Why using char type as index for looping gives unexpected results?

user_12093920 0
Viewed 118

Bear in mind this is an old version of the C compiler: CP/M for Z80.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
    char i = 0;
    do
    {
        printf("0x%04x | ", i);
    } while (++ i);       
}

Expected:

0x0000 | 0x0001 | 0x0002 | 0x0003 | 0x0004 | 0x0005 | 0x0006 | 0x0007 | 0x0008 | 0x0009 | 0x000A | 0x000B | 0x000C | 0x000D | 0x000E | 0x000F | 0x0010 | 0x0011 | 0x0012 | 0x0013 | 0x0014 | 0x0015 | 0x0016 | 0x0017 | 0x0018 | 0x0019 | 0x001A | 0x001B | 0x001C | 0x001D | 0x001E | 0x001F | 0x0020 | 0x0021 | 0x0022 | 0x0023 | 0x0024 | 0x0025 | 0x0026 | 0x0027 | 0x0028 | 0x0029 | 0x002A | 0x002B | 0x002C | 0x002D | 0x002E | 0x002F | 0x0030 | 0x0031 | 0x0032 | 0x0033 | 0x0034 | 0x0035 | 0x0036 | 0x0037 | 0x0038 | 0x0039 | 0x003A | 0x003B | 0x003C | 0x003D | 0x003E | 0x003F | 0x0040 | 0x0041 | 0x0042 | 0x0043 | 0x0044 | 0x0045 | 0x0046 | 0x0047 | 0x0048 | 0x0049 | 0x004A | 0x004B | 0x004C | 0x004D | 0x004E | 0x004F | 0x0050 | 0x0051 | 0x0052 | 0x0053 | 0x0054 | 0x0055 | 0x0056 | 0x0057 | 0x0058 | 0x0059 | 0x005A | 0x005B | 0x005C | 0x005D | 0x005E | 0x005F | 0x0060 | 0x0061 | 0x0062 | 0x0063 | 0x0064 | 0x0065 | 0x0066 | 0x0067 | 0x0068 | 0x0069 | 0x006A | 0x006B | 0x006C | 0x006D | 0x006E | 0x006F | 0x0070 | 0x0071 | 0x0072 | 0x0073 | 0x0074 | 0x0075 | 0x0076 | 0x0077 | 0x0078 | 0x0079 | 0x007A | 0x007B | 0x007C | 0x007D | 0x007E | 0x007F | 0x0080 | 0x0081 | 0x0082 | 0x0083 | 0x0084 | 0x0085 | 0x0086 | 0x0087 | 0x0088 | 0x0089 | 0x008A | 0x008B | 0x008C | 0x008D | 0x008E | 0x008F | 0x0090 | 0x0091 | 0x0092 | 0x0093 | 0x0094 | 0x0095 | 0x0096 | 0x0097 | 0x0098 | 0x0099 | 0x009A | 0x009B | 0x009C | 0x009D | 0x009E | 0x009F | 0x00A0 | 0x00A1 | 0x00A2 | 0x00A3 | 0x00A4 | 0x00A5 | 0x00A6 | 0x00A7 | 0x00A8 | 0x00A9 | 0x00AA | 0x00AB | 0x00AC | 0x00AD | 0x00AE | 0x00AF | 0x00B0 | 0x00B1 | 0x00B2 | 0x00B3 | 0x00B4 | 0x00B5 | 0x00B6 | 0x00B7 | 0x00B8 | 0x00B9 | 0x00BA | 0x00BB | 0x00BC | 0x00BD | 0x00BE | 0x00BF | 0x00C0 | 0x00C1 | 0x00C2 | 0x00C3 | 0x00C4 | 0x00C5 | 0x00C6 | 0x00C7 | 0x00C8 | 0x00C9 | 0x00CA | 0x00CB | 0x00CC | 0x00CD | 0x00CE | 0x00CF | 0x00D0 | 0x00D1 | 0x00D2 | 0x00D3 | 0x00D4 | 0x00D5 | 0x00D6 | 0x00D7 | 0x00D8 | 0x00D9 | 0x00DA | 0x00DB | 0x00DC | 0x00DD | 0x00DE | 0x00DF | 0x00E0 | 0x00E1 | 0x00E2 | 0x00E3 | 0x00E4 | 0x00E5 | 0x00E6 | 0x00E7 | 0x00E8 | 0x00E9 | 0x00EA | 0x00EB | 0x00EC | 0x00ED | 0x00EE | 0x00EF | 0x00F0 | 0x00F1 | 0x00F2 | 0x00F3 | 0x00F4 | 0x00F5 | 0x00F6 | 0x00F7 | 0x00F8 | 0x00F9 | 0x00FA | 0x00FB | 0x00FC | 0x00FD | 0x00FE | 0x00FF |

