Thread: Need some help on a char swap

Hello all,

This is my last hmwk problem, and I'm a little confused with what to do with it.

-I need to write a recursive function that changes all occurences of character t in s (string) to character r (replace).

-For example: if s (string) were "priority", t=='i', and r=='y', s would become "pryoryty".

(I am asking the user for an input string, t, and r.)

Here is what I have so far. I understand that this function needs to be recursive, but I was trying to just get it working 1st. If anyone can tell me what is wrong, or what I need to adjust please let me know.

Also, anyone who can guide me in transforming the function into a recursive one would be a major help. Recursion is making my head hurt since it was thrown at us in the last half of our most recent lecture. Thanks guys.

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#define SIZE 15

void replace_r(char *s, char c, char r)
{
	char *p;

	for (p=s; *p; p++) {
		if (*p==c){
			*p = r;
		}
	}
}
   
main()
{
	char original_str[SIZE], s_char[1], r_char[1];																								
	
	printf("Original word:");															
	gets(original_str);														
	
	printf("c(original character)=:");													
	gets(s_char); 																		
	
	printf("r(replace)=:");																
	gets(r_char);																		

	replace_r(original_str, s_char, r_char);
			
	printf("New Sentence: %s\n", original_str);					
}

Try reading the site's lesson on recursion and see if studying from a different source helps you convert your current solution into a recursive one. Give it a try. If it breaks, post here, and I will help you fix it.

1) You're using gets. Gets is bad for buffer overflows. Besides, if you enter a character and then enter using gets and your current variables, you'll have a buffer overflow.

2) Why use an 'array of size 1' ? Why not char?

Everything else seems alright.

Input the word with fgets and the characters with scanf, and you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by citizen

Try reading the site's lesson on recursion and see if studying from a different source helps you convert your current solution into a recursive one. Give it a try. If it breaks, post here, and I will help you fix it.

I will definately do that, thank you for linking that to me. If I have probs I will post them later today, thx guys. This board seriously clears minor probs up for me, and that makes a world of difference to a new programmer.

Ok, I looked over the recursive exmples but noticed they were for C++.... little bit different I assume. Can anyone show me or give an example of how I can change my replace function into a recursive function? I am messing around with it, but it's making little sense and coming out horribly wrong. Thx

> Ok, I looked over the recursive exmples but noticed they were for C++.... little bit different I assume.

Not really, but the same tutorial was written with C examples:
http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c/lesson16.html

The tutorial teaches two things very well: first, that recursion is a programming technique where the programmer defines the operations of an algorithm in terms of themselves, and second, that base cases control the execution of a recursive algorithm. Base cases are a decision whether to call the function again or not.

So to make a recursive solution, look at the algorithm for base cases:
1. Compare the current character with the search character.
2. If they match, replace the current character with the replacement character.
3. Repeat step one and 2 until you reach the end of the search string.

Now that I've defined recursion and outlined the steps of the algorithm, hopefully you can come up with a solution.

Ok, I will go back and look over the examples some more. Thank you for taking the time to point those out, I do appreciate it. Now let's see if I can get anywhere with it, thx again.