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Anything wrong

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  • S Smith

    BYTE message[5]; message[0] = 15; message[1] = 33; message[2] = 2; message[3] = 23; message[4] = 33; . . . . . int messageLengh = 60; char szLogBuff [512]={0}; for(int i=0;i<messageLengh;i++) { char chz[4]={0}; sprintf(chz,"%d ",i); strcat(szLogBuff,chz); } printf(szLogBuff); Do you find anything wrong with this code? Do I need to pad the buffer with a '\0'? or just assigning 0 to the buffer initially is fine?

    :beer:

    C Offline
    C Offline
    CPallini
    wrote on last edited by
    #4

    The code (albeit not beautiful) is correct. With szLogBuf[512]={0}; you actually initialize the whole buffer with 0 (that is '\0'). :)

    If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
    This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
    [My articles]

    S L 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • C CPallini

      The code (albeit not beautiful) is correct. With szLogBuf[512]={0}; you actually initialize the whole buffer with 0 (that is '\0'). :)

      If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
      This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
      [My articles]

      S Offline
      S Offline
      Smith
      wrote on last edited by
      #5

      Then what is the best way to clear the buffer initially?

      :beer:

      W 1 Reply Last reply
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      • S Smith

        Then what is the best way to clear the buffer initially?

        :beer:

        W Offline
        W Offline
        Waldermort
        wrote on last edited by
        #6

        Since you are dealing with strings there isn't a need to clear the whole buffer. char x[100] = { 0 }; internally calls memset. In your case it's a waste of (7 or so not including the loop inside memset) CPU cycles. char x[100]; x[0] = 0; initially creates an empty string. Just 1 CPU cycle. But then, calling functions like strcpy and sprintf don't require the buffer to be empty whereas strcat NEEDS a string (empty or otherwise) to append to.

        Waldermort

        S 1 Reply Last reply
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        • W Waldermort

          Since you are dealing with strings there isn't a need to clear the whole buffer. char x[100] = { 0 }; internally calls memset. In your case it's a waste of (7 or so not including the loop inside memset) CPU cycles. char x[100]; x[0] = 0; initially creates an empty string. Just 1 CPU cycle. But then, calling functions like strcpy and sprintf don't require the buffer to be empty whereas strcat NEEDS a string (empty or otherwise) to append to.

          Waldermort

          S Offline
          S Offline
          Smith
          wrote on last edited by
          #7

          whereas strcat NEEDS a string (empty or otherwise) to append to. so I'll have to memset everything to 0 or initialize everything to 0 right?

          :beer:

          W 1 Reply Last reply
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          • S Smith

            whereas strcat NEEDS a string (empty or otherwise) to append to. so I'll have to memset everything to 0 or initialize everything to 0 right?

            :beer:

            W Offline
            W Offline
            Waldermort
            wrote on last edited by
            #8

            No. When dealing with string buffers you only need to set the first char/wchar/tchar to 0. char myString[100]; // Is a buffer of 100 chars the a string may be copied into. strcat( myString, "Hello World!" ); // will fail because the buffer is full of junk. // but strcpy( myString, "World!" ); // will work because it doesn't care what is in the buffer myString[0] = 0; // copies an empty string to the buffer strcat( myString, "Hello World!" ); // appends the string to the empty string ( also sets the character after '!' to \0 or NULL. The new string is actually 13 chars because there is a 0 at the end. On another note. You shouldn't be using those string functions. There are safer versions available: strcpy_s( myString, 100, "Hello World!" ); These check to make sure the buffer is large enough for the string Also, you might want to read up on TCHAR and the unicode/ansi string functions TCHAR myString[100]; _tcscpy_s( myString, 100, _T("Hello World!");

            Waldermort

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            • C CPallini

              The code (albeit not beautiful) is correct. With szLogBuf[512]={0}; you actually initialize the whole buffer with 0 (that is '\0'). :)

              If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
              This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
              [My articles]

              L Offline
              L Offline
              Luc Pattyn
              wrote on last edited by
              #9

              CPallini wrote:

              The code ... is correct.

              :thumbsdown:

              Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

              Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

              C 1 Reply Last reply
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              • S Smith

                The first yes makes me not to click on the x of this window. Could you please tell me what is wrong with the code before I click on x?

