Why do we need to check string length larger than 0?

user_12984469 0
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I got this example from CS50. I know that we need to check "s == NULL" in case there is no memory in the RAM. But, I am not sure why do we need to check the string length of t before capitalize.

#include <cs50.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
    // Get a string
    char *s = get_string("s: ");
    if (s == NULL)
    {
        return 1;
    }

    // Allocate memory for another string
    char *t = malloc(strlen(s) + 1);
    if (t == NULL)
    {
        return 1;
    }

    // Copy string into memory
    strcpy(t, s);

    // Why do we need to check this condition?
    if (strlen(t) > 0)
    {
        t[0] = toupper(t[0]);
    }

    // Print strings
    printf("s: %s\n", s);
    printf("t: %s\n", t);

    // Free memory
    free(t);
    return 0;
}

Why do we need to use "if (strlen(t) > 0)" before capitalize?

cs50 capitalize conditional-statements c string
3 Answers

Conceptually, there is no character to uppercase when the string is empty.

Technically, it's not needed. The first character of an empty string is 0, and toupper(0) is 0.

Note that strlen(t) > 0 can also be written as t[0] != 0 or just t[0]. There's no need to actually calculate the length of the string to find out if it's an empty string.

Also, make sure to read chux's answer for a correction regarding signed char.

user_5899240

// Why do we need to check this condition?

There is no need for the check. A string of length 0 consists of only a null character and toupper('\0'); returns '\0'.

Advanced: There is a need for something else though.

char may act as a signed or unsigned char. If t[0] < 0, (maybe due to entering 'é') then toupper(negative) is undefined behavior (UB). toupper() is only defined for EOF, (some negative) and values in the unsigned char range.

A more valuable code change, though pedantic, would be to access the characters as if they were unsigned char, then call toupper().

// if (strlen(t) > 0) { t[0] = toupper(t[0]); }
t[0] = (char) toupper(((unsigned char*)t)[0]);
// or 
t[0] = (char) toupper(*(unsigned char*)t));
user_24103590

For any string t, the valid indexes (of the actual characters in the string) will be 0 to strlen(t) - 1.

Using strlen(t) as index will be the index of the null-terminator (assuming that it's a "proper" null-terminated string).

If strlen(t) == 0 then t[0] will be the null-terminator. And doing toupper on the null-terminator makes no sense. This is what the check does, make sure that there is at least one actual character (beyond the null-terminator) in the string.

In other words: It check that the string isn't empty.

user_4405580
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