CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c
Erik W
Erik W

Reputation: 2628

C - Weird characters are printed out

I have written a small program that is going to become a text editor in the console for windows. This is what I have written right now:

#include <Windows.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
    int space = 20;
    int used = 0;
    int key = 0;
    char* text = malloc(sizeof(char) * space);

    while (key != 27)
    {
        if (used >= space)
        {
            space += 20;
            text = realloc(text, space);
        }

        key = getch();
        if (key == 8)
        {
            used--;
            system("cls");
            for (int i = 0; i < used; i++)
            {
                putch(text[i]);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            used++;

            text[used] = key;
            putch(text[used]);
        }
    }

    free(text);
    return 0;
}

The printing when I press on letters at the keyboard works fine. The problem is when I hit backspace and try to remove a character. It starts printing random 'I' characters in the text I have written. What mistake am I making and how can I solve it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 258

Answers (4)

user3629249
user3629249

Reputation: 16540

the following code still has the 'off-by-one' error,

the following code needs the error checking added for the calls to malloc() and realloc().

however, it is portable, compiles cleanly, and performs the desired functionality without outputting trash characters.

However, it still has the logic problem with newlines.

//#include <Windows.h>
//#include <conio.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main( void )
{
    int space = 20;
    int used = 0;
    int key = 0;
    char* text = malloc(sizeof(char) * space);

    while (key != 27) // escape
    {
        if (used >= space)
        {
            space += 20;
            text = realloc(text, space);
        }

        key = getchar();
        if (key == 8) // backspace
        {
            used--;
            system("cls");
            for (int i = 0; i < used; i++)
            {
                putc(text[i], stdout);
            }
        }
        else
        { // all other key strokes
            used++;

            text[used] = key;
            putc(text[used], stdout);
        }
    } // end while

    free(text);
    return 0;
} // end function: main

Upvotes: 1

neriag
neriag

Reputation: 151

I'm not sure that this is the only problem, but one problem I can see in first look - the increase of 'used' is before the inserting (means - you start inserting to text[1]) and the reprintig starts from zero (means - you start printing with text[0]) the first value is fertilized.

Sorry for the bad english and hope It's help.

Upvotes: 1

John Bode
John Bode

Reputation: 123578

Off by one error. Change

used++;
text[used] = key;

to

text[used] = key;
...
used++;

Some style notes:

First, use character literals instead of raw numeric codes; for example, instead of writing

if (key == 8)

use

if (key == '\b')

Where there isn't a predefined character literal (such as for the escape character) create a symbolic constant and use that:

#define ESC 27
...
while (key != ESC)

This will make your code a bit easier to understand for others.

Secondly, be careful with realloc; if it can't satisfy the request, it will return NULL. If you assign that NULL value to your text pointer, you will lose your only reference to the memory you had already allocated. It's better to do something like the following:

char *tmp = realloc( text, space + 20 );
if ( tmp )
{
  text = tmp;
  space += 20;
}

This way, if the realloc fails, you still have your reference to the previously allocated memory, allowing you to free it cleanly, or to recover from the error somehow.

Upvotes: 4

Eugene Sh.
Eugene Sh.

Reputation: 18381

text[0] is never assigned. First time text[used] is written the used is already 1, because it is getting incremented before. But on backspace you are printing text starting from 0, which is uninitialized and containing garbage.

Upvotes: 1

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