Remove spaces from a string

[Tomexx]

Hi,
How can I remove spaces from strings?
I'm talking about good old C not C++.

Is there a built in function or do I have to write my own?

Please provide a sample.

[Sc0rp]

This works:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
    char myStr[] = "Blah blah yadda packa.";
    unsigned int myLen = strlen(myStr);

    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < myLen; i++)
    {
        if (myStr[i] == ' ')
        {
            for (unsigned int j = i; j < myLen; j++)
                myStr[j] = myStr[j+1];
        }
    }

    cout << myStr << endl;

    return 0;
} 

[kedaman]

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
    char myStr[] = "Blah blah yadda packa.";
    char* i=myStr;
    char* l=i+sizeof(myStr);

    for (char* j=i;i<l;*j=*++i)j+=(*i!=32);
    *j=0;

    cout << myStr << endl;

    return 0;
} 

[Sc0rp]

Cool solution but hard to understand.

[kedaman]

it definitely kicks ass
It does a single loop, with two variables,one dropping the spaces and on going straight trough assigning the earlier one.

[Tomexx]

Thanks guys,
Kedaman, your code doesn't seem to work.

Could you take a look at it again and make it into a function that accepts the string as the argument.
Also where do you initialize the 'j' variable?

I want to be able to call it like:

myString[] = "Bla Bla Bla "
Trim(myString)


void Trim(char* szStrToCheck)
{


return;
}

[kedaman]

#include "stdafx.h" //maybe it's because this wasnt included
#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

void Trim(char*,char*);

int main()
{
    char myStr[] = "Blah blah yadda packa.";
    Trim(myStr,myStr+sizeof(myStr));
    cout << myStr << endl;

    return 0;
}

void Trim(char* i,char* l)
{
    for (char* j=i;i<l;*j=*++i)j+=(*i!=32);
    *j=0;
} 

okay but you need to pass the termination pointer as well

[Tomexx]

BTW,
I'm compiling the program on a VAX VMS compiler.
It gave me an error here:

'*j=*' saying that this is an obsolete statement or something

I'll try your new code.

[kedaman]

*j=*++i;
'tis suppose to increment i pointer and assign it's contents to j's, maybe it'll work if you put parentesis around like this:
*j=*(++i);
but it's perfectly legal to do this in C++ so i wonder what kind of compiler wouldn't understand it.

[Tomexx]

I'm not using C++

I'm using an OLD C compiler that's not even on PC but on VAX.

[kedaman]

Ah, but that still shouldn't be a problem, I don't know C but the syntax of dereferencing shouldn't differ from C++

[Sc0rp]

Hmmm.. Tomexx, have you tried my code?
Does it work?

[Tomexx]

Sc0rp,
Yes I did try it and it almost worked. There was a slight problem though, but I'll give you more details tomorrow (the program is at work).

[Sc0rp]

Tomexx:

Do you want the code to remove ALL the spaces from a string or only the left-most and right-most spaces?

[kedaman]

If thats the case i've posted my solution for it here:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...threadid=97909

[Sc0rp]

I tried my code on various strings and it works perfectly.
The problem could only be that it doesn't achieve your goal.

[kedaman]

It's awfully slow though I think it's the compiler

[Sc0rp]

I found a flaw in my program.
It wouldn't remove multiple spaces that appear next to each other.
I fixed it and I also wrapped it in a function. :

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

int RemoveSpaces(char*, const char*);
unsigned int GetStrLen(const char*);

// Main program
int main()
{
    char myStr[] = " This   is a string   with a lot  of spaces. . ... ";
    
    char* newStr = new char[GetStrLen(myStr)];
    RemoveSpaces(newStr, myStr);

    cout << newStr << endl;

    delete[] newStr;
    return 0;
}

// Removes all space from a string
int RemoveSpaces(char* newStr, const char* oldStr)
{
    unsigned int theLen = strlen(oldStr);
    strcpy(newStr, oldStr);

    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < theLen; i++)
    {
        while (newStr[i] == ' ')
        {
            for (unsigned int j = i; j < theLen; j++)
                newStr[j] = newStr[j + 1];
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

// Returns the length of the string passed to it including the null char
unsigned int GetStrLen(const char* theStr)
{
    return (strlen(theStr) + 1);
} 

It is possible to change the function so it changes the original string passed to it, if you want.
Anyway, bug fixed.

[kedaman]

It's still freaking heavy

[Sc0rp]

I know that.
It's not a contest kedaman. Tomexx can choose the code that fits him best.

[kedaman]

you're right, he'll end up choosing code that someone codes in C for him

[Sc0rp]