C Programming Code Examples

In C, the "main" function is treated the same as every function, it has a return type (and in some cases accepts inputs via parameters). The only difference is that the main function is "called" by the operating system when the user runs the program. Thus the main function is always the first code executed when a program starts. main() function is a user defined, body of the function is defined by the programmer or we can say main() is programmer/user implemented function, whose prototype is predefined in the compiler. Hence we can say that main() in c programming is user defined as well as predefined because it's prototype is predefined. main() is a system (compiler) declared function whose defined by the user, which is invoked automatically by the operating system when program is being executed. Its first function or entry point of the program from where program start executed, program's execution starts from the main. So main is an important function in c , c++ programming language. is a keyword in C language, void means nothing, whenever we use void as a function return type then that function nothing return. here main() function no return any value. In place of void we can also use int return type of main() function, at that time main() return integer type value. is a name of function which is predefined function in C library. • An operating system always calls the main() function when a programmers or users execute their programming code. • It is responsible for starting and ends of the program. • It is a universally accepted keyword in programming language and cannot change its meaning and name. • A main() function is a user-defined function in C that means we can pass parameters to the main() function according to the requirement of a program. • A main() function is used to invoke the programming code at the run time, not at the compile time of a program. • A main() function is followed by opening and closing parenthesis brackets.

#include is a way of including a standard or user-defined file in the program and is mostly written at the beginning of any C/C++ program. This directive is read by the preprocessor and orders it to insert the content of a user-defined or system header file into the following program. These files are mainly imported from an outside source into the current program. The process of importing such files that might be system-defined or user-defined is known as File Inclusion. This type of preprocessor directive tells the compiler to include a file in the source code program. Here are the two types of file that can be included using #include: • Header File or Standard files: This is a file which contains C/C++ function declarations and macro definitions to be shared between several source files. Functions like the printf(), scanf(), cout, cin and various other input-output or other standard functions are contained within different header files. So to utilise those functions, the users need to import a few header files which define the required functions. • User-defined files: These files resembles the header files, except for the fact that they are written and defined by the user itself. This saves the user from writing a particular function multiple times. Once a user-defined file is written, it can be imported anywhere in the program using the #include preprocessor. Including using " ": When using the double quotes(" "), the preprocessor access the current directory in which the source "header_file" is located. This type is mainly used to access any header files of the user's program or user-defined files. Including using <>: While importing file using angular brackets(<>), the the preprocessor uses a predetermined directory path to access the file. It is mainly used to access system header files located in the standard system directories.

The for loop is used in the case where we need to execute some part of the code until the given condition is satisfied. The for loop is also called as a per-tested loop. It is better to use for loop if the number of iteration is known in advance. The for-loop statement is a very specialized while loop, which increases the readability of a program. It is frequently used to traverse the data structures like the array and linked list. First initialization happens and the counter variable gets initialized. In the second step the condition is checked, where the counter variable is tested for the given condition, if the condition returns true then the C statements inside the body of for loop gets executed, if the condition returns false then the for loop gets terminated and the control comes out of the loop. After successful execution of statements inside the body of loop, the counter variable is incremented or decremented, depending on the operation (++ or --).

Writes the C string pointed by format to the standard output (stdout). If format includes format specifiers (subsequences beginning with %), the additional arguments following format are formatted and inserted in the resulting string replacing their respective specifiers. printf format string refers to a control parameter used by a class of functions in the input/output libraries of C programming language. The string is written in a simple template language: characters are usually copied literally into the function's output, but format specifiers, which start with a % character, indicate the location and method to translate a piece of data (such as a number) to characters. "printf" is the name of one of the main C output functions, and stands for "print formatted". printf format strings are complementary to scanf format strings, which provide formatted input (parsing). In both cases these provide simple functionality and fixed format compared to more sophisticated and flexible template engines or parsers, but are sufficient for many purposes. C string that contains the text to be written to stdout. It can optionally contain embedded format specifiers that are replaced by the values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted as requested. A format specifier follows this prototype: [see compatibility note below] %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier Where the specifier character at the end is the most significant component, since it defines the type and the interpretation of its corresponding argument: a conversion format specifier. Signed decimal integer Unsigned decimal integer Unsigned octal Unsigned hexadecimal integer Unsigned hexadecimal integer (uppercase) Decimal floating point, lowercase Decimal floating point, uppercase Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent), lowercase Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent), uppercase Use the shortest representation: %e or %f Use the shortest representation: %E or %F Hexadecimal floating point, lowercase Hexadecimal floating point, uppercase Character String of characters Pointer address Nothing printed. The corresponding argument must be a pointer to a signed int. The number of characters written so far is stored in the pointed location. A % followed by another % character will write a single % to the stream. The format specifier can also contain sub-specifiers: flags, width, .precision and modifiers (in that order), which are optional and follow these specifications: one or more flags that modifies the conversion behavior (optional) Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the default (see width sub-specifier). Forces to preceed the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -) even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are preceded with a - sign. If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before the value. Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceeded with 0, 0x or 0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with a, A, e, E, f, F, g or G it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no more digits follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point is written. Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces when padding is specified (see width sub-specifier). an optional * or integer value used to specify minimum width field. Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is larger. The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be formatted. an optional field consisting of a . followed by * or integer or nothing to specify the precision. For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0. For a, A, e, E, f and F specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed after the decimal point (by default, this is 6). For g and G specifiers: This is the maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all characters are printed until the ending null character is encountered. If the period is specified without an explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed. The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be formatted. an optional length modifier that specifies the size of the argument. Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a value to be used to replace a format specifier in the format string (or a pointer to a storage location, for n). There should be at least as many of these arguments as the number of values specified in the format specifiers. Additional arguments are ignored by the function. If a writing error occurs, the error indicator (ferror) is set and a negative number is returned. If a multibyte character encoding error occurs while writing wide characters, errno is set to EILSEQ and a negative number is returned.

