String

C Strings
The string can be defined as the one-dimensional array of characters terminated by a null ('\0'). The
character array or the string is used to manipulate text such as word or sentences. Each character in the
array occupies one byte of memory, and the last character must always be 0. The termination character
('\0') is important in a string since it is the only way to identify where the string ends. When we define a
string as char s[10], the character s[10] is implicitly initialized with the null in the memory.

There are two ways to declare a string in c language.

1. By char array

2. By string literal

Let's see the example of declaring string by char array in C language.

1. char ch[10]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};

As we know, array index starts from 0, so it will be represented as in the figure given below.

While declaring string, size is not mandatory. So we can write the above code as given below:

1. char ch[]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};

We can also define the string by the string literal in C language. For example:

1. char ch[]="javatpoint";

In such case, '\0' will be appended at the end of the string by the compiler.

C gets() and puts() functions

The gets() and puts() are declared in the header file stdio.h. Both the functions are involved in the
input/output operations of the strings.

C gets() function
The gets() function enables the user to enter some characters followed by the enter key. All the
characters entered by the user get stored in a character array. The null character is added to the array to
make it a string. The gets() allows the user to enter the space-separated strings. It returns the string
entered by the user.
 Declaration

1. char[] gets(char[]);

C puts() function
The puts() function is very much similar to printf() function. The puts() function is used to print the string
on the console which is previously read by using gets() or scanf() function. The puts() function returns an
integer value representing the number of characters being printed on the console. Since, it prints an
additional newline character with the string, which moves the cursor to the new line on the console, the
integer value returned by puts() will always be equal to the number of characters present in the string
plus 1.

Declaration

int puts(char[])

C String Functions
There are many important string functions defined in "string.h" library.

No. Function Description

1) strlen(string_name) returns the length of string name.

2) strcpy(destination, source) copies the contents of source string to destination string.

3) strcat(first_string, second_string) concats or joins first string with second string. The result of the string is stored in first string.

4) strcmp(first_string, second_string) compares the first string with second string. If both strings are same, it returns 0.

5) strrev(string) returns reverse string.

6) strlwr(string) returns string characters in lowercase.

7) strupr(string) returns string characters in uppercase.

C String Length: strlen() function

The strlen() function returns the length of the given string. It doesn't count null character '\0'.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[20]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
5. printf("Length of string is: %d",strlen(ch));
6. return 0;
7. }

Output:

Length of string is: 10

 C Copy String: strcpy()

The strcpy(destination, source) function copies the source string in destination.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[20]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
5. char ch2[20];
6. strcpy(ch2,ch);
7. printf("Value of second string is: %s",ch2);
8. return 0;
9. }

Output:

Value of second string is: javatpoint

C String Concatenation: strcat()

The strcat(first_string, second_string) function concatenates two strings and result is returned to first_string.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[10]={'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', '\0'};
5. char ch2[10]={'c', '\0'};
6. strcat(ch,ch2);
7. printf("Value of first string is: %s",ch);
8. return 0;
9. }

Output:

Value of first string is: helloc

C Compare String: strcmp()

The strcmp(first_string, second_string) function compares two string and returns 0 if both strings are equal.

Here, we are using gets() function which reads string from the console.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str1[20],str2[20];
5. printf("Enter 1st string: ");
6. gets(str1);//reads string from console
7. printf("Enter 2nd string: ");
8. gets(str2);
9. if(strcmp(str1,str2)==0)
10. printf("Strings are equal");
11. else
12. printf("Strings are not equal");
13. return 0;
14. }
 Output:

Enter 1st string: hello

Enter 2nd string: hello
Strings are equal

C Reverse String: strrev()

The strrev(string) function returns reverse of the given string. Let's see a simple example of strrev() function.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str[20];
5. printf("Enter string: ");
6. gets(str);//reads string from console
7. printf("String is: %s",str);
8. printf("\nReverse String is: %s",strrev(str));
9. return 0;
10. }

Output:

Enter string: javatpoint

String is: javatpoint
Reverse String is: tnioptavaj