Special character in char arrays

Question

I'm trying to retrieve some text from a char array, like this:

unsigned char some_variable[3][10] = {"text1","text2","text3"};

int i;

for(i=0;i<3;i++){
    functionIcantChange(some_variable[i])
}

I'm getting this issue since this functionICantChange takes aguments like "hello" and "world" with " characters included. And by calling for example some_variable[0] I just get text1 for example.

I need to add the " character to the array before passing the array to the function. How could I do this?

I need something like unsigned char variable[1][10]={""text1""} so variable[0] returns "text1" instead of text1 — Ariel, Nov 10 '20 at 23:58
By the way, you should use `char` to represent characters, not `unsigned char`. — jarmod, Nov 11 '20 at 00:00
@Ariel my answer below does that... Not sure if that's what you mean, -- Also recursive is a bit confusing. — Ilan Keshet, Nov 11 '20 at 00:01
@jarmod *By the way, you should use `char` to represent characters, not `unsigned char`* Yes, it's OT, but can you explain why? — Andrew Henle, Nov 11 '20 at 00:05
@AndrewHenle good discussion here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75191/what-is-an-unsigned-char. Additionally here: https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/STR04-C.+Use+plain+char+for+characters+in+the+basic+character+set — jarmod, Nov 11 '20 at 00:10
@IlanKeshet It was my fault, this snippet doesn't use anything recursively. I removed it from the question. And yeah, your answer is what I wanted to, thanks — Ariel, Nov 11 '20 at 00:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 10 '20 at 23:59

1

I recommend you use sprintf to insert quotations in the front and back of your array. You would need some large buffer to hold the value of the variable.

char buffer[255];
sprintf(buffer, "\"%s\"", some_variable[i]);
functionIcantChange(buffer);

answered Nov 10 '20 at 23:59

Ilan Keshet

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I recommend forget `sprintf` - use `snprintf`. – KamilCuk Nov 11 '20 at 00:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '20 at 00:10

0

I need something like unsigned char variable[1][10]={""text1""} so variable[0] returns "text1" instead of text1

Escape the quotes.

char some_variable[3][10] = {"\"text1\"","\"text2\"","\"text3\""};

See cppreference escape sequences.

answered Nov 11 '20 at 00:10

KamilCuk

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I agree that's a possible solution too... but I wasn't sure if his "some_variable" was allowed to be modified – Ilan Keshet Nov 11 '20 at 00:30

Special character in char arrays

2 Answers2