Actual:

0x0A00 | 0x0A01 | 0x0A02 | 0x0A03 | 0x0A04 | 0x0A05 | 0x0A06 | 0x0A07 | 0x0A08 | 0x0A09 | 0x0A0A | 0x0A0B | 0x0A0C | 0x0A0D | 0x0A0E | 0x0A0F | 0x0A10 | 0x0A11 | 0x0A12 | 0x0A13 | 0x0A14 | 0x0A15 | 0x0A16 | 0x0A17 | 0x0A18 | 0x0A19 | 0x0A1A | 0x0A1B | 0x0A1C | 0x0A1D | 0x0A1E | 0x0A1F | 0x0A20 | 0x0A21 | 0x0A22 | 0x0A23 | 0x0A24 | 0x0A25 | 0x0A26 | 0x0A27 | 0x0A28 | 0x0A29 | 0x0A2A | 0x0A2B | 0x0A2C | 0x0A2D | 0x0A2E | 0x0A2F | 0x0A30 | 0x0A31 | 0x0A32 | 0x0A33 | 0x0A34 | 0x0A35 | 0x0A36 | 0x0A37 | 0x0A38 | 0x0A39 | 0x0A3A | 0x0A3B | 0x0A3C | 0x0A3D | 0x0A3E | 0x0A3F | 0x0A40 | 0x0A41 | 0x0A42 | 0x0A43 | 0x0A44 | 0x0A45 | 0x0A46 | 0x0A47 | 0x0A48 | 0x0A49 | 0x0A4A | 0x0A4B | 0x0A4C | 0x0A4D | 0x0A4E | 0x0A4F | 0x0A50 | 0x0A51 | 0x0A52 | 0x0A53 | 0x0A54 | 0x0A55 | 0x0A56 | 0x0A57 | 0x0A58 | 0x0A59 | 0x0A5A | 0x0A5B | 0x0A5C | 0x0A5D | 0x0A5E | 0x0A5F | 0x0A60 | 0x0A61 | 0x0A62 | 0x0A63 | 0x0A64 | 0x0A65 | 0x0A66 | 0x0A67 | 0x0A68 | 0x0A69 | 0x0A6A | 0x0A6B | 0x0A6C | 0x0A6D | 0x0A6E | 0x0A6F | 0x0A70 | 0x0A71 | 0x0A72 | 0x0A73 | 0x0A74 | 0x0A75 | 0x0A76 | 0x0A77 | 0x0A78 | 0x0A79 | 0x0A7A | 0x0A7B | 0x0A7C | 0x0A7D | 0x0A7E | 0x0A7F | 0x0A80 | 0x0A81 | 0x0A82 | 0x0A83 | 0x0A84 | 0x0A85 | 0x0A86 | 0x0A87 | 0x0A88 | 0x0A89 | 0x0A8A | 0x0A8B | 0x0A8C | 0x0A8D | 0x0A8E | 0x0A8F | 0x0A90 | 0x0A91 | 0x0A92 | 0x0A93 | 0x0A94 | 0x0A95 | 0x0A96 | 0x0A97 | 0x0A98 | 0x0A99 | 0x0A9A | 0x0A9B | 0x0A9C | 0x0A9D | 0x0A9E | 0x0A9F | 0x0AA0 | 0x0AA1 | 0x0AA2 | 0x0AA3 | 0x0AA4 | 0x0AA5 | 0x0AA6 | 0x0AA7 | 0x0AA8 | 0x0AA9 | 0x0AAA | 0x0AAB | 0x0AAC | 0x0AAD | 0x0AAE | 0x0AAF | 0x0AB0 | 0x0AB1 | 0x0AB2 | 0x0AB3 | 0x0AB4 | 0x0AB5 | 0x0AB6 | 0x0AB7 | 0x0AB8 | 0x0AB9 | 0x0ABA | 0x0ABB | 0x0ABC | 0x0ABD | 0x0ABE | 0x0ABF | 0x0AC0 | 0x0AC1 | 0x0AC2 | 0x0AC3 | 0x0AC4 | 0x0AC5 | 0x0AC6 | 0x0AC7 | 0x0AC8 | 0x0AC9 | 0x0ACA | 0x0ACB | 0x0ACC | 0x0ACD | 0x0ACE | 0x0ACF | 0x0AD0 | 0x0AD1 | 0x0AD2 | 0x0AD3 | 0x0AD4 | 0x0AD5 | 0x0AD6 | 0x0AD7 | 0x0AD8 | 0x0AD9 | 0x0ADA | 0x0ADB | 0x0ADC | 0x0ADD | 0x0ADE | 0x0ADF | 0x0AE0 | 0x0AE1 | 0x0AE2 | 0x0AE3 | 0x0AE4 | 0x0AE5 | 0x0AE6 | 0x0AE7 | 0x0AE8 | 0x0AE9 | 0x0AEA | 0x0AEB | 0x0AEC | 0x0AED | 0x0AEE | 0x0AEF | 0x0AF0 | 0x0AF1 | 0x0AF2 | 0x0AF3 | 0x0AF4 | 0x0AF5 | 0x0AF6 | 0x0AF7 | 0x0AF8 | 0x0AF9 | 0x0AFA | 0x0AFB | 0x0AFC | 0x0AFD | 0x0AFE | 0x0AFF |

