
"the bread never falls but on its buttered side"

The first letter into uppercase:
"GOOD wine needs no bush"
"THE bread never falls but on its buttered side"

That was a question for Mihrusha to think about, not for you to answer. If I did want to implement a solution to this task, your answer is not helpful: all you did was provide two examples with no explanation as to why they constitute a "sentence".

Furthermore, your example of the result is obviously wrong: you're transforming the entire first word into uppercase rather than only the first letter.