Thread: compile error (beginner)

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to programming and am attempting to build a text formatting program to help further my knowledge.

Its still in the early stages, but i've come across a problem. Here is a snippet of my program. The program will count the number of spaces in a given string.

I am getting errors related to the if statement. Can someone please point out what I am doing wrong?

Thanks.

Code:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

main()
{
    char str[20] = {"This is my string"};
    char *ptr;
    ptr = str; //point to beginning of array
    int counter=0;
    
    while (*ptr != '\0')
    {
        if (*ptr == " ") 
        {
            ++counter;
        }
        *ptr++;
    }
    
    cout << "There are " << counter << " spaces\n";

    system("PAUSE");
    return 0;
}

Well by all account I'm still a n00b myself but do you really need the * infront of ptr for all those calls?

Shouldn't you juse declare it as a pointer char *ptr and then just use ptr or &ptr for the rest?

Thank you.

I am currently learning pointers, hence the usage of them (and fall down) in nearly every program I write.

It takes a little while to become comfortable with pointers, but it's time well spent. Good luck

Hi,

Can I just clarify before I continue.

My if statement stated if (*ptr == " ") originaly.
Omnius stated that it should have been if(*ptr == ' ') using single quotes.

Is the reason behind this due to the fact that double quotes will insert an \0 at the end automatically??
If not, what was the reason?

You'll be getting many more questions from me in the future, I ask more questions that a five year old kid
Hopefully i'll be able to answer some in the near future.

Thanks again.

ok, thanks.

1 more thing, (told you I like asking questions) Why int main?

My lecturer at college always tells us to use void main, however if I'm right this is no longer the ANSI standard.

What are the reasons behind this?

Obviously something to do with ending the main function with return 0

Originally posted by SirCrono6
Okay, then tell your teacher to go learn C++ . Void main is a bad, bad, thing. Keep away from it because it's not standard. I don't think it's EVER been standard. Return 0, to learn about that go read a C++ book. Some will explain what it means, mine did. So if he says use void main then go ahead and use int main anyways. Void main = bad programmer, int main = good programmer.

Actually, void main() is not such a big deal. In the grand scheme of things, it generates far more heat in discussions than its status deserves. It's non-standard. There's no advantage in using it. Lots of people continue to do so, and lots of compilers continue to support it.

As far as your teacher is concerned, I would be inclined to point out that void main() is non-standard and that main should return an int. If they still insist that you should use void main during classes you've not got much choice but to go along with it for the time being. It's no big deal.