Search code examples
cstrstrsubstring

strstr() function


I am trying to write a program that compares a substring that the user enters with an array of strings.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

char animals[][20] = {
    "dogs are cool",
    "frogs are freaky",
    "monkeys are crazy"
};

int main() {
    char input[10];

    puts("Enter animal name: ");
    fgets(input, sizeof(input), stdin);

    int i;
    for(i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
        if(strstr(animals[i], input))
            printf("%s", animals[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

When I enter frogs, for example it should print the message "frogs are freaky", but it prints out nothing.

So I tried to write a line to print out the value of the strstr() function each time and they all returned 0, which means all the comparisons failed. I don't understand why, can someone help me please?


Solution

  • This is because your string contains the newline character.

    From the fgets documentation:

    A newline character makes fgets stop reading, but it is considered a valid character by the function and included in the string copied to str.

    This should fix the problem (demo):

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <string.h>
    
    char animals[][20] = {
    "dogs are cool",
    "frogs are freaky",
    "monkeys are crazy"
    };
    
    int main() {
        char input[10];
    
        printf("Enter animal name: ");
        scanf("%9s", input);
    
        int i;
        for(i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
            if(strstr(animals[i], input))
                printf("%s", animals[i]);
        }
        return 0;
    }