I would like to know how to replace all spaces in different sentences in a txt file with ellipses.

For example:

• Original sentence: Hi my name is Joseph.
• Modified sentence: Hi... my... name... is... Joseph...

The text structure is the following:

• sentence 1.
• sentence 2.
• sentence 3.
• sentence 4.
• .......

(Each sentence ends with a dot). I have made a code but it only works from a manually typed sentence:

#include<stdio.h>

int main() {  
    char ch = getchar();

    while (ch != EOF) {
        if (ch != '\n' && ch != ' ') {
            putchar(ch);
            ch = getchar();    
        }
        else {   
            printf("... ");
            while (ch == '\n' || ch == ' ') {
                ch = getchar();
            }  
        }  
    }
    putchar('\n');
    return 0;
}

Does anyone know how to modify this code to read the sentences from the file and make the changes with the dots?

CodePudding user response：

Does anyone know how to modify this code to read the sentences from the file

Two ways:

1. Use shell redirection, e.g. ./a.out < input.txt
2. Use fopen, fgets, fclose. See man fopen.

CodePudding user response：

Wrong type

getchar() returns an int in the unsigned char range or the negative EOF. Those 257 different values can not be saved distinctively in a char. Use int or risk infinite loops or stopping too soon.

// char ch = getchar();
int ch = getchar();

To read/edit/write same file

• Read from file1 (fopen(... "r")), adjust " " into "...", write result to a new file2 opened with (fopen(... "w")).

• If successful, rename() file1 into file_temp. Rename file2 to file1.

• If successful, delete file_temp.

The important thing is to not delete the data of old file until after the new file is successfully made and named - this aids in error recovery. Check the return values of the various FILE functions looking for errors.