Exercise 5.2 - get next float from input to *pn¶
Question¶
Write getfloat, the floating-point analog of getint. What type does getfloat return as its function value?
/*Write a program to get next float from input to *pn */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#define SIZE 1000
int getch(void);
void ungetch(int);
int getfloat(float *);
int main(void)
{
int n;
float array[SIZE];
for(n=0;n<SIZE && getfloat(&array[n]) !=EOF;n++)
;
for(;n>=0;n--)
printf("%f",array[n]);
return 0;
}
int getfloat(float *pn)
{
int c,sign;
float power;
while(isspace(c=getch()))
;
if( !isdigit(c) && c!=EOF && c!= '+' && c != '-' && c != '.')
{
ungetch(c);
return 0;
}
sign = ( c == '-') ? -1: 1;
if( c == '+' || c == '-')
c = getch();
for(*pn = 0.0 ; isdigit(c);c=getch())
*pn = 10.0 * *pn + (c - '0');
if( c == '.')
c = getch();
for(power=1.0;isdigit(c);c=getch())
{
*pn = 10.0 * *pn + (c - '0'); /* fractional part */
power *= 10.0;
}
*pn *= sign / power;
if( c != EOF)
ungetch(c);
return c;
}
#define BUFSIZE 100
char buf[BUFSIZE];
int bufp = 0;
int getch(void)
{
return (bufp > 0) ? buf[--bufp] : getchar();
}
void ungetch(int c)
{
if(bufp >= BUFSIZE)
printf("ungetch: too many characters\n");
else
buf[bufp++]=c;
}
Explanation¶
The function getfloat is similar to the getint function, wherein instead of getting an integer, we get a float value.
We declare an array, float array[SIZE] in which we store the float values and the the float value is got from the function int getfloat(float *);
The function getfloat, sends a pointer to the float and stores a float value in the array. The mechanism of how it gets a float is defined in the getfloat function.
The curx of how the float is got is in this snippet. The function reads all the characters and converts to a float and stores them in the *pn pointer. Then it reads the decimal part and for all the digits after the decimal point, it increments the power by 10. For e.g. if the decimal was 0.123 for 3 decimal digits, the power will be 10 * 10 * 10 = 1000.
for(*pn = 0.0 ; isdigit(c);c=getch())
*pn = 10.0 * *pn + (c - '0');
if( c == '.')
c = getch();
for(power=1.0;isdigit(c);c=getch())
{
*pn = 10.0 * *pn + (c - '0'); /* fractional part */
power *= 10.0;
}
*pn *= sign / power;
Finally to get the decimal representation along with sign, then the number in pn is divided by power and multiplied by sign, i.e, *pn = ((*pn * sign) / power) and thus the correct float value is obtained.
The float value is stored in the array index that was sent from the main program.