Thread: Reading Characters from file into multi-dimensional array

I'm having troubles reading characters from a file into a multi-dimensional array. I'm able to read them in but the output isn't correct when displaying the characters in the array. This is for a wordfind program and I need to read each letter of the puzzle into a spot in a multi-dimensional array and I can do some comparisons to see if a word exists in the puzzle. Here's my code for reading the characters into the array.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
	int i, j, c, row, col;
	FILE *fp;

	row = col = 15;
	
	fp = fopen("cashiers.txt", "r");

	// read letters into array

	char array[row][col];

	for (i = 0; i <= row - 1; i++)
			for (j = 0; j <= col - 1; j++)
				array[i][j] = ' ';

	while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF)
	{
		for (i = 0; i <= row - 1; i++)
			for (j = 0; j <= col - 1; j++)
				if((c != '\n') && (c != '\r'))
					array[i][j] = c;
	}
	

	for(i = 0; i <= row - 1; i++)
	{
		for(j = 0; j <= col - 1; j++)
			printf("%c", array[i][j]);
		printf("\n");
	}

	return 0;
}

Thanks for any help you can offer.

To me this looks like to many loops.

Code:

	while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF)
	{
		for (i = 0; i <= row - 1; i++)
			for (j = 0; j <= col - 1; j++)
				if((c != '\n') && (c != '\r'))
					array[i][j] = c;
	}

For each character you read, you assign it to the entire array.

It might be helpful to post "cashiers.txt".

Here is cashiers.txt

Code:

DNOPSNOITACAVFX
BSERENITYNZEKYI
ZBREAMOANARHECM
BBASSWGITOOLKAY
QSCENERYTNLCYMM
TUORTIASEAUBDPA
JZIVVVYYVDXOWSE
FSSENREDLIWAMIR
FIRSEHRSPNLTLTT
CLSCUILRTLYKAES
XAOHQKFOEFYLUSR
ORBGIIWYDSAQLEM
GEYITNEFPGOROEA
EKALNGGAXRERCGJ
TEKRAMSGCAFETOY

My usual compiler is not C99, so forgive the C90 mods. How about something like this?

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
   char array[15][15];
   int i = 0, j = 0, row = 15, col = 15;
   FILE *fp = fopen("cashiers.txt", "r");
   if ( fp )
   {
      for ( ;; )
      {
         int c = getc(fp);
         if ( c == EOF )
         {
            break;
         }
         if ( c != '\n' && c != '\r' )
         {
            array[i][j] = c;
            if ( ++j >= col )
            {
               j = 0;
               if ( ++i >= row )
               {
                  break;
               }
            }
         }
      }
      fclose(fp);
   }
   for ( i = 0; i < row; i++ )
   {
      for ( j = 0; j < col; j++ )
      {
         putchar(array[i][j]);
      }
      putchar('\n');
   }
   return 0;
}

Thanks Dave, that worked. I can't figure out what is different about what you did and what I did but your works. I've now tried to put that piece into my progressing code and I'm getting the same problem that I got before. When I output the contents of the array to stdout I get a bunch of jumbled signs as output.

Here's my code:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
	int c, i, j, row, col, nl, cr;
	
	row = col = nl = cr = 0;
	
	FILE *fp = fopen("cashiers.txt", "r");

	// Figure out how many rows and columns the text file has
	while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF)
	{
		if (c == '\n')
			nl++;
		if (c == '\r')
			cr++;
		
		col++;
		
		if (c == '\n')
			row++;
		
		putchar(c);
	}

	col = (col - (nl + cr));
	col = (int) (col/row);

	printf("\nnumber of rows is %d\n", row);
	printf("number of columns is %d\n\n", col);

	
	// read letters into array

	char array[row][col];

	if ( fp )
   	{
		for ( ;; )
      		{
			c = getc(fp);
         		if ( c == EOF )
         		{
            			break;
         		}
         		if ( c != '\n' && c != '\r' )
         		{
            			array[i][j] = c;
            			if ( ++j >= col )
            			{
               				j = 0;
               				if ( ++i >= row )
               				{
                  				break;
               				}
            			}
         		}
      		}
		fclose(fp);
	}
      	   
   	for ( i = 0; i < row; i++ )
   	{
      		for ( j = 0; j < col; j++ )
      		{
         		putchar(array[i][j]);
      		}
      		putchar('\n');
   	}
   	return 0;
}

And here's what I get as output:

Code:

DNOPSNOITACAVFX
BSERENITYNZEKYI
ZBREAMOANARHECM
BBASSWGITOOLKAY
QSCENERYTNLCYMM
TUORTIASEAUBDPA
JZIVVVYYVDXOWSE
FSSENREDLIWAMIR
FIRSEHRSPNLTLTT
CLSCUILRTLYKAES
XAOHQKFOEFYLUSR
ORBGIIWYDSAQLEM
GEYITNEFPGOROEA
EKALNGGAXRERCGJ
TEKRAMSGCAFETOY

number of rows is 15
number of columns is 15


     
   O=
 4þ" Pü" Ðþ" å²
éw¸¥èwÿÿÿÿ/«çw
âÂwè  ˜?=    
˜þ"     àÓÅwl 1
5           ˜
= 2ÏÂw         
       æõw    
            ®ùÃ
w      ’þ" &�
Ãw(ËÅw’”Ãw   »
æÃw
    ¬Åw..æÃw
æõw    @    
     üþ" FÁwàÿ
" °>ÃwàFÁwÿÿÿÿ

I feel that I'm doing something wrong with my variable types or something and that's why it's coming out like that.

Once again, thanks for your help.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
	int c, i, j, row, col, nl, cr;
	
	row = col = nl = cr = 0;
	
	FILE *fp = fopen("cashiers.txt", "r");

	// Figure out how many rows and columns the text file has
	while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF)
	{
		if (c == '\n')
			nl++;
		if (c == '\r')
			cr++;
		
		col++;
		
		if (c == '\n')
			row++;
		
		putchar(c);
	}

	col = (col - (nl + cr));
	col = (int) (col/row);

	printf("\nnumber of rows is %d\n", row);
	printf("number of columns is %d\n\n", col);

	
	// read letters into array

	char array[row][col];

	if ( fp )
   	{
		for ( ;; )
      		{
			c = getc(fp);
         		if ( c == EOF )
         		{
            			break;
         		}
         		if ( c != '\n' && c != '\r' )
         		{
            			array[i][j] = c;

As of here, where have j and i been initialized? You're lucky your program runs at all.

Quzah.

Thanks Quzah. I went back and initialized i and j at the start with the others but still get the same problem.

Ok, after doing some debugging with some printfs I figured out what was going on. Thanks for all the help.

Originally Posted by damonbrinkley

I went back and initialized i and j at the start with the others but still get the same problem.

After reading the file to the end to determine the rows and columns, rewind back to the beginning to read it.

Code:

   char array[row][col];

   if ( fp )
   {
      rewind(fp);
      for ( ;; )
      {

Originally Posted by Dave_Sinkula

After reading the file to the end to determine the rows and columns, rewind back to the beginning to read it.

Code:

   char array[row][col];

   if ( fp )
   {
      rewind(fp);
      for ( ;; )
      {

Thanks Dave. After doing some messing around I realized that was my problem. Thanks again.