What am I doing wrong?

Assembly:

    cseg
?59999:
    defb    48,120,37,48,52,120,32,124,32,0

main@:
    ld  c,0
@0:
    push    bc
    push    bc
    ld  bc,?59999
    push    bc
    ld  hl,2
    call    printf
    pop bc
    pop bc
    pop bc
    inc c
    jp  nz,@0
    ret


    public  main@
    extrn   printf

    end
cpm z80 c
2 Answers

Golly. LONG time since I used a z80 C compiler, and most were buggy as [unprintable] back then. I would suggest that you dump the assembler if the compiler allows. My GUESS is that internally the char is being promoted to a 16 bit INT with indeterminate upper bits set.

The problem is that %04X expects an integer - not a char.

You might try forcing the compiler to play nice by explicitly casting the char to an int - i.e.

printf("0x%04x | ", (int) i);

user_137760430

Most probable thing is that, as being an old 8 bit compiler, it is not converting the char typed i variable into an int and it is just pushing the bc register (assuming your function will not use the high part, which is simply not true, as your function (printf()) expects a whole int as parameter) which you don't know what it has in the b register. The compiler is using the full bc register to print, as you use %x format, which is for an int parameter, and this explains the presence of the high byte as 0x0a in the output (and which doesn't appear anywhere in your assembler listing). Later versions of the standard begun to convert every short and char arguments to int in order probably to avoid this kind of issue.

Try this code, and see if that solves the problem.

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
    char i = 0;
    do
    {
        printf("0x%04x | ", (int) i);
    } while (++ i);       
}

(I cannot check here, as I have z80 computer, but not a C compiler for it)

Edit

After checking the assembler code, the compiler output just pushes the complete bc register into the stack, in which the lower part (thec register) comes from the character you want to print, but the b register was previously loaded with the high byte of the 59999 pointer to the array of characters of the format string, which happens to be 0xea. So, I got stranged at the output, that should be probably 0xea00, 0xea01, 0xea02, ... and not the output you have. Have you recompiled the source to get the assembler output and the output refers to a different compilation?

To dig a little more I'd need the code of the printf() function, which I assume you don't have. But that seems that converting the parameter to (int) before passing it to the printf() function should solve the problem.

user_38994310
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