The bitwise operators are the operators used to perform the operations on the data at the bit-level. When we perform the bitwise operations, then it is also known as bit-level programming. It consists of two digits, either 0 or 1. It is mainly used in numerical computations to make the calculations faster. We have different types of bitwise operators in the C programming language. The following is the list of the bitwise operators: Bitwise AND operator is denoted by the single ampersand sign (&). Two integer operands are written on both sides of the (&) operator. If the corresponding bits of both the operands are 1, then the output of the bitwise AND operation is 1; otherwise, the output would be 0. Bitwise OR operator is represented by a single vertical sign (|). Two integer operands are written on both sides of the (|) symbol. If the bit value of any of the operand is 1, then the output would be 1, otherwise 0. Bitwise exclusive OR operator is denoted by (^) symbol. Two operands are written on both sides of the exclusive OR operator. If the corresponding bit of any of the operand is 1 then the output would be 1, otherwise 0. Bitwise complement operator is also known as one's complement operator (unary operator). It is represented by the symbol tilde (~). It takes only one operand or variable and performs complement operation on an operand. When we apply the complement operation on any bits, then 0 becomes 1 and 1 becomes 0. Two types of bitwise shift operators exist in C programming. The bitwise shift operators will shift the bits either on the left-side or right-side. Therefore, we can say that the bitwise shift operator is divided into two categories: Left-shift operator - It is an operator that shifts the number of bits to the left-side. Left shift operator shifts all bits towards left by a certain number of specified bits. The bit positions that have been vacated by the left shift operator are filled with 0. The symbol of the left shift operator is <<. Right-shift operator - It is an operator that shifts the number of bits to the right side. Right shift operator shifts all bits towards right by certain number of specified bits. It is denoted by >>. X Y X&Y X|Y X^Y 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

In the C Programming Language, the #define directive allows the definition of macros within your source code. These macro definitions allow constant values to be declared for use throughout your code. Macro definitions are not variables and cannot be changed by your program code like variables. You generally use this syntax when creating constants that represent numbers, strings or expressions. is the name of a particular constant. It can either be defined in smaller case or upper case or both. Most of the developers prefer the constant names to be in the upper case to find the differences. defines the value of the constant. is the value that is assigned to that constant which is defined. The expression should always be enclosed within the brackets if it has any operators. In the C programming language, the preprocessor directive acts an important role within which the #define directive is present that is used to define the constant or the micro substitution. The #define directive can use any of the basic data types present in the C standard. The #define preprocessor directive lets a programmer or a developer define the macros within the source code. This macro definition will allow the constant value that should be declared for the usage. Macro definitions cannot be changed within the program's code as one does with other variables, as macros are not variables. The #define is usually used in syntax that created a constant that is used to represent numbers, strings, or other expressions. The #define directive should not be enclosed with the semicolon(;). It is a common mistake done, and one should always treat this directive as any other header file. Enclosing it with a semicolon will generate an error. The #define creates a macro, which is in association with an identifier or is parameterized identifier along with a token string. After the macro is defined, then the compiler can substitute the token string for each occurrence of the identifier within the source file.

The sizeof() operator is commonly used in C. It determines the size of the expression or the data type specified in the number of char-sized storage units. The sizeof() operator contains a single operand which can be either an expression or a data typecast where the cast is data type enclosed within parenthesis. The data type cannot only be primitive data types such as integer or floating data types, but it can also be pointer data types and compound data types such as unions and structs. Where data type is the desired data type including classes, structures, unions and any other user defined data type. Mainly, programs know the storage size of the primitive data types. Though the storage size of the data type is constant, it varies when implemented in different platforms. For example, we dynamically allocate the array space by using sizeof() operator:

The break is a keyword in C which is used to bring the program control out of the loop. The break statement is used inside loops or switch statement. The break statement breaks the loop one by one, i.e., in the case of nested loops, it breaks the inner loop first and then proceeds to outer loops. When a break statement is encountered inside a loop, the loop is immediately terminated and the program control resumes at the next statement following the loop. It can be used to terminate a case in the switch statement (covered in the next chapter). If you are using nested loops, the break statement will stop the execution of the innermost loop and start executing the next line of code after the block.

