Read string length when string contains the null character

Hi! I wonder how you can replace the null character to be able to read the length of the whole string. Because C only reads to the null character I was told so I have to replace it with something else.

The reason why my for loop has 7 is temporarly, just to make sure it can read all elements. Since strlen(str) returns 3 because of the null character.

Code:

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


int main() {
   
    char str[] = {'h', 'e', 'j', '\0', 'a', 'b', 'c'};
   
    printf("String: %s", str);
   
    int i;
    for (i = 0; i < 7; i++) {
        if (strcmp(str, "\0") == 0)
            str[i] = ' ';
    }
       
    printf("\nLength: %d", strlen(str));
   
    return 0;
}

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If your string has to allow for embedded null characters, then by the standard C definition of "string", it is not a string. As such, just treat it as you would any other array of items: if you only use a portion of the array, you need some way to keep track of the number of elements in use, so designate a variable to maintain that count. You should not be using any of the standard C functions pertaining to strings, no more than you would use them on an array of integers or an array of doubles (e.g., you could use memcpy as you would to copy an array of char that contains a string, or an array of int, or an array of double, but you would not use strcpy; likewise just as you wouldn't use printf with %s to print an array of double, you wouldn't use it to print your array of char, but perhaps you would use a loop containing printf with %c).

Quote:

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Hi! I wonder how you can replace the null character to be able to read the length of the whole string. Because C only reads to the null character I was told so I have to replace it with something else.

The reason why my for loop has 7 is temporarly, just to make sure it can read all elements. Since strlen(str) returns 3 because of the null character.

---

Code:

---


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




int main() {


    int i;
    char str[] = {'h', 'e', 'j', '\0', 'a', 'b', 'c'};
    int array_length = sizeof(str)/sizeof(str[0]);
    int characters_length = 0;


    for(i=0; i<array_length; i++) {
        if(str[i] == '\0') {
            str[i] = ' ';
        }
        printf("%c",str[i]); //The string character by character
    }


    /** alternative way to do it */
    printf("\nLength of array: %d\n\n\n", sizeof(str)/sizeof(str[0]));
    printf("%s",str); //The whole string


    characters_length = strlen(str); //assign string length to a variable
    printf("\nThe string length is: %d\n\n",characters_length); //print the length




    return 0;
}

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Quote:

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C only reads to the null character

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Yes, you are right.
Big thanks to paxdiablo for describing this. As he said @ StackOverflow: "strlen usually works by counting the characters in a string until a \0 character is found. A canonical implementation would be:

Code:

---


int len =0;
    while(str[i] != '\0'){
        len++;
    }



---

I hope I helped. If you have any other question. Let me know!

Here is how it should work:

Code:

---


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


int main() {

    int i;
    char str[] = {'h', 'e', 'j', '\0', 'a', 'b', 'c'};
    int array_length = sizeof(str); //Gets the array elements count no matter what.
    int characters_length = 0;


    for(i=0; i<array_length; i++) {
        if(str[i] == '\0') {
            str[i] = ' ';
        }
        printf("%c",str[i]); //The string character by character
    }

    characters_length = strlen(str); //assign string length to a variable
    printf("\nThe string length is: %d\n\n",characters_length); //print the length

    /** alternative way to do it */
    printf("\nLength of array: %d\n", sizeof(str));
    printf("%s\n\n\n",str); //The whole string

    return 0;
}

---

I hope I helped. If you have any question, let me know!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr Pro Pop

Here is how it should work:

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No, your solution doesn't work: str is not a null terminated string, so replacing the embedded '\0' with ' ' and then calling strlen(str) results in undefined behaviour. In practice, strlen would try and find the null character and then go past the bounds of the array.

The answer is quite simple in this instance: str is an array of char in which every character is in use, so sizeof(str) is the answer. For a more general solution, refer to my post #2.