initializing char arrays to null
Hello again,
I've found some good advice all over this board, but here's another, simpler, question I'm sure anyone can answer.
I'm using borland 5 and i can't seem to set my char arrays to the null character.
I've tried
char name[10]=/0;
char name[10]=\0;
char name[10]=NULL;
but that only returns an error, what's the correct syntax?
thanks,
James
HB9/KC5ZFZ
You can use a tricky technique or a safer method.
Tricky:
char array[SIZE] = {0};
Safer:
memset ( array, 0, SIZE );
Memset requires that you include either string.h or string, but it won't give warnings on some compilers.
-Prelude
My best code is written with the delete key.
> char array[SIZE] = {0};
Nothing wrong with this
It just assumes that the remaining SIZE-1 elements are also zero, so that's it, job done
>Nothing wrong with this
If there's nothing wrong with it then why did someone bother to make Lint give a warnng for it?
I've found that it causes no problems or unusual output, but I obssessively clear Lint warnings, so I cosider memset safer. This is one of those situations where it's a matter of personal preference.
-Prelude
My best code is written with the delete key.
Prelude
What warning does Lint give you?
For this line
char array[100] = {0};
I get these warnings
-PreludeCode:Splint 3.0.1.1 --- 08 Jan 2002 cTest.c: (in function main) cTest.c(6,20): Initializer block for array has 1 element, but declared as char[100]: 0 Initializer does not define all elements of a declared array. (Use -initallelements to inhibit warning) cTest.c(6,21): Initial value of array[0] is type int, expects char: 0 Types are incompatible. (Use -type to inhibit warning)
My best code is written with the delete key.
you can also try these to initialize just the first element of the array to null:
char buffer[10];
buffer[0] = '\0';//pictoral null char, need the single quotes though
buffer[0] = 0;//the integer zero when assigned to char is null char,
the quotes and backslash escape char just make it abundantly clear that you know what you are trying to do.
buffer[0] = NUL;//yup, one L instead of two. I believe NUL is typedefed to 0 or '\0', whichever you prefer.