Read formatted data from stdin. Reads data from stdin and stores them according to the parameter format into the locations pointed by the additional arguments. The additional arguments should point to already allocated objects of the type specified by their corresponding format specifier within the format string. In C programming, scanf() is one of the commonly used function to take input from the user. The scanf() function reads formatted input from the standard input such as keyboards. The scanf() function enables the programmer to accept formatted inputs to the application or production code. Moreover, by using this function, the users can provide dynamic input values to the application. C string that contains a sequence of characters that control how characters extracted from the stream are treated: • Whitespace character: the function will read and ignore any whitespace characters encountered before the next non-whitespace character (whitespace characters include spaces, newline and tab characters -- see isspace). A single whitespace in the format string validates any quantity of whitespace characters extracted from the stream (including none). • Non-whitespace character, except format specifier (%): Any character that is not either a whitespace character (blank, newline or tab) or part of a format specifier (which begin with a % character) causes the function to read the next character from the stream, compare it to this non-whitespace character and if it matches, it is discarded and the function continues with the next character of format. If the character does not match, the function fails, returning and leaving subsequent characters of the stream unread. • Format specifiers: A sequence formed by an initial percentage sign (%) indicates a format specifier, which is used to specify the type and format of the data to be retrieved from the stream and stored into the locations pointed by the additional arguments. A format specifier for scanf follows this prototype: %[*][width][length]specifier Where the specifier character at the end is the most significant component, since it defines which characters are extracted, their interpretation and the type of its corresponding argument: Any number of digits, optionally preceded by a sign (+ or -). Decimal digits assumed by default (0-9), but a 0 prefix introduces octal digits (0-7), and 0x hexadecimal digits (0-f). Signed argument. Any number of decimal digits (0-9), optionally preceded by a sign (+ or -). d is for a signed argument, and u for an unsigned. Any number of octal digits (0-7), optionally preceded by a sign (+ or -). Unsigned argument. Any number of hexadecimal digits (0-9, a-f, A-F), optionally preceded by 0x or 0X, and all optionally preceded by a sign (+ or -). Unsigned argument. A series of decimal digits, optionally containing a decimal point, optionally preceeded by a sign (+ or -) and optionally followed by the e or E character and a decimal integer (or some of the other sequences supported by strtod). Implementations complying with C99 also support hexadecimal floating-point format when preceded by 0x or 0X. The next character. If a width other than 1 is specified, the function reads exactly width characters and stores them in the successive locations of the array passed as argument. No null character is appended at the end. Any number of non-whitespace characters, stopping at the first whitespace character found. A terminating null character is automatically added at the end of the stored sequence. A sequence of characters representing a pointer. The particular format used depends on the system and library implementation, but it is the same as the one used to format %p in fprintf. Any number of the characters specified between the brackets. A dash (-) that is not the first character may produce non-portable behavior in some library implementations. Any number of characters none of them specified as characters between the brackets. No input is consumed. The number of characters read so far from stdin is stored in the pointed location. A % followed by another % matches a single %. Except for n, at least one character shall be consumed by any specifier. Otherwise the match fails, and the scan ends there. The format specifier can also contain sub-specifiers: asterisk (*), width and length (in that order), which are optional and follow these specifications: An optional starting asterisk indicates that the data is to be read from the stream but ignored (i.e. it is not stored in the location pointed by an argument). Specifies the maximum number of characters to be read in the current reading operation (optional). One of hh, h, l, ll, j, z, t, L (optional). This alters the expected type of the storage pointed by the corresponding argument (see below). Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to allocated storage where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type. There should be at least as many of these arguments as the number of values stored by the format specifiers. Additional arguments are ignored by the function. These arguments are expected to be pointers: to store the result of a scanf operation on a regular variable, its name should be preceded by the reference operator (&) (see example). On success, the function returns the number of items of the argument list successfully filled. This count can match the expected number of items or be less (even zero) due to a matching failure, a reading error, or the reach of the end-of-file. If a reading error happens or the end-of-file is reached while reading, the proper indicator is set (feof or ferror). And, if either happens before any data could be successfully read, EOF is returned. If an encoding error happens interpreting wide characters, the function sets errno to EILSEQ.

The if-else statement is used to perform two operations for a single condition. The if-else statement is an extension to the if statement using which, we can perform two different operations, i.e., one is for the correctness of that condition, and the other is for the incorrectness of the condition. Here, we must notice that if and else block cannot be executed simiulteneously. Using if-else statement is always preferable since it always invokes an otherwise case with every if condition. If the test expression is evaluated to true, • statements inside the body of if are executed. • statements inside the body of else are skipped from execution. If the test expression is evaluated to false, • statements inside the body of else are executed • statements inside the body of if are skipped from execution.