Useful Function or Junk?

[Daniel Turini]

That's because you are testing it the wrong way: printf(szSomeArray). Try printf(szSomeArray + 6) instead Concussus surgo. When struck I rise.

[Michael Dunn]

Just do it when you declare your array:

TCHAR szSomeString[14] = {0};

That zeros out the entire array. (Actually, it sets the first element in the array to 0 (the value specified) and then C initializes the remainder of the array to 0 (regardless of the value specified).) --Mike-- Just released - RightClick-Encrypt v1.3 - Adds fast & easy file encryption to Explorer My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm

[Christian Graus]

Personally, I never use char *, because I program C++ rather than C, and I never need the performance that would justify the clunkiness and error prone nature of char *. Apart from that, I agree with the person who said that if I needed to use something so ugly as a char*, I'd be too worried about efficiency to be adding the cost of a function call ( although it's concievable that the compiler would inline it ), and I would just call memset rather than add the cost of another function. It's one line vs. one line. Christian come on all you MS suckups, defend your sugar-daddy now. - Chris Losinger - 11/07/2002

[Todd Smith]

I just tested it and it failed. Without the right test you can't get the correct answer :)

void LiquidPlumber(char * szBufferName)
{
int size = sizeof(szBufferName);
memset(szBufferName, 0, size);
}

main()
{
char buf[256];
LiquidPlumber(buf);

char\* array = new char\[256\];
LiquidPlumber(array);

}

Step through and see what size is. Todd Smith

[John Aldrich]

Try this.

/////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Liquid Plumber: Buffer Cleanup Function
//
// function takes 1 parameter which is the
// variable name of the char array to act on
// this is just a simple wrapper around the
// memset function to allow "hands-free" use
//
/////////////////////////////////////////////

void LiquidPlumber(char * szBufferName)
{
int size = sizeof(szBufferName);
memset(szBufferName, 0, size);
}

int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
LPSTR lpCmdLine,
int nCmdShow)
{
char strDataToEncode[] = "testtesttesttest";

MessageBox(NULL, strDataToEncode, "Clogged Pipe", MB\_OK);

LiquidPlumber(strDataToEncode);

MessageBox(NULL, strDataToEncode, "Cleaned Pipe", MB\_OK);

return 0;

}

It's good to see kids turning their minds to wholesum activities such as programming, instead of wasting their lives in the hedonistic disciplines of Sex, Drugs, & Rock & Roll... or Sex with Drugs, or Sex with Rocks while Rolling in Drugs, or whatever new-fangled perversions you little monsters have thought up now... [Shog9 on Kid Programmers]

[Jim A Johnson]

Well, except for the fact that it doesn't work, has a non-descriptive name, has no error checking facilities.. no, it's not of much value. You don't work as a professional programmer I hope.

[Todd Smith]

Failed. Todd Smith

[Steve T]

Hi, You will very easiliy see where this goes wrong if you try to initialize your array to something other than zero, for example change it to 'A' and the result becomes "CLEANED PIPE" "AAAAtesttesttest" Steve T.

[Vagif Abilov]

It's very convenient to have a function that takes less arguments than memset. But since it does not do the job (note that sizeof(char*) is always 4 under Win32, no matter what is the length of the actual string), then you could skip the first argument as well: void OptimizedLiquidPlumber(void) { // Nothing to do, still almost as good as the original LiquidPlumber } ;P Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway

[Todd Hoop]

Use the following and be done with it: *szBufferName = '\0'; I see code all the time when folks zero out strings for no reason. They waste processor time and their own. I had a friend who told me once that he worked with a contractor that zero'ed out every string by using a for-loop. Clever...