                :beer:

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Luc Pattyn
                wrote on last edited by
                #10

                Smith# wrote:

                char chz[4]={0};

                this buffer is too small, your sprintf statement may generate a minus sign, three digits, a space, and a NULL, that is 6 characters. 60 of these could take up to 301 chars, so char szLogBuff [512]={0}; is sufficiently large, and as others already pointed out, your total initialization is a waste, as each strcat will move the initial terminating NULL backwards. BTW: you could get the correct result with less code, and save some cycles, and never have the bug you had, by having sprintf() fill the final buffer right away; all it takes is a variable pointer as the destination, initialized to szLogBuff, and incremented by the return value of sprintf! :)

                Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                C 1 Reply Last reply
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                • L Luc Pattyn

                  CPallini wrote:

                  The code ... is correct.

                  :thumbsdown:

                  Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                  Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                  C Offline
                  C Offline
                  CPallini
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #11

                  It isn't wrong. It isn't elegant nor optimal, but not wrong. I think this is a great achievement, after all. (It's a subliminal suggestion for you: could you please hire the OP?)

                  If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                  This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                  [My articles]

                  L 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • L Luc Pattyn

                    Smith# wrote:

                    char chz[4]={0};

                    this buffer is too small, your sprintf statement may generate a minus sign, three digits, a space, and a NULL, that is 6 characters. 60 of these could take up to 301 chars, so char szLogBuff [512]={0}; is sufficiently large, and as others already pointed out, your total initialization is a waste, as each strcat will move the initial terminating NULL backwards. BTW: you could get the correct result with less code, and save some cycles, and never have the bug you had, by having sprintf() fill the final buffer right away; all it takes is a variable pointer as the destination, initialized to szLogBuff, and incremented by the return value of sprintf! :)

                    Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                    Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    CPallini
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #12

                    Luc Pattyn wrote:

                    your sprintf statement may generate a minus sign

                    No, it cannot. ;P

                    If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                    This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                    [My articles]

                    L 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • C CPallini

                      It isn't wrong. It isn't elegant nor optimal, but not wrong. I think this is a great achievement, after all. (It's a subliminal suggestion for you: could you please hire the OP?)

                      If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                      This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                      [My articles]

                      L Offline
                      L Offline
                      Luc Pattyn
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #13

                      CPallini wrote:

                      It isn't elegant

                      true.

                      CPallini wrote:

                      nor optimal

                      true.

                      CPallini wrote:

                      not wrong

                      false. see my reply to OP. :)

                      Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                      Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                      C 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • C CPallini

                        Luc Pattyn wrote:

                        your sprintf statement may generate a minus sign

                        No, it cannot. ;P

                        If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                        This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                        [My articles]

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Luc Pattyn
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #14

                        from the code snippet I can't tell what the definition of BYTE is, could be signed, could be unsigned; I prepare for the worst. Anyway, it isn't really relevant, the buffer isn't sufficiently large. :)

                        Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                        Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                        C 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • L Luc Pattyn

                          CPallini wrote:

                          It isn't elegant

                          true.

                          CPallini wrote:

                          nor optimal

                          true.

                          CPallini wrote:

                          not wrong

                          false. see my reply to OP. :)

                          Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                          Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          CPallini
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #15

                          See my reply[^]. :)

                          If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                          This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                          [My articles]

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • L Luc Pattyn

                            from the code snippet I can't tell what the definition of BYTE is, could be signed, could be unsigned; I prepare for the worst. Anyway, it isn't really relevant, the buffer isn't sufficiently large. :)

                            Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                            Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                            C Offline
                            C Offline
                            CPallini
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #16

                            You didn't read the snippet, did you? (hint: it _s_prints the index, the BYTE part is completely insignificant). :)

                            If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                            This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                            [My articles]

                            L 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • C CPallini

                              You didn't read the snippet, did you? (hint: it _s_prints the index, the BYTE part is completely insignificant). :)

                              If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                              This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                              [My articles]

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Luc Pattyn
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #17

                              How silly. So that must be wrong too. :laugh:

                              Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                              Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                              C 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • L Luc Pattyn

                                How silly. So that must be wrong too. :laugh:

                                Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

                                Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, improve readability, and make me actually look at the code.

                                C Offline
                                C Offline
                                CPallini
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #18

                                :laugh:

                                If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
                                This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
                                [My articles]

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