Char arrays

[David Scarlett]

A couple of questions...

Firstly, can I put an expression inside an array definition?
eg.
char ln[MAX_LINE_LEN+1]; /* MAX_LINE_LEN has been #defined */
Secondly, is the size of a char always 1 byte?

ie. To get a line from stdin, can i do this, assuming the above
definition of 'ln'?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln), stdin );

Or do I have to do this?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln)/sizeof(char), stdin );

Thanks.

--
David Scarlett

dscarlett@_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ optusnet.com.au

[Alex Fraser]

"David Scarlett" <lo**@my.signature> wrote in message
news:Xn***********************@211.29.133.50...

A couple of questions...

Firstly, can I put an expression inside an array definition?
eg.
char ln[MAX_LINE_LEN+1]; /* MAX_LINE_LEN has been #defined */
Yes, that's fine.
Secondly, is the size of a char always 1 byte?
Yes, sizeof(char) is defined to be 1 byte, but 1 byte may have more than 8
bits. See CHAR_BIT in <limits.h>.
ie. To get a line from stdin, can i do this, assuming the above
definition of 'ln'?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln), stdin );
Yes. The brackets are superfluous when sizeof is applied to an object (as
opposed to a type).
Or do I have to do this?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln)/sizeof(char), stdin );

Since sizeof(char) is 1, this is equivalent to the above. I prefer to avoid
using sizeof on types where possible:

type array[SIZE];
size_t elements = sizeof array / sizeof *array; /* correct for any type */

Alex

[Emmanuel Delahaye]

In 'comp.lang.c', David Scarlett <lo**@my.signature> wrote:

Firstly, can I put an expression inside an array definition?
eg.
char ln[MAX_LINE_LEN+1]; /* MAX_LINE_LEN has been #defined */
This is a constant expression. Yes, you can, as long as the resulting
expression fits into the implementation limits.
Secondly, is the size of a char always 1 byte?
Yes, by-definition.
ie. To get a line from stdin, can i do this, assuming the above
definition of 'ln'?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln), stdin );
Assuming 'ln' is an array of char, yes. You also can drop the ().

fgets (ln, sizeof ln, stdin);

is the 'canonic' way.
Or do I have to do this?
fgets( ln, sizeof(ln)/sizeof(char), stdin );

You don't.

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