Copying fread behaviour on char array

[Giox]

Hello everybody I want to create a routine that mimic the fread
behavior operating on char array.
I wrote

size_t fread_char(void * buf, size_t sz, size_t n, char* string_source)
{

memcpy(buf, string_source, sz*n);
string_source += n*sz;

return n;
}

When I leave the routine the string_source doesn't change its value, it
seems that the operation string_source += n*sz; has not been performed

[Ivanna Pee]

Giox wrote:

Hello everybody I want to create a routine that mimic the fread
behavior operating on char array.
I wrote

size_t fread_char(void * buf, size_t sz, size_t n, char* string_source)
{

memcpy(buf, string_source, sz*n);
string_source += n*sz;

return n;
}

When I leave the routine the string_source doesn't change its value, it
seems that the operation string_source += n*sz; has not been performed

Hint : Use

size_t fread_char(void * buf, size_t sz, size_t n, char**
string_source)

[Giox]

It works thans (I forgot stack :-))

[Kenneth Brody]

Giox wrote:

Hello everybody I want to create a routine that mimic the fread
behavior operating on char array.
I wrote

size_t fread_char(void * buf, size_t sz, size_t n, char* string_source)
{

memcpy(buf, string_source, sz*n);
string_source += n*sz;

return n;
}

When I leave the routine the string_source doesn't change its value, it
seems that the operation string_source += n*sz; has not been performed

C passes parameters by value, so fread_char()'s "string_sou rce" variable
contains the _value_ of the parameter passed to it. (Basically, in this
case, it's a copy of the pointer.)

When fread_char() modifies string_source, it modifies its own local copy,
not the caller's original variable.

One way to handle this is to pass the address of the char*, rather than
the char* itself:

size_t fread_char(void * buf, size_t sz, size_t n, char** string_source)
{
memcpy(buf, *string_source, sz*n);
*string_source += n*sz;
return n;
}

Another method would be to define a struct to correspond to the FILE
struct used by fread()/etc. and pass a pointer to the struct rather
than the buffer itself. (The struct would contain, at a minimum, the
same thing as "string_sou rce" above. However, you might want to have
both an "original" string pointer and a "current" pointer, plus a
"length", should you want to be able to simulate fseek and the like.)
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| Kenneth J. Brody | www.hvcomputer.com | |
| kenbrody/at\spamcop.net | www.fptech.com | #include <std_disclaimer .h> |
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