Re: writing a c program to substitute text

From	David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: writing a c program to substitute text
Date	2017-02-27 19:05 +0100
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<o91plo$ld3$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <ehiij4Ffgn1U1@mid.individual.net> <87a897u6b2.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <o919n1$ne5$1@dont-email.me> <S5ZsA.41331$Wp.6174@fx34.iad> <o91pa4$kt4$1@dont-email.me>

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On 27/02/17 18:59, BartC wrote:
> On 27/02/2017 17:12, Scott Lurndal wrote:
>> BartC <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
>>> On 27/02/2017 13:11, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>>>> fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> writes:
>>>> <snip>
>>>>> I need to concatenate 'toolchain3.sh' from its constituent parts and
>>>>> then increment it as the filename of gptr.
>>>>
>>>> That's not too hard, but it's much more fiddly in C than in any
>>>> scripting language I can think of.  Why do you want to do this in C?
>>>> The kind of things you hint at doing elsewhere in your post are trivial
>>>> in any of the many scripting languages you have available.
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, here's one way:
>>>>
>>>>      int vnum = 3;
>>>>      const char *base = "toolchain", *ext = "sh", *name_fmt =
>>>> "%s%d.%s";
>>>>      char name1[snprintf(0, 0, name_fmt, base, vnum, ext) + 1];
>>>>      int s = snprintf(name1, sizeof name1, name_fmt, base, vnum, ext);
>>>
>>> Here's pretty much the same thing but without a VLA, nor the weird thing
>>> with putting an snprintf call inside the array bounds.
>>
>> That weird thing ensures that 'name1' is allocated enough
>> memory to hold the entire string.
>
> But requiring two passes.
>

That's life.  You don't (in general) know how long a calculated string 
will be until you have calculated it.  Your choices are to calculate it 
exactly (like this), allocate space larger than you could reasonably 
expect (like you suggest), or combine the methods - allocate a large 
space first, and if that turns out to be too small, allocate the 
required size and re-do the snprintf.

Languages which have strings as a part of the language do the same - 
they just hide the messy details.  (This is, of course, one of the key 
reasons that C is a poor choice if your program involves a lot of string 
work.)

>>>
>>> But it needs an upper limit for the filename length to be set. The part
>>> calling 'getfilename' will have an idea of what is reasonable, in this
>>> case it has to accommadate 'toolchainN.sh' where N, because I've made it
>>> an int, might have 10 or 11 digits. So 300 is plenty.
>>
>> Until someone moves it to a deeply nested home directory with a
>> 512 byte path prefix.
>
> That will be the same problem with the VLA code. Unless 'base' points to
> that long path. But since it is a constant string, you will know it is a
> long string and can adjust the buffer size accordingly.
>
> Otherwise you're relying on a language feature that may not generally be
> available.
>
> Or you could use a much larger string buffer (eg 4K or 16K). If someone
> is actually using 16000-character path lengths, then they've got bigger
> problems, like knowing how to use paths sensibly, and understanding the
> difference between the title of a file, and its contents; usually the
> former is shorter than the latter.
>

Thread

writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-26 04:14 -0800
  Re: writing a c program to substitute text fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2017-02-26 04:55 -0800
  Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-26 14:28 +0100
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-27 03:58 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-02-27 13:11 +0000
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2017-02-27 13:33 +0000
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2017-02-27 17:12 +0000
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2017-02-27 17:59 +0000
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 19:05 +0100
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2017-02-27 18:37 +0000
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-27 11:40 -0800
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2017-02-27 16:03 +0100
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-01 05:33 -0800
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text "D. Aaron Sawyer" <aaron@110.net> - 2017-03-01 10:32 -0400
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-01 06:59 -0800
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-03-01 15:24 +0000
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-02 01:47 -0800
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-03-02 11:05 +0000
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2017-02-27 13:33 +0000
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-27 09:10 -0800
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 19:07 +0100
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2017-02-27 18:23 +0000
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 14:46 +0100
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2017-02-27 09:27 -0500
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text GOTHIER Nathan <nathan.gothier@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 15:28 +0100
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2017-02-27 09:38 -0500
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 15:44 +0100
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2017-02-27 10:36 -0500
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text Anglican <h.toms@qmul.ac.uk> - 2017-02-27 15:50 +0000
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 17:13 +0100
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-27 16:30 -0800
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 07:08 -0800
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 07:20 -0800
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 07:24 -0800
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2017-02-27 16:00 +0100
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-27 09:22 -0800
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 19:11 +0100
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text John Bode <jfbode1029@gmail.com> - 2017-02-28 15:41 -0800
        solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-02 01:25 -0800
          Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-03-02 11:28 +0100
          Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-03-02 10:54 +0000
            Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2017-03-02 15:28 +0100
              Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-03-02 14:51 +0000
            Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text John Bode <jfbode1029@gmail.com> - 2017-03-02 14:18 -0800
              Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-03-02 23:55 +0000
                Re: solved Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-14 18:32 -0700
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-04-17 07:04 -0700
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text jladasky@itu.edu - 2017-02-27 13:48 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-27 14:16 -0800
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 08:47 +0100
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-28 01:59 -0800
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 11:39 +0100
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2017-02-28 12:03 +0000
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2017-02-28 13:33 +0000
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 14:43 +0100
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2017-02-28 13:59 +0000
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-03-01 04:26 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 23:29 +0100
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-27 15:10 -0800
  Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-26 06:42 -0800
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2017-02-26 16:54 +0000
      [OT] "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 00:56 +0800
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-26 13:36 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-26 14:53 -0800
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 00:53 +0100
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-26 17:30 -0800
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-26 17:44 -0800
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-02-27 01:46 +0000
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 09:29 +0100
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-27 02:12 -0800
                Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-27 13:11 +0100
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-27 04:41 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-02-27 05:04 -0800
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2017-02-27 13:25 +0000
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-27 09:56 -0800
  Re: writing a c program to substitute text "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2017-02-27 01:00 +0800
  Re: writing a c program to substitute text "James R. Kuyper" <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2017-02-26 18:55 -0500
    Re: writing a c program to substitute text fred flintstone <fred@server.invalid> - 2017-02-28 04:20 -0800
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 14:38 +0100
        Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-28 08:33 -0800
          Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 19:38 +0100
            Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-28 11:40 -0800
              Re: writing a c program to substitute text David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-02-28 21:03 +0100
            Re: gcc optimization levels Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2017-02-28 22:55 +0100
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text "James R. Kuyper" <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2017-02-28 11:43 -0500
      Re: writing a c program to substitute text Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-02-28 08:46 -0800

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